Do you know where your pension coming from? For some US teachers, it’s Chinese coal.

The Chinese coal industry is known for its lucrative returns: the China Shenhua Energy Co. gained 65% from July to September, and many investors claim they can’t afford not to be in China. In fact, 20% of Shenhua’s stock is held by U.S. investors — one of whom is the Teachers Retirement System of Texas.

But China’s coal is also a huge polluter. According to the New York Times, China uses more coal than the US, the EU, and Japan combined, contributing an enormous amount of CO2 to the atmosphere. Coal-fired plants emit more than 60 different hazardous air pollutants. The large amounts of sulfur dioxide produced by Chinese coal cause acid rain, which pollutes water sources. But because of China’s rapidly advancing economy, the country needs energy — fast and cheap. Coal-fired plants are much cheaper and quicker to build than natural gas, nuclear, or hydroelectric plants, and it’s widely available.

China’s booming coal industry is also harmful to its citizens, producing so much sulfur dioxide that the World Bank estimated 400,000 premature deaths happen each year due to pollution-related illnesses. Not only that, but as much as 40% of air pollution in South Korea and Japan is believed to originate in China, and many experts believe that pollution from China is reaching the western part of the United States.

Do Texas teachers know where their pensions are coming from? For that matter, are other teacher retirement systems investing in Chinese Big Coal? I checked out Missouri’s Public School Retirement System, in which my husband and I have each invested. With my little financial knowledge, I was able to determine that PSRS has invested with Merrill Lynch, which is a shareholder in Shenhua. Just how much of my money is in coal remains to be seen. Looks like it’s time to work towards divestment…

Source: Associated Press

Many green parents (and doctors) have long thought that increased exposure to environmental toxins can lead to childhood diseases such as asthma, cancers, birth defects, and developmental disorders. CNN.com even ran a story last week about industrial chemical buildup in children’s bloodstreams. Now, the Shaklee Foundation and HealthyChild.org have teamed up to produce a new DVD that provides information for parents, teachers, school administrators, and child care professionals on five easy steps to create healthy environments for children.

Creating Healthy Environments for Children features Private Practice’s Amy Brenneman as host with Ben Harper providing music. Pediatricians Dr. Philip Landrigan and Dr. Alan Greene provide their expertise, as well. Their five major tips include:

• Avoid using pesticides
• Clean safely
• Help children breathe easier
• Provide healthy food
• Use plastic products wisely.

Pop the DVD in your computers, and you’ll find three tool kits, one each for home, child care centers, and schools, that provide resources for making each environment safer for children. The tool kits also give advice for community outreach and activism on safer environments for children.

The DVD will be released in November and retails for $12.95. More information can be found on HealthyChild.org’s website. HealthyChild.org is also releasing a similar book Healthy Child, Healthy World, in March of 2008

On April 14, 2007, Step it Up 2007 facilitated over 1400 different rallies in all 50 states urging Congress to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050. It was the largest day of citizen actions on global warming in history, and it truly was citizen action. Although Step It Up 2007 was the brainchild of Bill McKibben and several former Middlebury College students, the success of the event was contingent on grassroots efforts by everyday people concerned about the environment.

In McKibben and the Step It Up Team’s new book, Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community (Henry Holt, $13.00), the authors show how normal, everyday people, without any community organizing background, were able to create successful events to rally support for addressing climate change. Reflecting on the success of Step It Up allows the authors to repeat what worked–and discard what didn’t. Their seven tips (make it credible, snappy, collaborative, meaningful, creative, wired and seductive) are a framework for understanding how community organizing works in the 21st century.

The book is a quick read written in simple, conversational tone that empowers the reader. Really? Is it that easy to organize a rally? McKibben and group seem to think so, and highlight many anecdotes from the first Step It Up to show how novice activists can create powerful events. These anecdotes also serve as a type of scrapbook of the first Step It Up 2007, illuminating the hundreds of events and thousands of individual experiences. Just in case you might need some help with your own event, the authors clearly outline areas for concentration to establish credibility, drum up publicity, and finance your event. There’s also a resources page directing you to further reading on both climate change, activism, and other resources necessary for creating your own successful event. From online networking to how to create aeriel art, from media attention to attracting politicians, someone who did it for April’s Step It Up has advice for you.

McKibben and team make it seem so simple. How else can they get people to realize that we have everything we need to be activists? We don’t need to sit around and wait for Al Gore to organize a carbon-spewing concert. We all have within us the ability to lead, to create, to organize. They’re just providing a little push. If you’ve ever wanted to organize, but never thought you could, this is a must-read that will give you the tools you need to call yourself an activist and organizer. Step It Up is happening again on November 3rd. It’s never too late to get organized. In fact, the theme for November’s event is "Who’s A Leader?"

