STRAIGHTEN UP - Natural Awakenings

healthykids
GREEn
KiDs Clubs
Highlighting Hope for the Future
The goals of green kids clubs range from benchmarking environmental
progress to fundraising for local eco-causes. The kids not only have fun,
they feel empowered to make a difference in a scarred and scary world.
Green clubs attract youth of many ages. In Needham,
Massachusetts, elementary school students formed a
Safe Routes to School Green Kids Newman Club and
promoted the concept of the Walking School Bus to help classmates
walk safely to school as a group. “We started this group
because we wanted more kids to walk,” Maya, a fourth-grader,
explained to local journalists.
They even made and posted appealing safety signs throughout
the community. Stephen, another fourth-grader, said: “I feel
like it’s doing something for the world. It’s teaching people to
be safe, try and walk and try to save the Earth.”
Students from New York City Public School 334, the Anderson
School, organized a Power Patrol this year. “The kids
would go around the school unplugging unused appliances,
turning off lights and taking meter readings, so they could
see how much they could bring down electricity use,” says
Pamela French, a mother and school volunteer who is working
on a documentary film about how the Big Apple’s schools
can go greener. The students also participated in the citywide
student-driven energy competition, the Green Cup Challenge,
sponsored by The Green Schools Alliance.
Another school initiative, Trash Troopers, had students monitoring
their cafeteria’s recycling bins, ensuring that diners properly
sort milk cartons from compostable items. “They particularly like
18 Chicago North & North Shore www.NAChicagoNorth.com
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painting monsters on recycling bins,” says French.
At St. Philip the Apostle School, in Addison, Illinois, three
middle school students founded Recycle Because You Care to
encourage recycling by the larger community. The teens distribute
recycling bins and show residents how to properly use them.
A few years ago, students at Westerly Middle School, in Rhode
Island, decided to do something about global warming, so they
formed a junior club of Westerly Innovations Network, a local
student-led community service team. Under the banner, Project
TGIF – Turn Grease Into Fuel, they placed a grease receptacle at the
All student project photos are used with permission.