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Schools K - 12 Resources

Web Sites | Online Publications | Additional Publications

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Web Sites

EPA's Healthy School Environments
This is EPA's Web portal to a vast array of information on environmental issues affecting schools. The site includes links to topics such as school design and construction, energy efficiency, environmental education and waste reduction.

Healthy Schools Network, Inc.
A Web site with lots of links to Internet resources related to school environmental issues ranging from health concerns to conservation.

EPA's Legislation and Regulation
EPA maintains a Web page for environmental legislation and regulation that affects both children and adults. The site also includes links to the National Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse and an interactive tool for protecting children's health in schools.

Energy Efficiency

ENERGYSTAR® for K-12 School Districts
This Web site provides resources and interactive tools to determine your current energy and financial performance and estimate your potential for improvement.

EnergySmart Schools
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office EnergySmart Schools Web-Based Training

California Sustainable Schools
This website provides a collection of sustainable building resources including the numerous benefits, guidelines, programs, case studies and relevant publications. The site is geared toward those interested and involved in designing, developing, and constructing high performance schools, such as school administrators and board officials, developers, architects, planners, researchers, teachers, parents, and others.

The Bright Schools Program
The Bright Schools Program is a service of the Energy Commission in California. They offer technical assistance including new construction design, energy audits and suggestions for selecting contractors. The program requires an application, which can be found on the Web site. A brochure (PDF) (6 pp, 3.5MB, about PDF) for the program is also available.

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Design Tools for Schools
EPA's Web site provides an array of tools intended for school districts and facility planners as they work to build, maintain and renovate school facilities. The site also includes a list of frequently asked questions relating to IAQ.

Managing Asthma in the School Environment
This site contains a list of links for Internet sites aimed at managing facilities that serve asthmatic people.

Healthier Schools: A Review of State Policies for Improving Air Quality
This report published by The Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC, focuses on indoor air quality (IAQ), a key component of a healthy school environment. Indoor air quality has been ranked near the top of environmental risks in a number of government studies.

Pesticides

Beyond Pesticides: The National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides
This Web site offers information and resources on a wide range of pesticide subjects, including issues facing children and schools and sample school integrated pest management (IPM) strategies and policies.

Environmental Education

The Green Squad
This is the National Resource Defense Council's Web site for environmental education in schools. Designed with school children in mind, the site is a useful teaching resource and includes facts sheets and suggestions for improving the local environment.

Keep America Beautiful
This community improvement, non-profit organization works to live up to its name. Focusing on waste reduction through behavior change, Keep America Beautiful develops lesson plans for teachers and emphasizes individual responsibility while recognizing the importance of successful partnerships.

Earth Day Network
Consider hosting an Earth Day or Earth Week celebration. The Earth Day Network connects and promotes Earth Day events around the world, providing an online listing of activist groups in your area. The site provides materials, resources and guides with free membership.

America Recycles Day (ARD)
Conduct an education campaign in conjunction with ARD on November 15th each year! This Web site sponsors this annual campaign with the goal of educating and encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products throughout the U.S.

Waste Reduction

Tools to Reduce Waste in Schools
This publication helps your school and school district reduce the amount of waste you generate. You'll learn how to start a waste reduction program or expand an existing one. The guide will show you how your program can benefit your school, your community, and the environment by reducing, reusing, and recycling your waste.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
The EPA Web site offers an overview of the recycling process at municipal sites, provides statistics, and suggests publications and additional sites for selecting the most appropriate waste steam to target.

California Waste Management Board
This site houses waste reduction resources, California schools' profiles, case studies, and contact information for assistance implementing your own waste reduction program.

Earth 911
Find recycling centers in your community for aluminum, electronics, hazardous waste, motor oil and more. Also, learn the benefits of recycling, air pollution prevention, energy conservation and more.

Procurement

Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines
EPA's guidelines are a substantial portion of the "buy recycled" program. This site provides suggestions for the percentage of recycled content in many products and includes links to the 2007 Buy Recycled Series.

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Online Publications


IAQ Tools for Schools Fact sheet (13 pp, 115K, about PDF)
This one-page fact sheet provides an overview of the IAQ Tfs program, including information on how to implement an IAQ management plan and receive public recognition for your efforts.

California Waste Management Board
This site offers a list of electronic publications that you can obtain at no cost, including case studies and curriculum planners.

Collaborative for High Performance Schools
Best Practices Manual from The Collaborative for High Performance Schools

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Additional Publications

Healthy School, Healthy You
This site offers audio archives from the conference held at the University of Illinois, Chicago. These audio archives include best practices for schools, educators and parents and workshops on health and safety laws and EHS integration issues in schools.

Wisconsin Green Schools Program
This web based, voluntary program is available to all public and private K-12 schools across Wisconsin. The program encourages teachers, staff and students to work together to use the school, its grounds, and the whole community as learning tools to help teach sound environmental practices and promote environmental sustainability.

Love a Tree
This year's kit is all about trees and their role in energy. The kit includes activities correlated to the 3rd, 4th and 6th grades Standards of Learning (SOLs) for Virginia such as Mapping Your Schoolyard and Web of Life. It also includes the materials and supplies necessary to conduct them in your classroom as well as a video about how to start an Outdoor Classroom produced by the Department of Education.

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