Fight Global Warming Now was released October 22nd.

Sustainability is making its way into mainstream periodicals. It seems like almost every magazine in the past year has featured a "green" issue, some credible, some not. My friend just gave me the green issue of a magazine targeted at the marketing industry. So it’s no surprise that Edutopia, an education magazine for teachers and administrators published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, used sustainability as a theme for their October issue.

Kudos to Edutopia; this issue ain’t no puff piece. Every teacher looking to go green, or those already greening their classroom, can find something of use to them in this jam-packed issue. The editor’s note in the issue is penned by guest editor Bill McKibben of Step It Up fame, who skillfully explains why all teachers should and can incorporate sustainability into their curriculum.

Edutopia listens to McKibben’s advice by provided several ideas for sustainability lesson plans and projects for all ages. Not only are there many useful ideas in the magazine, but there are more on the magazine’s website. There are also tips for teachers, by teachers, about how to green up their own classroom practices: some helpful, some fairly obvious.

Sara Bernard highlights Clackamas High School in Clackamas, Oregon, one of the first LEED-certified schools in the country. Not only is their building green, but their curriculum highlights sustainability, and students all participate in experiential learning. In teacher Rod Shroufe’s sustainable systems class, students do nothing but focus on making their school more sustainable. They run their own recycling center, investigate energy use and waste disposal, and analyze food waste. Shroufe then offers his own tips for making schools more eco-friendly.

Richard Rapaport reports on school gardens and playgrounds. I’ve written about schoolyard gardens before, but the nature-based "alternative playgrounds" highlighted here were new to me — and quite fascinating. For example, at the San Francisco School in the Bernal Heights District of San Francisco, the alternative playground has a dirt plot with a water pump that creates mud with the perfect consistency for mud castles and pies.

There are also articles on student environmental research, experiential learning, and environmental defense efforts. It struck me how much students can accomplish when they become passionate about something. These articles paired nicely with two pieces on the nuances of talking to kids about something as urgent and pressing as global warming. Edutopia also has Ann Cooper’s opinion on local eating, something often avoided in green magazine issues in favor of more benign lifestyle changes (like the ubiquitous CFL). Cooper not only explains the benefits of local eating, but provides the laundry list of local eating books for those looking for more information. And, of course, what green magazine issue would be complete without the seemingly-requisite interview with Ed Begley, Jr?

Edutopia’s green issue is legitimate and will hopefully bring the message of sustainability to a greater crowd who may just have more influence on the future than our politicians: our teachers. Of course, I’m biased, but climate change and environmental destruction will impact future generations more than they will impact us. Our children deserve to hear the message and feel empowered to make positive changes.

Do you know a teen who wants to change the world? By Kids For Kids and their social networking site for teens, Idea Locker, launched a new contest for teens. The Going Green Challenge, a partnership with The Weather Channel, asks teens to create new products or services that could aid is solving global environmental problems, including climate change, drought, and famine.

The teen with the winning idea will not only win $10,000, but will win an "connection to reality" prize: an opportunity to blog on the "11th Hour Action" website, a tie-in to Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate-change film, The 11th Hour. The winner will also get to shadow one of the experts from 11th Hour Action in their work environment. The challenge officially runs from now until December 31st, and all youth under the age of 19 are eligible to participate. Teens who want to enter must do so via BKFK’s website.

"The connection-to-reality prize is especially exciting for us at BKFK, " said BKFK Founder and CEO Norman Goldstein. "As it empowers the winner to have their idea heard along with one of the most captivating movies of our time."

Idea Locker is a social networking site marketed towards teens that allows them to add friends, chat, and share ideas online. It is the brainchild of By Kids For Kids, a global marketing, branding and licensing company dedicated to make teens’ ideas a reality.

When I was in elementary school, we walked to and from school almost every day when the weather allowed. The bane of my existence was the (in my eyes) Everest-like hill on Hull Avenue on the east side of Des Moines. Hull Avenue is home to a notoriously-thrilling sledding hill that was enjoyable on snow days, but I dreaded trudging up that hill at the end of school days. I was so glad when I moved on to middle school so I could enjoy a relatively flat walk home.

I’m still walking home after school: this time, from the high school where I teach in St. Louis. Hopefully, I’m not alone. October is International Walk To School Month, and schools around the world are joining in. In 1969, 42% of children walked or biked to school; in 2001, less than 16% did. Interestingly enough, more than 1/3 of children live within a mile of school, but less than half of those students walk or bike even one day per week. Among 9 to 13 year-old children, 61.5% do not engage in organized physical activity during non-school hours, and 22.6% do not participate in any free-time physical activity.

