NYS Greening Schools Inside & Out Campaign

CHEJ is launching a new campaign in New York State, Greening Schools Inside & Out. On the outside, the campaign is focused on establishing a statewide safe siting policy that ensures schools are not located near or on contaminated sites or toxic facilities. On the inside of schools, the campaign is focused on creating local/regional PVC-free policies for school supplies and building materials.

For school siting, CHEJ recently developed a Safe School Site Selection legislative proposal in New York to close a toxic loophole in the state policy, based on our national school siting model legislation. The legislation would require environmental testing to be done on properties before locating a new school, and ensure that they are well away from toxic waste sites, incinerators and chemical plants.  If school property is polluted, the Department of  Environmental Conservation (DEC) would assist in cleaning it up to child-protective standards. Passing this into law would be a major victory for the safety of our children all across the state. Here are some ways you can get involved in your own community.

For PVC-free schools, CHEJ will be promoting local campaigns at schools and colleges/universities all across New York State. PVC is the most dangerous plastic on the market for our environment and public health, and is unfortunately all too commonly used in building materials and school supplies in schools. CHEJ will be working with grassroots organizations and leaders to get PVC out of schools. We recently released a student activist toolkit to assist college/university activists in launching campaigns on their campuses. You can sign up for PVC action alerts here. Be sure to watch our awesome 3 minute animated video on the dangers of PVC, Sam Suds. Also check out 60 Minutes’ recent piece on phthalates and CNN’s upcoming special Toxic Towns USA on Mossville, Louisiana, the PVC manufacturing capital of America.

To get involved in the NYS Greening Schools Inside & Out Campaign, please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email: rdunlea@chej.org. Together we can make New York a better place for green schools!