The Green Flag School Program

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The Green Flag School Program
Helping you make Your School Safe Through
Investigation, Education, Innovation and Action

• A Project of Childproofing Our Communities
  Campaign
• The Center for Health, Environment and Justice

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What Is the Green Flag School Program?

• An environmental leadership program
• Advances leadership, exploration, public
  speaking, and team work skills
• Integrates environmental education into class
  subjects
• A great way to raise school pride
• Creates healthier schools!

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How Does It Work?

• A national awards program
• Includes materials, technical resources, guidance
  and support
• Focuses on creating and improving environmental
  programs and policies

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How Does It Work?

• Schools form a group
• Investigate their school
• Develop creative and proactive solutions to
  environmental issues
• Use materials created by the Green Flag program
  and on their own
• Educate their communities through example

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Children Are More Vulnerable to Chemicals

• Childrens systems are still developing
• Children eat more food, drink more fluids, and
  breath more air per pound of body weight
• Children behave like children
• Chemical exposure regulations are based on the
  average healthy adults age, weight, consumption
  and activities

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Preventable Health Risks in Schools and Homes

• Indoor air quality
• Cleaning products
• Art supplies
• Science materials
• Mold

• Pesticides, Herbicides and Fungicides
• Diesel fumes
• Ventilation and air circulation

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What Sort of Issues Do Schools Work on?

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Integrated Pest Management
• Indoor Air Quality
• Non-Toxic Products

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Each Issue Area Has Four Levels

• Level one
• Form a team, investigate the school environment,
  select an issue area.
• Level two
• Look closely at the issue area, make
  presentations to teach others, and hold group
  meetings.
• Level three
• Learn about the issue, develop and pass a program
  or policy change.
• Level four
• Support the new program or policy by publicizing
  it.

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Lets Take a Closer Look at Each Issue Area

• Indoor Air Quality

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Health Effects of Poor Indoor Air Quality

• Asthma
• Respiratory infections
• Learning disabilities
• Difficulty concentrating
• Stomach illnesses, nausea, dizziness
• Kidney or liver damage
• Sick Building Syndrome
• Full effects still unknown

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Clean Air Inside and Out!
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Asthma

• One in every 15 kids has asthma
• Asthma is the 1 reason for absenteeism from
  school
• Between 1982 and 1994 asthma increased by 72
  among US children
• Asthma cases are projected to double by 2010

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Actual Costs of Asthma

• Direct costs to state from 100,000 childhood
  asthma cases
• Annually between 10 and 35 million
• Direct costs plus estimated future costs between
  14 and 50 million

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Disproportionate Effects

• Asthma related hospitalizations are
  disproportionately higher, and growing faster in
  inner-city areas
• Minority communities suffer higher rates of
  asthma
• Severity of asthma attacks increases with poor
  indoor and outdoor air quality

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Lets Take a Closer Look at Each Issue Area

• Integrated Pest Management

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Integrated Pest Management

• Pesticides are used to control unwanted pests,
  plants and fungus
• Pesticides are poisons
• Often used regularly, instead of in response to
  an actual pest problem
• Often applied when kids are in school and without
  notice

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Integrated Pest Management

• Pesticides are breathed in when they are applied
• Chemicals remain on surfaces for a long time
• Children come into contact with these chemicals
  through daily activities
• 74 of households also use pesticides

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Integrated Pest Management

• Chemicals in pesticides can cause cancer and
  learning disabilities, reproductive, respiratory
  and endocrine effects
• People should reduce exposure to pesticides
  wherever possible
• Integrated Pest Management is more effective to
  control pests

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Integrated Pest Management Basics

• Understand pest varieties and habits
• Design appropriate and targeted pest control
  methods
• Use mechanical pest control methods, such as
  blocking pest entryways or using traps and baits
• Use least-toxic chemicals, if any

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IPM Programs Are Kid-friendly

• Provide valuable science and math lessons
• Students learn cause and effect
• Have a positive role in the school program
• Learn to educate others

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Example IPM School Program

• Los Angeles Unified Integrated Pest Management
  Policy
• Native plant gardens
• Student insect identification classes
• Incentives to keep school clean
• Four schools have won the Green Flag Award for
  RRR and IPM

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Lets Take a Closer Look at Each Issue Area

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Educational and kid-friendly
• Have immediate and visible benefits
• Can save and earn money for schools
• Models for success across the country

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Example RRR School Program

• Herndon High School, Herndon, VA
• Earned over 250,000 since 1989
• Awarded over 175,000 in scholarships to over 150
  graduates
• Recycled over 1,500 tons of waste
• Won 17 local, state and national awards

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Lets Take a Closer Look at Each Issue Area

• Non-Toxic
• Products

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Non-Toxic Products

• Traditional cleaning products can cause
• Learning, speech, and motor skill problems
• Cancer
• Reproductive disorders
• Respiratory diseases
• Eye, nose, throat and skin irritation 

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Reduce the Exposure, Reduce the Risk

• Commonly available, effective and cost
  competitive alternatives are available
• A non-toxic purchasing policy creates a healthier
  learning and working environment
• Non-toxic products improve the health of
  maintenance workers, and reduce risk to students
  and staff

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Example NTP School Program

• Churchill High School, Eugene, Oregon
• Students researched cleaning products, MSDS
  sheets, and identified non-toxic alternatives
• Students educated their peers on the issue
• School replaced all cleaning products with
  non-toxic alternatives

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Using What We Know

• Improving Health Through Precautionary Action

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Chronic Diseases are on the Rise

• 17 of children under 18 in the U.S. have one or
  more developmental disabilities
• Cancer, autism, learning disabilities, attention
  disorders, and asthma incidences in children are
  all on the rise.

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New Chemicals but Limited Information

• 85,000 synthetic chemicals in common use in the
  United States
• 2,000 new chemicals per year
• NO LAW requiring companies to test a chemicals
  effects on human health

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Illnesses linked to environmental toxins

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  affects 3-6 of school children
• Some pesticides cause lifelong hyperactivity in
  rodents exposed to a single small amount on a
  critical day of brain development.

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What Can We Do?

• Precaution and Education
• Proactively pass policies to protect childrens
  growing bodies
• Engage young people now, for the future
• Be on the cutting edge

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State Initiatives

• Vermont Purchasing Policy for Non-Toxic Products
• NY, IL, CA, PA, RI Policies for Integrated Pest
  Management
• Minnesota and Vermont Policies establishing No
  Idling zones
• CA, NY, NH, MN, WA, VT Indoor Air Quality
  Policies
• These are a few among many

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Promoting Precaution and Preventing Harm

• Discover the chemicals that are present in our
  communities
• Minimize our exposure in schools and homes to
  prevent harm
• Encourage policies that choose the least toxic
  method of doing business
• Spread the precautionary word!
• Join other schools nationwide
• Buy non-toxic for our own homes

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The Green Flag Program

• The Green Flag Program allows students and
  educators to investigate innovative strategies to
  make their schools healthier places to work and
  learn.

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For More Information

• Contact the Green Flag Coordinator at The Center
  for Health, Environment and Justice
• (703) 237 2249
• stacey_at_greenflagschools.org
• www.greenflagschools.org