Children's Environmental Health

Recent Updates

National Healthy Schools Day - April 30, 2013
Please visit the Healthy Schools Network website  for more information about how you can promote National Healthy Schools Day in your area.

Green Strides Webinar Series
The EPA Indoor Environments Division and the U.S. Department of Education are hosting the Green Strides Webinar Series. This webinar series provides information to help schools become clean, green, and healthy. Please see the website for a list of upcoming webinars, and to review past webinars. A list of upcoming webinars is below.

• Apr. 10, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: Pathways to Green Jobs and Careers in Natural Resources (USDA) 
  • Are you prepared to enter into a meaningful green career? If you are not, then this webinar is perfect for you. With record numbers of people out of work, the prospect of an emerging green economy is increasingly viewed as the light at end of a tunnel. The green industry has been growing at a phenomenal pace over the past five years. Massive investments in clean energy promise to keep farmers, urban planners, and green-tech entrepreneurs in business for the next decade. The United Nations is projecting the green industry to swell to nearly $1.5 trillion. This webinar will feature high level participation from the USDA, experts in this emerging realm along with Green Team students who aspire to embrace Green jobs as a career pursuit.

• Apr. 24, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: GreenSchools & STEM (USFS/PLT) 
  • STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering, and Math) is a term that has become more and more popular as the federal government pushes for improvements in student performance in these vital areas. Whether you're a teacher, administrator, parent or student Green Team member, this webinar will demonstrate how STEM can be seamlessly integrated into the school curriculum using the US Forest Service /Project Learning Tree GreenSchools! Investigations and grant program as a model for schools.

• April 30, 2013, 2-3 p.m.: School Environmental Health Assessment and Team Building (EPA) 
  • This webinar addresses how to use tools like the Sensible Steps Quick Assessment to complete a school environmental health check-up; strategies you can use to create awareness and build effective teams; and low or no cost steps to address common school environmental health issues.

• May 1, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: Bringing Climate Change Home (USDA) 
  • Vicki Arthur will lead participants through a wide range of education resources from the U.S. Forest Service for teaching about climate change. Forest Service researchers have been observing and studying the effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems for over 30 years. Learn how your students can collect and enter tree data to quantify and put a dollar value on the services that your school yard trees provide. Find out what species and planting locations will provide the most energy savings for your school building. Discover an interactive atlas where students can learn about computer modeling while observing the potential effects of different emissions scenarios on the ranges of birds and trees. Find out about our newest distance learning project, ClimateChangeLIVE, which features interactive webcasts to classrooms, webinars, and online educational resources and social networks. Explore these and many more science-based resources which will bring climate change closer to home; helping to answer the question, "What does climate change mean to me?"

• May 8, 2013, 2-3 p.m.: Drinking Water Best Management Practices for Schools and Child Care Facilities (EPA) 
  • This webinar will cover the best management practices for drinking water in a school or child care facility. Specifically, the webinar will describe practices a school or child care facility can implement to reduce lead and bacteria in their facility, how to avoid cross contamination, protect your water source, and conserve water.

• May 15, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: Engaging your community on Green Apple Day of Service (USGBC)

• May 22, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: Teacher Ranger Teacher (NPS)
  • Discover how to teach your class about the environment, outdoor recreation and our nation's historic places by participating in the Teacher-Ranger-Teacher professional development program. Work alongside National Park Service rangers and education specialists in the development, implementation and evaluation of environmental education, outdoor recreation, or history and civics education programs. This webinar will explain how the program works and what you can bring back to your classroom.

• May 29, 2013, 4-5 p.m.: Authentic Student Voice and Leadership in GreenSchools! (USFS/PLT) 
  • In a growing number of Project Learning Tree GreenSchools! across the United States, students are becoming involved in decision-making activities that affect their environment and community as well as themselves, their peers, and their whole school. When we say student voice we are talking about more than simplylistening to students. Student voice is the individual and collective perspective and actions of young people within the context of learning and education. Many of today's young people share a concern for building, maintaining, and serving community and only lack a platform. This webinar will feature dynamic Green Team student leaders who will share compelling and personal testimonials about the transformative power of student leadership in the Green Schools movement.