Healthy and green resource books
“Healthy Child, Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home” by Christopher Gavigan. A must read for parents or parents to be to understand what is at stake for their child. Read this before you get pregnant. Available through bookstores.
www.healthychild.org
“Healthy School Handbook” by Norma Miller, Ed. This book was published in 1995 by the NEA Professional Library. It is a helpful compendium of chapters written by various experts in the field of education, medicine and environmental health.
“Home Safe Home” by Debra Lynn Dadd. Debra also has a very informative website that includes her list of “greenest of the green products” and a “green living Q & A” section. You can click on a topic and you are guaranteed to learn a lot of extremely helpful information. That website is: http://www.dld123.com/debraslist/index.html
“Less- Toxic Living” by Carolyn Gorman Lists unhealthy household products and ingredients and offers less toxic or non-toxic alternatives.
Available through the American Environmental Health Center – Dallas.
8345 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 225, Dallas, TX 75231
214-368-4132 or 800-428-2343
“Prescriptions for a Healthy House: A Practical Guide for Architects, Builders and Homeowners ” by Paula Baker Laporte, Erica Elliott, M.D., and John Banta.
Are you remodeling or building a new house? This book is an invaluable resource on safer home practices and building materials. Gives web sites and contact information of manufacturers. The latest updated version was released in May, 2008.
“Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care” by Alan Greene, M.D. The best time to read this useful publication is before you ever get pregnant! There is a lot of helpful information plus additional references that will help you make healthier decisions for you and your baby. Available in bookstores.
“The Toxic Sandbox” by Libby McDonald
Discusses the sources of and how to limit your child’s exposure to mercury, lead, plastics, air pollution, PCBs and Flame retardants, pesticides.
Penguin Publishing …available through book stores.
Become informed
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) - has a very informative website that will help you be a more informed consumer, parent and advocate for your child in school.
They will soon release their Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies --so you can make smarter and healthier shopping choices for your kids, family and environment.
http://www.chej.org
Environmental Defense – provides a wide range of information and in depth studies on their website including a list of safe and unsafe seafood, and air pollution concerns with special initiatives regarding school buses. Their website states “We start with rigorous science. Then we work directly with businesses, government and communities. Together, we can create lasting solutions to the most serious environmental problems.”
www.edf.org
Do you enjoy eating seafood, but wonder about the contaminants in them? www.oceansalive.org reports the least and most contaminated and endangered fish, which can be downloaded into a handy pocket-sized list. Take this with you to the store.
Environmental Working Group – Has on their website a report on the toxicity of cosmetics and personal care products. You can enter in your favorite products and learn if they contain any health hazards. www.ewg.org
Their 2005 Report studied the chemicals found in newborn umbilical cord blood. This is an eye-opening report that certainly points to chemical contaminants – many known to be carcinogens and toxic to the brain and nervous system. http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php
This same organization also provides a list of 43 common fruits and vegetables ranked in order of pesticide residues from worst to least. www.foodnews.org
GOOGLE: EPA – Children’s Environmental Health: 2006 Report. Read the 2006 Report from the EPA on the environment, health and a focus on children. It contains well-documented information and lists many additional resources.
What Foods Should You Only Buy ORGANICALLY grown? The website below also has a downloadable, pocket sized list of the fruits and vegetables which tend to have the most to least pesticide residues. Read through this website for links about integrated pest management techniques, also.
www.grinningplanet.com/2006/update-2005-05-24/pesticides-in-food.htm
The Environmental Health Perspective Online has a thorough and easy to read collection of articles related to all aspects of health and the environment including information on playgrounds, and pesticides. Open the website listed and open the box on the lower left hand side of the home page labeled “The Children’s Environmental Health Institute” www.ehponline.org
Healthy Schools
The Healthy Schools Network …http://www.healthyschools.org. They send out regular e-mails updating parents and school officials on many issues surrounding healthy and safe school operations.
Educational Curriculum Resources
How to make a worm compost…The da Vinci School 2007-08 kindergarten students share how and why. This can be found at the end of this document
The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) has an energy education curriculum for schools. http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/ Click on Energy Education Curriculum. Also, click on “links” for additional educational resources and articles.
Sustainable Skylines – Dallas is promoting a clean and healthy environment for our city. You can read about initiatives and your organization can become a partner with the city – like The da Vinci School .
www.sustainableskylines.org/Dallas/
For more curriculum ideas on reduce, reuse and recycle, check out the following:
www.education-world.com - Search: Reduce, reuse, recycle
Where to find products
Green Guard Indoor Air Guardians…The Greenguard website lists products that they have tested and are safe to use with a special listing - Green Guard Certification for Children and Schools. Look under “Products” on their website.
http://www.greenguard.org
The Green Seal certification program also evaluates products against a standard that is considered healthier within the parameters they define. You can review their standards and the products they have certified.
http://www.greenseal.org
TheGreenOffice.com is an online office products retailer providing one-stop
shopping focused on green, sustainable products. Their mission is to make
workplace greening easy and cost-effective.
Current Energy…the nation’s first energy efficient store. Their stores supply a wide range of products and services for your home and business. From books and backpacks to home heating and insulation systems, Current Energy is a fabulous resource.
Open their website to find store locations…
www.currentenergy.com
Progressive Kid: great and really stylin' backpacks and some lunch bags.
Green does not have to be geeky! -
http://www.progressivekid.com/shop/ecopacksandbags.aspx
ReusableBags.com - Reusable bags of all kinds for kids and adults alike can be viewed here:
http://www.reusablebags.com/store/lunch-bags-c-4.html
Laptop Lunches - A whole "Bento Box" system of reusable containers and
utensils to pack a healthy and waste-free lunch!http://www.laptoplunches.com/
Want to make your own environmentally cleaning solutions? http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions
Or Google: “Homemade cleaning products” for several websites offering formulas that will allow you to save money while protecting your environment.
Kindergarten tells the “How and Why” you should compost with worms!
Now for the “How”!
1. Container – You’ll need a container to house your worms. We keep ours in the classroom, there is no smell. A variety of containers can be found on-line. Search “google” for “worm composting”.
2. Bedding – A variety of bedding materials will work. We are currently using pine bark mulch and newspaper.
3. Worms – You can order red wigglers online. You only need to order worms to get started. They will multiply in your bin!
4. Feeding the worms – Any fruit or veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags and even egg shells can be buried in your bin. No meat or dairy, they will smell.
5. Every 6 months or so you “harvest” the rich compost soil from your bin and give the worms new bedding to start over. You need to mix 1 part compost to 1 part soil. It is great for houseplants and outdoor plants.
6. Resources - We used the book Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof.
There are also great resources online such as www.wormwoman.com
and http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/history/index.html.
The “why” is easy!
Gillian says, “A worm bin helps the plants.”
Morgan says, “You can study the worms.”
Harrison says, “If you don’t want the peels from your fruit they can turn it into compost.”
Shae says, “You can feed them.”
Brendan says, “There are worms in the planet. We don’t want the birds to eat them.
Mason says, “Worms make more dirt and that is good for helping the planet.”
Ryan says, “They make more dirt for our gardens.”
Emily says, “We eat a banana, where does the peel go? It always goes in the trash can. If you have a worm bin you can give it to the worms and that makes less litter.”
Jacob says, “The worms will make more dirt for your garden and make your flowers live for a long time.”
Brandes says, “If you can get a worm, you can make a worm bin. You get lots of dirt and feed it a banana peel. In like 2 weeks it is gone.”
John-Rosser says, “So the worms can eat the food that people don’t eat.”
Logan says, “You can do experiments to see if the food disappears or not.”
