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‘Green’ Schools, Healthy Kids |
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With Congress set to begin a new session this week, the AFT is putting the state of America’s school buildings on the agenda. As part of its two-year “Building Minds, Minding Buildings” campaign, the union recently released two new reports, one on “green” school buildings and the other on funding infrastructure projects.
The reports reinforce President-elect Barack Obama’s call to improve the physical and technological infrastructure of U.S. schools as part of a stimulus plan to jump-start the economy.
Says AFT President Randi Weingarten:
Our members across the country always have been actively involved in finding solutions and bringing attention to the issue of school infrastructure. These latest reports will provide them with some of the insights and information they need to continue their efforts.
The first report, Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Our Union’s Road Map to Green and Sustainable Schools, is a guide to building and maintaining schools in ways that are healthy, environmentally responsible and cost-efficient. The guide explains that creating green schools can improve the health and learning of teachers, staff and students and help fight global warming.
U.S. Government Accountability Office studies show that some 15,000 schools in the United States suffer from indoor air that is unfit to breathe. In addition to greenhouse gas emissions, conventional building materials and furnishings release toxic chemicals, volatile organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, and other substances to the air inside the school.
Mold spores, common in deteriorating schools with leaky roofs, along with other biological organisms add to this polluted mix, triggering allergies, and are suspected of increasing new cases of respiratory diseases, particularly asthma, which is the most common chronic illness among children under age 15. Asthma also is the leading cause of student absenteeism in schools, accounting for more than 14 million missed school days each year, according to the AFT.
Through both conservation and reliance on renewable energy sources, a green school can reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. Higher ventilation rates in green schools dilute the concentration of indoor pollutants, as well as control humidity and temperature, which results in less mold and reduces the spread of viruses.
The second report, School Infrastructure Funding Need: A State-by-State Assessment and an Analysis of Recent Court Cases, tracks the current level of school infrastructure funding in all 50 states. The report shows that total school infrastructure funding need is substantial, totaling some $254.6 billion. It also makes policy recommendations to address funding needs at the federal and state levels, calling for, among other things, a new federal/state and local partnership to fund school infrastructure projects and immediate federal actions to address infrastructure inadequacies in schools attended by low-income students.
Click here to download the reports.
2 Comments
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Those interested in “green” schools should check out the remarkable mold research done by environmental expert Dr Ed Close. Simply diffusing a therapeutic-grade oil regularly in schools would likely result in an environment very hostile to mold. Moreover, numerous studies have shown breathing natural oils improves classroom performance.
http://www.secretofthieves.com/mold.cfm/79544
It seems like this would make traditional remediation projects easier and more effective, as well as creating a healthier environment in which to learn.
In one instance, 10,667 stachybotrys mold spores were identified in a per cubic meter area. After diffusing Thieves essential oil for forty-eight hours, Dr Close retested. Only thirteen stachybotrys remained. Similarly, 75,000 stachybotrys mold spores were identified in a sample of sheetrock. After seventy-two hours of diffusing, no stachybotrys mold spores remained. (Stachybotrys has a reputation for being the most toxic mold.)
The AFT is absolutely correct in its finding that American schools have very poor indoor air quality. But, in addition to the deteriorating schools (with leaks, etc.), the NEW schools being built, now, often open on the first day with poor indoor air quality, due to poor construction techniquest, poor designs and materials that become moldy even before the school is fully built. Then, moisture and chemicals from new building products are trapped inside energy efficient, but deadly school buildings. Learn more about this problem, Sick Building Symptoms, and what to do to prevent and solve these problems at The Center for School Mold Help website: http://www.schoolmoldhelp.org. We would like to see that the monies used to upgrade school buildings be spent on healthy school designs, with strict accountability and enforcement to receive federal funding. Otherwise, billions of dollars of federal money will be wasted on school construction projects that disturb existing mold or produce mold, poor indoor air quality, and illness. Lastly, the comment above would expose students to petroleum products. There is no quick, easy fix - read our Remediation page for more information on how to remove mold safely, without endangering the occupants of schools.