Many of us growing up were forced to take some type of health class in grade school that taught the importance of a eating a balanced diet, but what if someone showed us the importance of eating a sustainable diet?

Today’s innovative minds in the field of education are finding that a more hands-on approach to healthy eating practices can be beneficial to the health of our students and the health of the planet.

According to The New York Times, a sustainable, organic school garden organization called The Edible Schoolyard has served as a model for thousands of schools nationwide that now use gardens to teach environmental and health education.

These specialized programs are centered on the concept of green learning – an idea that seeks to teach youth the importance of sustainability and how healthy eating habits actually help reduce their carbon footprint.

These green learning programs encourage students to actively learn about and engage in the processes of conservation farming and sustainable agriculture — techniques that have helped change the lives of farmers in areas where resources are scarce. One example is using recycled materials like old homework papers and left-over school lunch scraps for composting healthy, rich soils.

Educators have said that they are ecstatic about the effect that school gardens are having on their ability to bring environmental literacy into, or rather outside of, the classroom.

In a recent article published by the online collective health magazine LuxEco Living, Los Angeles-based educator Johnna Walker gave her sentiments on the positive impact that their school garden program has had on the students.

“This course has the potential to change the future by impacting children in a great way,” she says. “It can give them an understanding of their own place in the cycle, so that they can ask the question, ‘What can I contribute?’ rather than, ‘What can I get?’”

For more information and for ways that you can help build a sustainable garden at your school, visit:

• The Edible Schoolyard website has information on the many sustainable garden programs at schools nationwide
• EarthShare is a national non-profit that has worked for more than 20 years to connect peopleand organizations with effective ways to support critical environmental causes
• The Whole Kids Foundation provides schools and non-profit organizations with grants that help

The partners have been working to design and construct Project Haiti, a LEED Platinum orphanage and children’s center in Port au Prince. The goal of the project is to provide for the immediate health and emotional needs of the orphans of Haiti, offer a pathway to adoption and give them something that all children deserve; value, care and clean air to breathe.

The recently released renderings of Project Haiti, the first of many steps toward the end goal.

The United Nations has called the earthquake in Haiti the largest urban disaster in modern history. Over 3 million people were affected, 1.5 million were displaced and 10 million cubic meters of rubble was created, severely affecting the air quality for those left in the aftermath.

According to Rick Fedrizzi, the President, CEO and Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, HOK designed the project to be environmentally and financially sustainable and sensitive to the culture and history of Haiti. The building will include passive elements that require minimal maintenance and will not be dependent on mechanical systems. Green building methods used in the design include those like natural ventilation and on-site power generators that use solar, wind and biofuel technologies.

To learn more about and support Project Haiti, visit: usgbc.org/haiti

For those who haven’t already made the switch, maybe this is the year to start considering how your daily activities can affect the planet. Granted, we don’t all have the money to go out and purchase a smart car or install solar panels on our roof, but there are plenty of small changes we can make to our daily routine that can make a big difference.

1.)    Separate your trash bins. For the cost of an extra plastic trash can, you can easily create a system for separating recyclables from non-recyclables. You can even turn your plastics, cans and glass into cash.

2.)    Swap out your old bulbs. According to MSN.com, if every household replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent one it would be the environmental equivalent of taking one million cars off the road. It will also save you a ton on your next energy bill.

3.)    Reuse your savings. Many green-thinking acts can actually save you money. Make sure you put that money toward something that is equally environmentally conscious (i.e. buy your family a new set of reusable tumblers rather than a case of water bottles).

4.)    Choose to cruise. Set your car to cruise control. It’s estimated that cruising at a steady rate of speed can increase your gas mileage by as much as 15 percent!

5.)    Ditch the diapers. New parents spend way too much on disposable diapers that eventually end up in our landfills. Switching to washable cloth diapers will not only save money, but it will cut down on waste.

6.)    Veg out.  Try eating vegetarian at least one night a week. The beef industry often uses inefficient means to provide their product, all while emitting greenhouse gases. Veggies are also less expensive and generally better for you!

For more inexpensive ways to go green, click here.

A classroom outfitted with Extron technologies.

As part of their commitment to education, Extron offers a Classroom Technology Grant Program. The program allows districts to demonstrate the benefits of advanced audio video solutions, free of charge. To date, Extron has granted more than $5.5 million worth of equipment to over 900 classrooms in U.S. school districts.

A Partner in The Green Schoolhouse Series, Extron will provide systems to classrooms within two LEED-Platinum designed Green Schoolhouses slated for construction in Phoenix, Arizona.

Extron’s VoiceLift® System works to evenly distribute the instructor’s voice and enhance student participation.

The individual classrooms of the Green Schoolhouses will be outfitted with their award-winning PoleVault® or WallVault® systems for all AV connectivity, transmission, switching, amplification, and control. The easy-to-use MediaLink® controller will help simplify system operation, allowing teachers to focus on instruction.  Extron’s VoiceLift® Microphone will also be featured in the classrooms to evenly distribute the teacher’s voice throughout the room. Studies show that these systems result in increased student achievement and a reduction in teacher health issues related to voice fatigue.

In terms of sustainability, each Extron AV system offers power saving modes designed to lower energy usage and reduces operating costs. Extron will provide administrators of the Green Schoolhouses with GlobalViewer® Enterprise, a network-based resource management software that enables district-wide scheduling and monitoring to further enhance the classroom’s energy efficiency. The Extron classroom website has more information on their product capabilities and efficiency.

Extron’s commitment to education is not only present in the types of systems they produce, but the generosity they show in making sure that all students have access to technology in the classroom.

