Brittany Hochevar/TTG reducing toxic exposures

Teens Turning Green initiated Project Lunch this past June and developed the Project Lunch Stakeholders Collaborative numbering almost 200 partners. Through strategic alliances and a mutual goal, these dedicated partners are creating a framework that ensures every child in every Marin school is nourished and that lunch programs strive for the PL Platinum Standard with local, seasonal, and organic food as the core component. Together, we e are determined to improve the quality of lunch programs across Marin County and build community on school campuses with healthy food as the catalyst.

The Project Lunch Stakeholder Collaborative is a groundbreaking group of unstoppable leaders including key members Teens Turning Green, Marin Organic, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, the Agricultural Institute of Marin, Novato Unified School District, Whole Foods Market, Marin County Office of Education, Marin Department of Health and Human Services, Marin County Supervisors and Senator Mark Leno as well as administrators, policy makers, community members, students, farmers, chefs, food purveyors and many esteemed partnering non-profits.

For the past three months the Stakeholders Collaborative has been nurturing Project Lunch, with a standard based on locally sourced, seasonal, and organic, food, where menus are planned and vetted with student input, where zero waste is the goal and environmental impact is minimal. Food can be the inspiration for learning about and caring for our health and our earth, for honoring our diverse cultures, and for uniting communities. With the abundance of local food and food wisdom in the Bay Area, we believe that this vision can be achieved while considering federal guidelines, school budgets and regulations. In partnership with an unprecedented team of PL Stakeholders, collaboration and innovation will help us reach our goals.

• Background In early June, a TTG campaign member suggested developing a program around school lunches. With that in mind, we planned an exploratory meeting in late June inviting stakeholders that we could assemble around the food issue in Marin County. That large list included students, food service directors, policy makers, county offices, professional chefs, farmers, food purveyors and many Bay Area based non profit organizations. Over 70 people attended the first gathering, representing that many different constituencies. It was then that we knew that the time had come to join forces around this issue and together develop a formula for change.

As we listened in on the various breakout groups at that meeting, we heard about some successes; gleaning the fields of organic farms with Marin Organic, education programs and farmers markets with the Ag Institute of Marin, farm tours with MALT, lunch programs that focused on local food, but the majority of schools were asking how they could transition their programs to the best they could be. With that in mind we started doing some exploration and are developing county wide initiatives to work with the schools, developing menus and programs that can be explored by the individual schools. In addition, we are developing Project Lunch Clubs.

Project Lunch Clubs are groups of students, food service staff, and other members of the school community united around the goal of bringing healthy, local, sustainable and fabulous food offerings to their lunch programs and creating community on campus around food.

Through fun, engaging, and experiential learning, Food Club members will learn about their school's food program, take field trips to farms, farmers markets and green grocers, prepare food, host chef demos and be the creators and innovators of their clubs. Each PL club will be assigned a mentor from our stakeholders collective to help guide the process by attending weekly club meetings and help facilitate the programs and activities on and off campus. With only one third of the students currently eating on campus or purchasing food served from school facilities, it is essential to engage these students in the developing a better food program that supports local farmers, human health and the environment. Next Steps: • Work with students, Food Service Director, teachers and parents to Profile school’s food program • Survey students to see what is working • Organize educational field trips

Develop Innovative Opportunities to Spread the Word • Create potential new menu items that meet the key requirements with school Food Service Director (FSD) based on student feedback. • Host events to include: chef demos, speakers, visits by farmers, film screenings, tastings • Prepare food for a lunch hosted by Food Club

Develop Partnerships • Work with members of the school community to include; teachers, parents, and professionals like chefs, farmers, and caterers for innovative ideas.

Food Prep • Professional training for students / parents to help prepare school lunches.