Ditching the car and walking to school (or work) is not just good for the environment; it increases your activity level, a huge benefit during a time when childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing. Walking also reduces congestion in traffic, creates social time for neighborhood kids, raises awareness and analysis of walkability of neighborhoods, and reduces crime by taking back neighborhoods for foot traffic.

Unfortunately, with sprawling communities, students are living further and further from their schools. Even if you live relatively far from your school, many communities are promoting the month by having kids walk around the track after they get off the bus. In Ayer, MA, students at Page Hilltop school walked between 1/2 mile and 1 1/2 miles, either once or twice per week, while the school pumped music out to walkers. About half of the school’s 500 students participated. 2006’s Walk To School Month had millions of participants worldwide, and over 50% of event organizers at schools reported that their Walk to School events resulted in policy or engineering changes that would improve safety for walkers and bicyclists in their school community, such as new sidewalks or bike paths. Other schools are creating a party along the way, with balloons and music provided by parents along heavily-traveled routes.

For more information, especially on how to organize a Walk to School event in your school community, check out their website.

When Amy wrote about green magazines, she mentioned GOOD as being one of her favorites. I, too, a self-described magazine junkie, am a big fan of GOOD since it’s inception last year. With all the depressing news out there on any given day, GOOD always reaffirms my faith in humanity. Its focus is, like its name implies, good stuff: those things that are making our world a little bit better, and when I’m feeling down about what’s going on around me, GOOD usually perks me up. It’s a rare magazine that doesn’t need an annual "green" issue: sustainability has been a priority since the magazine was founded.

The latest issue (Sept/Oct 07) is no exception. The issue, which commemorates their one-year anniversary, focuses on design solutions. A topic I covered a while back, green schools, gets a feature nod from Eva Steele-Saccio. Steele-Saccio highlights different schools’ efforts to reduce their footprint and become more energy efficient, and acknowledges that there are benefits beyond energy savings: "Green schools create a healthy atmosphere for learning that has measurable results. The combination of natural light, fresh air, open plans, and multi-use facilities that encourage community involvement has helped student test scores rise by 20% and reduced asthma rates by 39%."

There’s also a feature about a village in England that launched a community effort to reduce their carbon footprint, with the ultimate goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral village in the U.K. GOOD’s product reviews almost always include items produced with sustainability in mind, and in this issue, they create a proposal for better CFL packaging: create a package that can be used to ship burned-out bulbs back to the producer for proper disposal. There’s also a profile of Rogan Gregory, founder of clothing company Loomstate, who was virtually responsible for bringing organic cotton to the fashion industry though his work with Loomstate, and his other two companies, Rogan and Edun

Even subscribing to GOOD can make you feel good: 100% of your $20 subscription costs goes to your choice of twelve charities, including the World Wildlife Fund and Oceana. Good is printed on 30% recycled post-consumer paper that is EcoLogic certified, and 100% offset by projects Good is actually involved in.

The September/October issue of GOOD is on newsstands now.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education announced on Friday four Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards in four different categories. Two other schools were named honorable mention. The awards were given during the 7th biennial Greening of the Campus conference held at Ball State University.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College (Chandler, AZ) won in the community college and other two-year institutions category. Green Mountain College (Poultney, VT) won in the four-year and graduate institution (under 1,000 students) category. Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) won in the four-year and graduate institution (1,000-7,500 students) category. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) won in the four-year and graduate institution (over 7,500 students) category.

Chandler-Gilbert’s president, Maria Hesse, was one of the first presidents to sign the American College & University President’s Climate Committment. The College is part of a city-wide system that uses reclaimed water for irrigation. Two of Chandler-Gilbert’s campuses use energy management systems to ensure energy efficiency, and all new buildings will be built according to LEED standards.

For Green Mountain College, the environment and sustainability are unifying themes on campus. Environmental awareness is infused into every aspect of the curriculum, and all students must take courses in sustainability. Students installed a wind turbine to power the campus greenhouse and solar panels on the student center. The remaining energy needs are met partially by electricity generated from methane from local dairy cow manure.

Middlebury College has pledged to become climate-neutral by the year 2016. Bill McKibben is a scholar-in-residence there, and Step It Up 2007 was largely organized by Middlebury alumni. 25% of Middlebury’s dining budget goes towards locally grown and produced food, and the college recycles 60% of its waste. The campus uses solar and wind-generated power for portions of its energy needs, and has an Environmental Council, a committee of students, staff, and faculty, that advises the president of the college on sustainability policies.