To find out more about Extron Electronics, you can visit their website or follow them on Twitter.

The Center is open to both residential and business customers and will offer a variety of seminars that promote sustainably and smart consumption. The seminar topics include energy efficiency, classes in a food service demonstration kitchen and tours of a Smart Home full of energy-saving technology. The center also houses a resource library and provides guided tours of the water-wise walkway which showcases drought tolerant plants that save water and energy.

SDG&E began construction on the Center in December of 2010 by revitalizing an existing 27,000-square-foot building. Their goal was to design and construct the facility to meet U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum standards, the highest level of certification for energy-efficient buildings.  In order to receive LEED platinum certification, SDG&E incorporated the latest sustainable elements in the Center’s design.

Some of the sustainable elements of the Center include:

• 85 percent of the original building’s materials were reused or recycled.
• A rain water collection unit on the roof that stores water used for the Center’s irrigation system.
• A state-of-the-art Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC) system has sensors that shut off the A/C when the windows are open.
• The solar panels heat the Center’s water and help offset the building’s energy use by 34 percent.
• Recycled building materials, including the carpet which is made from recycled tires.

The building itself serves as a demonstration of the choices available for homeowners, business owners and design professionals to incorporate into their buildings.

The Energy Innovation Center is located at 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in San Diego and will be open to the public Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.  To sign up for a free seminar at the Energy Innovation Center click here.

To read more on the Center, click here.

• A recycled “love” themed memory game is a fun way to show you care about your loved ones and the planet. This project requires old scrap paper and recycled cardboard boxes (like old cereal boxes). It’s simple to make and fun to play! Check out the step-by-step directions here.  

• Instead of real flowers, why not give your special someone a bouquet of handmade scrap fabric flowers? This idea is great for those who sew, but don’t be intimidated – a few old torn shirts or pillow cases and some glue will work just fine. You can find the directions to this DIY project here.

• Magazine pop-out cards are the best! And who doesn’t have extra magazines lying around? These cards are unique, eye-catching and much easier to make than you’d think. If you don’t believe it, check out this simple instructional video.

For more DIY projects, go to:

Crafting a Green World: They have great ideas on how to “upcycle” everyday items into fun creations.

Green Living Ideas: This site has a ton of craft projects you can do with your kids.

The Long Thread: This site specializes in handmade tutorials. They will be posting a new Valentine’s Day craft tutorial each week until February 14!

As their website states, “Park Here is Openhouse Gallery’s response to frigid winter.” Park Here is an indoor pop-up park, a free community space that allows the public to enjoy all of the things they normally would at any park but out of the cold and with other benefits, such as WiFi.

In addition to providing a place for New Yorkers to visit at their leisure, Park Here also hosts trivia night, movie nights and private events.

The novelty of Park Here is easy to see but some things you might not realize while dozing on an oversized pillow or listening to ambient nature noises is that this free public space is made possible by corporate contributions. For example, media is provided by Rolling Stone, the lawn covered with sprawling people is by New Grass and the sunlight that creates an outside look inside is the work of Northern Light Technologies. Even the scent is accounted for by Lafco New York.

Park Here is open daily from 12pm to 6pm until February 15.

Visit Park Here at 201 Mulberry St (between Spring and Kenmare), New York, NY.

The Center will be used as a meeting place to discuss sustainability issues and projects and will serve as a communication tool between faculty and students.

The Center will also be the new headquarters for environmentally conscious student groups like the Green Student Interns who are focused on providing campus-wide energy assessments and efficiency trainings across California. 

SDSU’s Green Student Interns. Photo credit: SDSU News Center

While the facility’s first priority will be to expand the campus’ sustainably efforts, the second priority will be the expansion of community projects that help San Diego County cities and neighborhoods embrace green innovation.

For more information on the new Student Sustainability Center, visit the SDSU News center website here.

In 2001, the Apple Recycles Program began a take-back service for customers in the US and Canada. This program claims to have recycled over 90 percent (by weight) of all products collected.

The Apple recycling initiative has now branched out to other countries, most recently the UK, France and Germany. This new European recycling service, called Apple’s Reuse and Recycling Programme, will be facilitated by a company called Dataserv and will have a few notable differences to its North American counterpart.

Both programs are aimed at providing incentives to individuals who choose to recycle their Apple products. However, while users in the US will receive Apple gift cards in exchange for qualifying products, European users will exchange their products for a determined cash value that will be directly deposited into their bank account. Qualifying products may also differ from one program to the next, as will the value you receive for your product.

Despite the differences, both programs offer nice incentives for taking part in a process that promotes the safe disposal of electronic devices.

To learn more about how each program works, you can visit the Apple website.

Frederick Breeden, owner and founder of the organic soap company, Just Soap, developed a one-of-a-kind bicycle-powered soap blender that stirs his organic mixture faster and more efficiently than ever before.

A bicycle enthusiast and environmentalist, Breeden discovered that an eco-friendly answer to the tireless blending involved in the soap making process was abandoning traditional methods and developing his own, bike-powered machine.

Here’s how it works: The bicycle is attached to a belt that is attached to a large blade within a metal vat. With each turn of the peddle, the belt drives the blade to turn within the vat in a mixing motion, thus stirring the all-natural ingredients (olive, coconut and palm oils, essential oils, and organic herbs and spices) used to make Just Soap. Eventually the mixture starts to thicken, is poured into frames to set and is later cured and sliced.

The machine not only streamlines the soap-making process, it allows the company to make larger batches of soap at one time. The increased efficiency has helped them keep their soap prices low.  

For more information on their innovative process or to order some of Frederick Breeden’s Just Soap, you can visit their website, here.