April 27th is National Healthy Schools Day! Making sure the place where your child spends most of their day could not be more scrutinized for safety, yet it also seems to be difficult for many parents to know how to advocate school health. For this important event (and not for just one day, of course), I’m happy to have my first guest writer! Janelle Sorensen is the Senior Writer and Health Consultant for Healthy Child, Healthy World, an advocacy and education organization for kids and parents.  Here’s her take on bringing school health to the forefront of your children’s education.

When my husband and I first toured schools to find the one we wanted to enroll our daughter in, I’m sure I was silently voted one of the strangest parents ever. Why do I feel I was secretly endowed with this title? Because every room and hallway we were taken through, I sniffed. A lot. And, according to my husband, I wasn’t terribly discreet.

I didn’t have a cold or postnasal drip. And, I’m not part bloodhound. I was simply concerned about the indoor air quality. My daughter was (and still is) prone to respiratory illnesses and I wanted to be sure the school she would be attending would support and protect her growing lungs (in addition to her brain). For many air quality issues, your nose knows, so I was using the easiest tool I had to gauge how healthy the environment was.

While air quality is a significant issue in schools (the EPA estimates that at least half of our nation’s 120,000 schools have problems), parents are also increasingly concerned about other school health issues like nutrition and the use of toxic pesticides. Many schools are making the switch to healthier and more sustainable practices like green cleaning, least toxic pest management, and even school gardening. What they’re finding is that greening their school improves the health and performance of students and personnel, saves money (from using less energy, buying fewer products, and having fewer worker injuries among other things), and also helps protect the planet. It’s truly win, win, win.

To highlight the issue, the Healthy Schools Network coordinates National Healthy Schools Day. This year, over three dozen events will be held across the country (and more in Canada) on April 27th to promote and celebrate healthy school environments.

What can you do? Healthy Schools Network recommends simple activities such as:
•    Adopting Guiding Principles of School Environmental Quality as a policy for your School;
•    Distributing information related to Green Cleaning or Indoor Air Quality (IAQ);
•    Writing a letter or visiting your Principal or Facility Director to ask about cleaning products or pest control products;
•    Walking around your school: looking for water stains, cracks in outside walls, broken windows or steps, and overflowing dumpsters that are health & safety problems that need attention. Use this checklist;
•    Writing a Letter to the Editor of your local paper on the importance of a healthy school to all children and personnel.

You can also help support the efforts of states trying to pass policies requiring schools to use safer cleaners. (Or, initiate your own effort!) There are good bills pending in Connecticut, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, and Oregon. According to Claire Barnett, Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network, the key pieces to promote on green cleaning in schools are:
•    Not being fooled by ‘green washing’ claims—commercial products must be third-party certified as green (to verify claims);
•    Understanding that green products are cost-neutral and they work; and,
•    Learning that “Clean doesn’t have an odor.”

She encourages parents and personnel to tune into one of the archived webinars on green cleaning (like the first module for general audiences) at www.cleaningforhealthyschools.org.

The fact of the matter is that whether you’re concerned about the quality of food, cleaning chemicals, recycling, or energy use – schools need our help and support.  Instead of complaining about what’s wrong, it’s time to help do what’s right – for our children, our schools, and our planet.

What are you going to do? There are so many ideas and resources. Find your passion and get active on April 27th – National Healthy Schools Day.

Additional Resources:

•    Creating Healthy Environments for Children (DVD): A short video with easy tips for schools and a variety of handouts to download and print.
•    Getting Your Child’s School to Clean Green: A blog I wrote last year with advice based on my experience working with schools.
•    Healthy Community Toolkit: Healthy Child Healthy World’s tips and tools for being a successful community advocate and some of our favorite organizations working on improving child care and school environments and beyond.
•    The Everything Green Classroom Book: The ultimate guide to teaching and living green and healthy.

Janelle Sorensen is the Senior Writer and Health Consultant for Healthy Child Healthy World. You can also find her on Twitter as @greenandhealthy.

It’s been a busy month for Planet Earth, hasn’t it? Earth Day has turned into a hot commodity, as I’ve evidenced from the huge amount of press releases, commercials, emails, articles, campaigns and events everywhere. Dare I say it’s overwhelming, even for the greenest of greenies?

I’ll be writing more this week about some worthy eco-campaigns, but today I’d like to keep it simple. If it’s possible to tune out the green shouts from the TV and internet, I’m going to suggest having a quiet Earth Day reflecting on what you - not your entire community, your spouse, family, colleagues and friends - and only you (ok, and your kids) can do to help the Earth out in the coming year. It only takes one thing to make a difference, so pick one. When you’re ready, pick another one, and so on and so forth. Some suggestions you may already do, and that’s amazing. The point isn’t to overwhelm, it’s to empower. So have a great Earth Day, every day!

*Plant a seed - it doesn’t need to be an entire garden - flowers and plants clean the air and beautify your home! Choose plants that can live indoors or ourdoors. You may find you’ll soon have the gardening bug!

*Recycle - start with just paper or your plastic and glass. Then move on to bigger things - electronics, etc.

*Buy local - this can be tough for many. If you don’t have a farmer’s market nearby, check to see if a co-op is in your area. If not, check labels on produce at your market. The closer to you the food was harvested, the less energy it took to travel there.

