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Making schools healthier and improving the learning environment are the goals of the Greening Schools project. WMRC and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have combined efforts to assist schools with improving their physical environmental conditions, while also providing teachers standards-based tools to introduce the concepts of waste reduction and pollution prevention.
The Greening Schools project offers a Web site for teachers and school administrators (www.greeningschools.org). The content has been continuing updated during the past year and is responsive to requests and needs from educators. Fact sheets, checklists and standards-based lesson plans, book resources, curricula and activities related to waste reduction and pollution prevention are provided on the Web site.
Other project benefits for teachers and schools administrators include:
- Free on-site technical assistance to assess building conditions.
- On-line help desk to answer questions
- Listserv with a weekly mailing of timely, valuable resources
- Teachers can submit chemistry lessons for evaluation and WMRC chemists will offer suggestions on how the lesson can be changed to make the chemical less toxic
- Information on environmentally preferable purchasing
The project also offers Safe Chemical in Education workshops that address chemicals found in chemistry labs, biology labs, art rooms, industrial shops, and other areas. Workshop participants learn about the risks associated with out-of-date and improperly stored chemicals as well as how to reduce chemical volume and how to substitute the traditional chemicals with safer materials. Schools that participate in the Safe Chemical workshops are eligible for removal of educational waste chemicals at no cost. These workshops also introduce the principles of “green chemistry” to middle school and high school teachers, and show how they can be integrated into the classroom. Green chemistry is benign by design and helps to reduce the use or generation of hazardous materials.
Schools face a variety of health-related issues. While these differ from building to building, schools typically share some of the same constraints:
- Limited funding to address environmental conditions
- Rising costs of energy and maintenance of school building
- Lack of resources and technical assistance for teachers, administrators and staff
While hazardous materials are recognized issues, energy costs and indoor air quality also present real concerns for schools. Pest control and waste reduction and their associated costs have also become health and budget topics for school districts. WMRC’s Greening Schools project is committed to assisting schools address these issues while providing the most current resources and high-quality technical assistance available at no cost. WMRC continues to build a strong network of support and resources across the state working to address the needs of individual schools and teachers.
Carol Knepp, WMRC's Education Specialist, also conducts in-class lessons for students. In this past year, she has introduced concepts of recycling and waste reduction for elementary students in ten schools and presented at regional and state events for educators. Three new Greening Schools teacher/administrator workshops under development for 2006 are Integrated Pest Management in Schools, Healthy Art Classrooms, and Sustainable Schools. Greening Schools will continue to visit schools and to assist teachers and students identify more sustainable practices and lifestyles.
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