School for the Blind Marching Band

On Saturday my husband and I went to a pep rally before a college football game, and featured there was a group of amazing young people, The Ohio State School for the Blind. What is especially exciting about this school is that their marching band has been selected to march in the 2010 Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California. Yes, folks, I said march. Assisted by sighted marchers, this band consisting of 17 members will be heading cross-country to be the first blind band to march in the legendary parade.

When I first learned of this, I was overcome with emotion. This is about young people doing amazing things, deserving amazing opportunities, and embarking on uncharted territory. You better believe that I will be looking for them on TV as I watch the 2010 parade, and I will be cheering them on from 3000 miles away!

Veggies and Fruit and Nutrition, Oh my!

In conjunction with a grant from Ohio Action for Healthy Kids, a local elementary school initiated a "Take a Taste" program which gives children a chance to sample different fruits and vegetables. The monthly program offers elementary school children a taste of healthy foods that they might not typically find in an ordinary snack pack. The goal is to increase nutrition in young people by exposing them to a variety of nutritious foods. School is a great lab for this program because healthy kids equates to more on-task, alert, and energized students. What a wonderful and fun way to invest in a child's healthy and education!

Healthy schools

While reading the latest issue of Kiwi Magazine, I read about this website: MyHealthySchool.com. The website provides teachers, administrators and parents with ideas and resources for creating greener, healthier, and more socially responsible schools. 

While there are plenty of available resources surrounding nutrition and organic eating in schools, MyHealthySchools.com not only addresses school food but also school supplies, lesson plans, school grounds and gardens, field trips, parent involvement, assemblies and more. 

One might think that the ideas and resources available on the website are common sense, but for whatever unfortunate reason, there are hundreds of schools failing to make green choices.

For instance, just last year I worked at an elementary school. On a daily basis, I witnessed an unimaginable amount of waste accumulation. During lunch alone, students filled multiple 50-gallon trash cans with styrofoam trays, plastic bottles, uneaten food, paper bags and aluminum wrappers. In the classrooms, pounds of paper and toxic craft materials were disposed into trash cans. When I asked why non-paper recycling was not offered in the cafeteria, I was told that the city was charging the schools over $100 per recycling receptacle. That's ludicrous! This school did offer recycling bins for paper only, although many classrooms were not utilizing them.

But with the support of educators, administrators, parents and students, schools can easily become environmentally-friendly institutions. Not to mention, a green school is more economically efficient. Think of all the money saved if we stopped buying disposable packaging for our children's lunches and if we taught our children how to utilize scrap paper. 

And by investing in green schools we are also reducing the risk for children and educators to suffer in pollutant and toxic educational environments (see Going green to save our children). 

Finally, children who are fortunate enough to attend a school that makes the environment a priority are likely to learn how to make choices that enrich their environment, their community and their own life.

Going green to save our children

I recently read an article highlighting the Love Canal, a Niagara Falls neighborhood built atop tons of chemical waste. While reading this article, I became quite upset for two reasons: 1) We still have children attending schools near or on toxic waste, and 2) The toxic waste could have been prevented if only we had been taking better care of our environment.

Fortunately, we can prevent future schools from being built atop chemical landfills. Thanks to a nationwide awareness of environmentally safe(r) products and choices, we have access to many items and ideas that contribute to a green lifestyle. 

I absolutely believe that children should not be spending 35+ hours a week on top of chemical waste - that is irresponsible and possibly deadly for the children and school personnel. But ideally, the chemical waste would not be there to begin with. Of course, that is best-case-scenario, but reducing our carbon footprint should be a priority. Does it enrage anyone else that we have children literally seizing because they are exposed to such pollution every single day??? 

Being green isn't hard, but I recognize that it isn't easy either. I only ask that you think about one or two ways that you can make eco-friendly choices - it just might save our next generation of young people.