*Give back - and I’m not talking money, either. Cleaning out your closets offer a world of goods you can donate to groups in need. Kid’s clothing, toys, books, housewares, furniture, anything and everything can be used by someone else. You just have to get it to them!

*Read up - library shelves are stocked with green living books. Take some time to find one that speaks to you, to be more inspired to live better!

*Unplug - taking that little plug out of the wall from your toaster, coffee maker, computer, radio, even your TV, will save you money and the planet wasted energy. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there!

*When in doubt, hug a tree - spend some time outside to recharge. Being in nature is the best way to be reminded how amazing our planet is, and how desperately it needs to be restored!

Earth Month is in full swing, anywhere and everywhere you look. And of course, there are contests, prizes, giveaways, etc. to  Brita and Filter For Good wants you to throw your two green cents in with a question and a meme - “How will you FilterForGood this Earth Month?” Your answers to that question can win you some great prizes!

Blake Killian, one of my fellow bloggers over at FilterForGood, tagged me in this meme. So, how will I FilterForGood? Ok, here goes -

*Gardening! My kids have been gardening fools this year, both at home and school. I’d love to continue this, and even try to step it up by growing veggies we can eat and share.

*Bringing green to my daughter’s schools - next week, I’ll be helping the Kindergarten classes with their Earth Day sculptures made from recycled materials parents were asked to bring in. I’d like to take things further in the coming school year with even more eco-educational opportunities, activities and green conservation efforts in our community!

*Going local - there are two new farmer’s markets in our area, hooray! I’m going to be very conscious about where I buy my produce, as well as encourage friends to do the same.

*Read green - I’m truly amazed, and proud, of all the eco-literature being published. This year, I’m going to build my green library beyond home and parenting guides, and read more about economic and social practices around the world.

*Give back - Although times are tough, we always try to give back a little bit to charities big and small. I hope we can continue these efforts in the future!

Now that you’ve read my ideas, how about yours? The rules are simple for this meme. If you’re tagged, post five things you plan to do for the environment this Earth Month on your blog. At the end of your list, tag five of your favorite blogs, and include a link back to this post using the hyperlinked text “FilterForGood Blog Meme Contest.” Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs, or on their Twitter accounts (using the hash tag #FFGBlogMeme). Also, be sure to include these rules at the bottom of your post.

I’m tagging Adam Berg from Earth Promise; Sommer from Green and Clean Mom; my favorite local greenie, Tara Burner; Beth at Petite Planet; and, Micaela the Mindful Momma.

Here’s an added bonus! At the end of Earth Month, FilterForGood will choose a few lucky bloggers who posted their five things to win some Brita gift packs to help you go green! Be sure you link back to the original meme post [http://www.filterforgood.com/blog/?p=1407] to enter the contest! Good luck, and Happy Earth Day!

I’ve been holding on to this giveaway for a few weeks, and after yesterday’s heartbreaking post, I thought something totally light and fun was totally appropriate! I’m sure you’ve been seeing commercials for Disneynature’s first film, simply titled “Earth“. Earth looks absolutely breathtaking (as it should)!

Earth, the first film in the Disneynature series, is narrated by James Earl Jones and tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journey across the planet we all call home.  Earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award-winning “Planet Earth” series combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day 2009.

Earth premieres in theaters nationwide on Earth Day, April 22nd! To get you and your family excited about this breathtaking documentary, Disneynature is giving away a variety of Earth-branded products including a canvas tote, a biodegradable tumbler, and a tree seedling to one lucky reader! Additionally, for every ticket sold for Earth during the first week of it’s release, Disney will plant a tree in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered rainforests in the world. So, make sure you take your kids to see what promises to be a spectacular film, see the earth, and help replace a precious piece of it all at the same time.

To enter, leave a comment on this post describing how you will be spending Earth Day this year! This contest will be open until next Tuesday, April 21st at midnight, PST. Open to US residents only, the winner will be chosen at random. Good luck, and let me know what you think of the film if you go see it!

While we were celebrating Passover with family seders and others were observing Easter yesterday, I was also following two heartbreaking stories, via Twitter, about separate families who each lost young children. Now, while I do have opinions about personal blogging and Twittering, I’m not about to share them right now. But I have to say that I was blown away by the support, both emotionally and financially, that the blogging world/Twitterverse has provided to these families facing too much grief and profound sadness.

In brief:

On April 7th, Heather and Mike Spohr of the blog The Spohrs Are Multiplying (their site is down due to visitor overload) suddenly lost their two-year old daughter, Maddie. Maddie was born prematurely, and her parents are walking for The March of Dimes. Since the news about Maddie broke, their walking team has raised almost $30,000 - an amazing amount of outpouring not only for the Spohrs, but to support March of Dimes as well. I’m proud to have been a walker for March of Dimes for many years, and I’ll be donating this year to Maddie and other families who are walking for their preemie babies. It would be wonderful to continue this outpouring - please visit Maddie’s family page to donate, and be sure to leave your words of support!

Then, also unexpectedly, I saw via a friend that the family of the blog Gorillabuns lost their four month old son, Thalon.  I have been a Gorillabuns reader for only a short time, and am just floored at this news. Sarah from Whoorl has set up a Paypal page for the Myers family, to help with upcoming expenses. Or, if you’d like, just stop by and leave a message for Thalon’s family.

I’ll be spending the rest of the day hugging my girls, and thinking about those who have to suffer through these unimaginable tragedies. My thoughts and prayers go out to all. Thanks for listening.