September 2010 - Green Ribbon Schools
Green Ribbon Schools campaign encourages students to be responsible stewards of Earth

Green Ribbon Schools is an Austin-based initiative by the Texas Children in Nature Coalition to promote and engage students, staff and families in healthy living and effective learning. Consisting of more than 60 organizations, the Texas Children in Nature Coalition includes the support of entities such as the Texas Education Agency, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Parent-Teacher Association, Texas Student Councils, Texas Department of Agriculture, and Texas Department of Health and Human Services. The initiative was launched in May and currently has 100-plus participating schools. The program is available for free to all Texas K-12 schools.

Schools achieve recognition as a Green Ribbon School by taking a holistic approach to student health and achievement and making improvements over time. The program’s cornerstones are to:

• promote nutrition, fitness and health;

• promote environmentally friendly campuses;

• promote outdoor physical activity and nature play; and

• integrate nature in education.

Green Ribbon Schools is a research-based recognition program that encourages robust participation in coordinated school health. It promotes student-driven projects at the middle and high school levels. For the first year, a school must complete at least one activity in each of the four cornerstones listed above. Schools create a baseline, so that they can continue to increase participation and achievement each year. The true achievement is when schools and students set their own goals, accomplish them and improve on those goals from year to year. Through varying levels of recognition and self-designed strategies, all schools have the potential of improvement and achievement.

Green Ribbon Schools’ creation was spurred by research reported in the New England Medical Journal suggesting that today’s youth might be the first generation at risk of having a shorter lifespan than that of their parents. Sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity have contributed greatly to the health problems plaguing today’s children. According to reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association, chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, asthma and attention deficit disorder have increased over the past few decades.

“Outdoor activity in the natural environment has taken a backseat to television, video games, computers and demanding extracurricular schedules,” says Steve Amos, a spokesperson for Green Ribbon Schools. “Today’s youth are losing the contact with the natural environment that is beneficial to their development and well-being.”

Research through the Children and Nature Network shows that children who are physically fit, who connect with nature and who eat nutritious foods are healthier, happier and smarter.

Benefits of the Green Ribbon Schools program include:

• Cognitive benefits: increased creativity, problem solving, focus and self-discipline

• Social benefits: increased cooperation, flexibility and self-awareness

• Emotional benefits: stress reduction, reduced aggression and increased happiness

• Decreased absenteeism and discipline problems

Green Ribbon Schools recognizes that every school has unique needs. Therefore, the program is flexible in addressing different goals. During the planning steps of the Green Ribbon Schools program, students are encouraged to discuss their school needs with their principals, teachers, PTA/PTO and other groups. Where one school might want to save money by reducing energy usage, another might want to improve healthy cafeteria options.

“I really like the Green Ribbon model,” says JJ Baskin, PTA president at Mathews Elementary School in Austin ISD. “While I suspect there are thousands of schools doing things, this gives a recognized framework and a thoughtful goal for campuses to pursue.”

To find out how to get involved with Green Ribbon Schools, visit:
www.greenribbonschools.com or contact Steve Amos at steve@4empowerment.com.