Issues > July/August 2006 (#115) > The Top 10 Green Schools in the U.S.: 2006

The Top 10 Green Schools in the U.S.: 2006

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Proper nutrition is also imperative for children's health, especially given that 15 percent of kids aged six to 11 are overweight. While soft drink manufacturers have agreed to remove their products from school vending machines by 2009, many schools are choosing to keep soft drink and candy (and in some cases vending machines themselves) off campus. Some are taking the further steps of offering organic and fresher, local foods in their cafeterias, as well as organic gardens for kids to plant and harvest. At the Michael E. Capuano Child Center (see #7 below), teachers not only discuss nutrition in class, but sit with pre-kindergarteners at lunch to encourage them to eat vegetables and fruit.

In some cases, states are stepping in to mandate greener policies. New York requires schools to use green cleaners, while Kentucky has banned sales of non-cafeteria foods on campus and limits the fat and sugar content of drinks sold in elementary schools. And New Jersey requires that all new schools be built according to LEED standards.

Green design and construction can also increase natural light, which saves energy and improves children's test scores, according to studies done in Seattle, Washington; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Capistrano, California. And many schools save energy on the cheap by opening windows rather than switching on the A/C. "Getting the kids involved is key," says Karen Cozie, mother of a nine year old and 12 year old who've gone to Washburn Elementary (see #8 below), noting that they are developing greener habits like recycling paper and turning off lights in empty classrooms.

Saving the Earth, Boosting Grades
As small farms continue to be absorbed by larger ones and as suburbs swell, Americans are losing contact with their natural environs. Yet people have "an inherent affinity for the natural world," noted Stephen Kellert, Ph.D, professor of social ecology at Yale in Building For Life (2005, Island Press, $34.95). Kellert adds that this affinity, which he calls "biophilia," is a "weak genetic tendency whose full and functional development depends on sufficient experience, learning and cultural support," all of which schools are in an ideal position to provide. In giving students the chance to have an immediate impact on their surroundings through wetland restoration projects, removing invasive plants such as ivy and blackberry bushes, and similar projects, the green schools below are not only improving their physical environment but also developing students' intellectual, emotional and physical capacities. Kellert notes that "young people need to engage the natural world repeatedly and in multiple ways to mature effectively."

At some of our top schools, parents have trouble prying their kids away from the land. Susan Englander, whose 19-year-old son Jacob attended One World Montessori (see #10 below), said her son's first choice for a college was Deep Springs, a two-year college and a ranch, which requires students to get up at 4 a.m. to milk the cows and make their own butter before attending courses.

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