Field Trips Gleaning: Travel to local organic farms and harvest extra foods to use in their school lunch programs. Host: Marin Organic Farm Tours: A wonderful hands-on opportunity to learn on a local farm or ranch about the natural world, our food supply, nutrition, and what it takes to produce food. Host: MALT Whole Foods Market + Good Earth Natural Foods: Markets will facilitate in-store tours for Project Lunch Club members to learn about nutritious, local and organic food. Host: Project Lunch Farmer’s Market: Explore the stalls of the Marin Civic Center Farmers Market and discover the fresh, local and seasonal bounty. Learn about their week’s harvest and rub elbows with local chefs. Host: Agricultural Institute of Marin ( AIM) Guest Speakers | Chef Demos Host forums for esteemed food leaders including farmers, professional and school chefs, and thought leaders to educate students and community members about healthy food and nutrition. Café Revitalization Transition the cafeteria into a vibrant campus center, starting with finding a fun name (café, dining hall etc) student art exhibits, creative decor, lunchtime performances, and positive marketing campaigns. Project Lunch Book Club Host a book reading to engage the student body in action around healthy food, discussion groups, and potentially a visit from the author. Education Develop informative, visual, and interactive multi-media tools to promote the transition to a healthy, local, organic, and sustainable lunch program. School Garden Partner with School Garden coordinators and PL Stakeholders to help develop a school garden or garden activities. Waste Free Strive for a lunch program working toward zero waste

Links:

• Project Lunch Website

Teens Turning Green has been incredibly busy and wanted to keep you up to date on many of our activities.

We have been in the fore front of many advocacy campaigns eliminating toxic chemical exposures and fighting for legislation that promotes sustainable practices. Here's just a few of our activities:

Abercrombie and Fitch Stop the Spray Campaign A new study by Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reveals that Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce contains many hidden chemicals that post a health risk. Daily, A & F requires staff to repeatedly spray Fierce in the store's dressing rooms, retail space, on the clothing, and from ceiling sprayers that blow the spray outside the stores into the commons. Teens Turning Green is calling on A & F to stop spraying toxic and untested chemicals without notification or consent! We want this action to STOP! Please join us to demand A & F to cease this practice immediately.Go to our website to sign our petition.

BYOBag Campaign Student have been working to help pass a local and state wide ban on plastic bags given away at markets and other retail locations. They have been educating shoppers at markets all over Marin County every third Saturday since January to help pass local legislation and have spoken at state hearings on behalf of the bill.

Cell Phone Right-to-Know Legislation Students spoke at a hearing in San Francisco to help pass the first legislation requiring cell phone packaging to state the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values for radiation emitted by the cell phones.The law enforces product labeling, consumer awareness and over all demanding of increased transparency in regards to business, products and services.

IWe produced many exciting events to educate about the need to lead sustainable lifestyles

e4-NYC/ Eco Expo for Environmental Education The Summit featured two days of panels, workshops, planning and discussions with visionary leaders. Over 300 students, teachers, and community members attended. Held in New York City on the Upper West Side at The Collegiate School, it began with a dinner on Friday night with a brilliant keynote address by Global Green USAPresident and CEO, Matt Petersen discussing climate change, specifically with green buildings and schools and the rebuilding of New Orleans -- and soon Haiti. e4 continued on Saturday, beginning with a powerful address by Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund, who spoke to the importance of taking action to build a safer future for the next generation. He told the audience of students, teachers, administrators, community members, and esteemed industry experts to take note what is happening in the world around us and NOT remain passive in the face of environmental assaults; inaction always fails. The six panels and workshops, along with a packed resource fair and hands-on and interactive workshops filled the compelling and fun day.

Green the Greeks at UC Berkeley We launched our first TTG college club event at UC Berkeley with over 250 UC Berkeley Sorority members attending a green spa event. The students and many green vendors educated, inspired and motivated many girls to turn green and use healthier more sustainable products in their lives.

Keen On Green at Hockday School in Dallas An eco fashion show highlighting clothing that was either re-purposed, re-used, or re-styled in fashionable ways reducing our carbon footprint.

5th Annual Teens Turning Green National Summit Teens, teachers, parents, and community members from around the country were invited to attend the 5th Annual Teens Turning Green National Teen Summit. Led by Campaign members the Summit featured two days of panels, workshops, planning and discussions with visionary leaders and inspired over 300 teens to take action in their own communities and schools to eliminate toxic exposures and promote sustainable practices.

Over 50 school presentations were conducted at by teens around the country as they educated their peers and charged them with the goal to change at least one product in their life to a greener alternative. Given the information and tools, the students were asked and find ways to reduce their toxic chemical exposures at home, at school, and their communities, and build sustainability into their daily lives.

This is just a small sampling of the many activities and projects that have been conducted throughout the school year with many students taking action, educating their families and communities, and learning to be the change makers of their generation.

Links:

• Sign the Abercrombie & Fitch Petition
• Visit TTG's Website for more information