Michigan State University has been a leader in large campus sustainability by committing to a 2% annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, along with meeting LEED standards for all new buildings on campus. MSU has an extensive recycling program, sustainability speakers, and funds student-designed sustainability projects. It even hosts a green roofs research program. One look around their extensive "Ecofoot" website tells you that this is a campus that takes its sustainability seriously.

Honorable mentions were awarded to Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA) and University of California, Berkeley.

When giving your kids, "the talk", it always helps to have a book as back-up. It justifies your broaching a sensitive, potentially uncomfortable topic like…global warming. And although conservation and environmentalism is a topic for all ages, those children in pre-adolescence are just about ready to hear about the big guns of climate change. Three recent children’s books broach the topic of climate change to your middle-grades children (ages 9-12); two were penned by celebrities of the green world.

Following on the heels of the successful An Inconvenient Truth of almost the same name, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming (Penguin Young Readers, $23.00), aims to present the same ideas from the documentary to a younger audience. The text of this book is excellent: it simplifies the ideas of the original film without talking down to young readers.

An Inconvenient Truth producer Laurie David and Cambria Gordon’s The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming (Scholastic $15.99) aims to educate kids about why global warming is happening, how it is affecting our planet, and what kids can do to protect our earth. The book is packed with gorgeous photos, graphs and charts, making it accessible to visual learners, and little jokes scattered throughout the pages might be amusing to adults, as well. The Guide is even printed with soy ink on 100% FSC-certified, post-consumer recycled paper.

Finally, Gas Trees and Car Turds (Fulcrum, $16.95), written by Kirk R. Johnson, curator or the Denver Natural History museum, and illustrated by Colorado naturalist Mary Ann Bonnell, is a quick read that breaks down the science behind global warming and carbon dioxide so that children can understand it. While not as high-profile as the other two books, it does focus on explaining carbon dioxide as an invisible something that connects almost everything.

The college years are an exciting transitional time for young people. Many are off on their own for the first time, and they’re faced with responsibility for their own actions and their own well-being. For some teens, college is the first time they experience autonomy, and the variety of choices they’re faced with can be overwhelming, and the pressure of making green choices might just be too much to handle. There are, however, five simple choices they can make in their transition into adulthood that can easily lessen their footprint while in college.

• Walk. Almost all college campuses are designed to be walker-friendly. This might be the easiest time to get rid of your car. However, if being completely car-free isn’t an option, park it and leave it. Campus parking is notoriously frustrating, and keeping your car parked in a lot is a lot easier than futilely circling said lot. Use your feet, a bike, or campus transportation to get from your dorm to class to the library. If your school is in a larger city, most public transit systems offer student discounts on monthly, semester-long, or yearly passes.
• Eat greener. Dining halls have come a long way. Now, they’re catering to student demands, and the variety of food choices is endless. Choosing a diet based in whole-grains, fruits and vegetables, and lean proteins from plants sources, such as beans and nuts, will not only reduce your carbon footprint, but will help fight off the dreaded freshman 15. Many dining halls are getting with the program and offering a wider-variety of meat-free entrees, and partnering with local farms to offer organic and local produce. If yours doesn’t, take advantage of those student dining surveys to express a preference for local, organic, and fair-trade food choices.
• Choose green cleaning products. Hopefully, most college kids helped out around the house at home, but those same kids probably didn’t have a lot of input as to the cleaning products they used. When cleaning in their dorms, whether it be the bathroom, their room, or their laundry, choosing biodegradable cleaning products keeps petroleum use to a minimum and minimizes toxins in their environment. Check out products from Mrs. Meyer’s, Method, Seventh Generation, or make your own.
• Recycle. With the push in the higher-ed community to go green, recycling may be more convenient on college campuses than it is in the general community. "Trash rooms" in dorms, where students dispose of their garbage, almost always have recycling bins for cardboard, plastic, glass, cans, and paper. Furnishing a dorm room with two separate receptacles, one for trash and one for recyclables, makes disposal a breeze.
• Reuse. College students are notorious for tossing away perfectly good stuff. Ever driven by dorms and off-campus housing at the end of the semester? You’ll find furniture, lamps, and appliances that students just don’t want to move. Consider used items when looking for college gear. Check out Gigoit, Craigslist, or Freecycle for free-to-dirt-cheap dorm room essentials. Conversely, use those same networking sites if you absolutely, positively, have to get rid of your old futon. Keeping functional items in use by someone keeps them out of the landfill. The same goes for clothes. One of my favorite thrift spots is located near a college where seemingly-affluent young women sell their perfectly good jeans–at a fraction of what it would cost me retail.

Students make big changes when they take the step from high school to college. That makes this transition the perfect time to take small steps for a greener life.