The Child Proofing Our
Communities Campaign Launches National Environmental Program in Schools
Across the Nation
Innovative
Program Tackles Potential Environmental Health Problems In Schools
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Margie Klein, 646-408-6160 (cell), Email
Paul Ruther, 703-237-2249 ext. 21 or 240-416-320 (cell), Email
Beth George, Promedia Communications 212-245-0510, Email
September 16, 2003
FALLS CHURCH, VA – This week, Lois
Gibbs, the mother who uncovered Love Canal, and the Child Proofing Our
Communities Campaign are presenting awards to fourteen schools at events
across the nation this week. These events are part of the launch
of the new Green Flag Program, a national initiative to help students
take leadership on environmental issues within their schools.
Through the Green Flag Program, kids
become environmental detectives, proactively investigating potential
environmental hazards, such as pesticide use, cleaning products
containing dangerous chemicals, and toxic mold. After
investigating, the program encourages students to work with teachers,
administrators, custodians, parents, businesses and community members to
ensure that their school environment is safe and healthy. They do
this by improving schools’ programs and policies in any of four areas:
indoor air quality, non-toxic products, recycling, and integrated pest
management (IPM).
Today, Lois Gibbs is presenting one of
the inaugural Green Flag awards to Herndon High School’s Students
Against Global Abuse (SAGA), bringing national recognition to its
outstanding environmental achievement. Herndon students recycle a
mind-boggling 100 tons of paper and other waste annually, and the school
has raised an impressive $250,000 for college scholarships and school
environmental programs through its program.
“If precautionary programs like Green
Flag had been around 25 years ago, I might not have had to discover that
my family and neighborhood were being poisoned by the toxic waste dump
beneath our land,” said Gibbs. Gibbs and her community pressured
local and state officials to evacuate Love Canal families and buy out
their homes. Her case sparked the creation of the Superfund law, which
forced polluters to pay for cleanups and made them more cautious about
handling waste. Gibbs started CHEJ and the Child Proofing Our
Communities Campaign to ensure that all communities have the support
they need to overcome adverse situations like Love Canal.
“For me, the Green Flag program is
great because we learn a lot, and then we turn our knowledge into
action,” said Becky Elstad, a senior who serves as the current
president of Herndon’s environmental club. “It’s cool to
know that even us young people can make a difference in protecting our
environment and our health.”
Another award recipient will be Gale
Academy School in Chicago, which was introduced to the program by
Illinois Healthy School Campaign Executive Director Rochelle Davis.
“There are so many environmental education programs out there, but
none like this one,” said Davis. “The Green Flag Program
empowers students and teaches young people about how the environment
affects their health. This program helps students prevent
environmental health problems before they start.”
The Green Flag Program was created by the
Child Proofing Our Communities Campaign, which works with communities to
reduce environmental health hazards in schools. “Many states
have excellent IPM policies but they are often inadequately enforced.
The Green Flag Program helps encourage parents, teachers and students to
learn more about IPM and protect themselves from the potential harm
caused by pesticide use,” said Campaign (IPM) committee member Kagan
Owens of Beyond Pesticides.
Robina Suwol Executive Director of
California Safe Schools became a school environmental health activist
when her sons were accidentally sprayed with pesticides five years ago.
She has worked ceaselessly to promote precautionary policies in the Los
Angeles Unified School District. She and LAUSD Office of Environmental
Health and Safety Director Angelo Bellomo will be presenting awards to
four schools this week.
Suwol is ecstatic. “This is a great way
to build grassroots support for our LAUSD policies. The Green Flag
Program provides student-friendly approach to understanding complex
environmental health issues, which it helps integrate into a school
context.”
Schools are presented three levels of
awards depending on their progress in the Green Flag Program.
“The Green Flag Program’s step-by-step approach will help pull us
out of the environmental abyss,” said Margaret Fitzgerald of
Huckleberry Hill Elementary School in Brookfield, Connecticut.
Last year every school in Fitzgerald’s district was closed due to
asbestos contamination. Now a year after the completion of
much-needed repairs, Fitzgerald and her school are receiving a Level One
Green Flag Award for investigating their school’s indoor air quality.
“We are raising awareness among faculty, staff, parents and kids about
the issues that caused us such problems and we are taking steps as an
entire school community to see that our recent problems are not
repeated.”
The Green Flag Program collaborates with
EPA’s Tools for Schools Program and presents awards to schools that
participate successfully in Tools for Schools. In Houston, Jane
Laping of Mothers for Clean Air has received an EPA grant to implement
its program in local schools. Although mostly focused on
Houston-area outdoor air pollution and its effects on children’s
health, Mothers for Clean Air became interested in this program
“because of the many requests we have received about indoor air
quality and because of parent concerns about dust and mold in schools
making their children sick,” said Laping.
The Green Flag Program launches
nationally this week, and any school – private, public, small or
large, from kindergarten through high school – can join the program by
going to www.greenflagschools.org or contacting Green Flag Program
Coordinator: Margie Klein at Margie@chej.org
or 703-237-2249 ext. 27.
Schools receiving awards this week (and
mentoring organizations):
· Aldama Elementary-Los Angeles, Level
One Award (California Safe Schools)
· Churchill High-Eugene, Level One Award (Oregon Toxics Alliance)*
· Douglass Alternative School -Wilmington, Delaware, Level One Award
(Neighbors Rebuilding Our Neighborhood)
· Fernangeles Elementary-Los Angeles, Level One Award (California Safe
Schools)
· French Elementary-Jackson, Mississippi, Level One Award (Mississippi
20/20 Network)
· Gale Academy-Chicago, Illinois, Level One Award (Illinois Healthy
Schools Campaign)
· Herndon High-Herndon, Virginia: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Level Three
Award
· Huckleberry Hill Elementary-Brookfield, Connecticut, Level One Award
(Canary Committee)
· Independence Middle-Jupiter, Florida, Level One Award (HealthyLiving
Foundation)
· Lewis Cass Technical High School-Detroit, Michigan: Level Three
Award-IPM (Michigan Community IPM Program)
· Millikan Middle-Los Angeles, Level One Award (California Safe
Schools)
· Southeast Elementary-Mansfield Center, Connecticut: Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle Level Three Award (Mansfield City Recycling Office)
· Sun Valley Middle-Sun Valley, California, Level One Award (California
Safe Schools)
· Thornton Friends Middle School-Silver Spring, Maryland: Level Two
Award Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (City of Falls Church Recycling)
· Villa Maria Educational Center-Stamford, Connecticut, Level One Award
(Consumer’s Healthy Home Center & Canary Committee)
The Green Flag Program is the latest initiative from the Center for
Health, Environment, and Justice’s Child Proofing Our Communities
Campaign, which works with communities to reduce environmental health
hazards in schools.
For more information about the Green Flag
Program, see www.greenflagschools.org
