Going green at school
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's School Flag Program
Photo courtesy of Clean Air Carolina and the Mecklenburg County Health Department (www.epa.gov)
Photo courtesy of Clean Air Carolina and the Mecklenburg County Health Department (www.epa.gov)
To help your community be aware of daily air quality conditions, join U.S. EPA's School Flag Program. Each day, a flag is raised in front of participating schools that signals the level of air pollution for that day. For more information on joining the program, you may visit the School Flag Program website.
Green Actions
To help educate parents, teachers and students on ways they can help fight air pollution, Partners for Clean Air offers the following “clean air” tips for school
- Walk, bike, take the bus, or carpool to school whenever possible.
- When picking up kids at school, don’t leave your car running with the engine idling.
- Send your kids to school with reusable water bottles and lunch bags.
- Try to reuse gently used school supplies (book bags, folders, etc.) when sending your kids back to school.
- When shopping for new school supplies, keep an eye out for products made from recycled content.
- Create a no-idle zone for buses and vehicles at your school.
- Have an emergency plan in place (e.g. Asthma Action Plan) for any child with asthma or any other respiratory condition.
- Review the Green Schools Checklist.
- Keep up to date on air quality in your neighborhood. Sign up to receive email alerts with your local air quality forecasts and Air Pollution Action Day notices at Illinois EnviroFlash.
