Greenbacks for Green Schools!
The school year is well underway, and we hope you are making progress with making your school healthy, safe, and sustainable. This E-News issue has loads of information about a different kind of green - the cash kind. So, don't let lack of funding inhibit you from greening your school... check out the new resource we compiled about free stuff, discounts, grants, capital for construction and more!

We hope you will join the Green Schools Initiative and take action at your school. Get inspired by reading what other schools are doing, like the profile of Cow Hollow School in San Francisco. Please contact us - we can help - info@greenschools.net. Send us your ideas, feedback, or news about your progress. And go to our Donate Now page to support our efforts. Thank you and have a joyful holiday!

Best regards,
Deborah Moore
Executive Director

School Garden Funding is Coming... GET ORGANIZED

School Garden funds are available! The California Department of Education has $15 million appropriated for school gardens in public and charter schools. It is offering grants of $2500 and up to $5000 (for schools with more than 1000 students) for garden equipment, supplies and professional development/teacher training. Grants can be spent over three years, until June 2009.

Applications will be available in mid-December on the California Department of Education website, www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/, and will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis until February 2007. Local Educational Agencies (i.e. districts, county offices of education, state board of charter schools) must apply on behalf of all school sites within the LEA. So, you need to get organized NOW! Contact your district or LEA if you are interested.

Link to California Dept. of Education website

New Resource: Greenbacks for Green Schools - A Compilation of Funding Sources for California Schools

Find resources for your greening projects! Green Schools Initiative
has a new compilation of resources for parents, teachers, and administrators who are interested in finding ways to cover the costs of greening their schools. The list includes a variety of types of funding, including discounts, grants, free items, and technical assistance from a number of sources, including the state of California, cities and counties, corporations and non-profit organizations. Funds are available in all four key areas: eliminating toxics, using resources sustainably, creating green, healthy spaces, and teaching stewardship.

So, don't let lack of cash stop your school from greening...

Read more and download "Greenbacks for Green Schools" PDF

7 Steps to a Green School: Invite the Green Schools Initiative to help your school get started
The Green Schools Initiative can help train parents, teachers, staff, and administrators at your school about how to:

• develop a long-term vision for environmental health and ecological sustainability at your school;
• create effective processes to engage the entire school community in greening efforts;
  establish institutional structures to ensure progress, and
• integrate curricula to engage students in greening efforts.

Take home tools include: 7-step approach to getting started; 4 key pillars of a “green school,” sample school board resolution; list of support resources and organizations; and examples of “green” schools and curricula.

Check out our Take Action page or contact us at info@greenschools.net. Join our mailing list!

NEWSFLASH: Study on toxins and brain damage in children published in The Lancet, a British medical journal

(November 7, 2006) - According to a study published today in the British medical journal The Lancet, millions of children worldwide may have brain damage from the effects of industrial chemicals. From a summary published inthe on-line Medical News Today:

"Industrial chemicals may be detrimentally affecting the developing brains of fetuses and children globally, say scientists. It is hard to know for certain what effect industrial chemicals are having because so little is known about most of them, say the researchers. The list of potentially damaging chemicals is extremely long, to say nothing about the ones we already know about, such as methylmercury, arsenic and lead.

There are thousands of chemicals which are registered for commercial use - in 1981 the EU had 100,000 of them registered, while the USA had 80,000. Under half of all chemicals most commonly used in commerce have had token lab tests. The researchers fear that the few chemicals we do know about, regarding harm to brain development, could be just the tip of a gigantic iceberg."

Green Schools Initiative advocates eliminating toxics from schools so we can protect children's health. As a first step, get your schools to switch to non-toxic cleaners. Print these articles and give them to your school's principal and PTA. Get more ideas for greening your school on our Take Action and Resources pages.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2635962&page=1

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=56201

Cow Hollow School Profile

Green Schools Initiative focuses primarily on K-12 schools. But when we were approached by parents at Cow Hollow School, a preschool in San Francisco, we agreed to help, recognizing the importance of safeguarding the developing bodies of preschoolers as well.

Cow Hollow has done such an incredible job greening their entire school, top to bottom, in such a short amount of time that we want to share their story with you. Perhaps your school can adapt their approach or borrow their tools....

Read the Cow Hollow School profile

Download the Cow Hollow Healthy School Guidelines and Buying Guide PDF

Action Alert: Tell CA's Office of Public School Construction to Improve School Indoor Environmental Quality

Green Schools Initiative wants to make sure that California's Office of Public School Construction creates strong regulations and guidelines that will include school indoor environmental quality. Please send an email to the State Allocation Board and request that they strengthen the good repair standard by including indoor environmental quality into the new school facility Evaluation Instrument and inspection system.

Find out if your school is eligible for Emergency Repair Program funds and what you can do about it, if you are in California and believe that your school facilities do not meet a standard of good repair: http://www.greenschools.net/news/BacktoSchoolTips.htm

Visit our Take Action page to send an email supporting a strong good repair standard.