The Zero Waste Schools newsletter will help you get your school
on a path toward generating zero waste through waste prevention, recycling, composting, and food recovery. You’ll also find resources that connect zero waste to healthy eating, school gardens, and environmental education and action.

Feel free to share the newsletter with friends, colleagues, and students who are interested in zero waste.
Food Waste Reduction Toolkit for Illinois Schools
SGA, together with our partners in the Wasted Food Action Alliance, is creating a comprehensive guide to help schools in Illinois and around the U.S. address the issue of food waste. Sections on measuring, prevention, recovery and redistribution, and composting will provide schools with the guidance and resources to implement a wide array of food waste reduction strategies.

The Toolkit will allow students, teachers, food service staff, lunchroom staff, parents, and administrators to jump in and find the ideas
that will work best for their schools. 

Click HERE for a one-page overview about the Toolkit.

Email zerowaste@sevengenerationsahead.org to request the Toolkit,
which is projected to be completed in Spring 2020. 
Zero Waste Cafeteria Webinar Series
The Center for Green Schools at USGBC offers the following recorded webinar series with zero waste cafeteria experts from across the country:

  • Nancy Deming, K–12 Sustainability Specialist, Oakland Unified School District
  • Janet Whited, Environmental Specialist, San Diego Unified School District
  • Angelina Vergara, Senior Program Specialist, Stop Waste

  • Melissa Terry, Food Policy Researcher, University of Arkansas
  • Dan Schnitzer, Director of Sustainability & Capital Projects, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
  • Jodi Crimmins, Garden & Sustainability Teacher, Oak Harbor Public Schools 


Check out their complete list of green schools webinars from 2019 HERE.
Greta Thunberg: Time's 2019 Person of the Year
Did you hear the news? "For sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have, for bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders, for showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads, Greta Thunberg is TIME’s 2019 Person of the Year." The 16 year-old climate activist is the youngest Person of the Year ever named.

Click HERE to read the full story.
Get recognized with Green Ribbons Schools
Illinois Green Ribbon Schools recognizes PreK-12 schools that have active programs and actions to promote and educate students on sustainability.

Applications are now being accepted. Top scoring schools from Illinois will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools program for consideration at the national level.

Tips for applying:
  • Assemble your team, which may include a facilities manager, physical education director, food services director, curriculum director, finance department representatives, teachers, and students.
  • Visit Green Strides for standards, programs, and grants to help you complete the application and for tools to green your school.
  • Read about past winners 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016 for insight on the application process.
  • Include 5 photos of your school in action.
  • Contact Illinois Green Alliance for technical assistance at info@illinoisgreenalliance.org or (312) 245-8300.

Deadline: Monday, Jan. 13, 5 pm. Learn more and apply HERE.
Grant & award opportunities
President's Environmental Youth Award : Students can submit a project and make a difference. Deadline Jan. 15 .

Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators: For K-12 teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for teaching. Deadline Jan. 15.

Captain Planet Foundation awards grants from $500-$2500 for project-based
activities focused on environmental stewardship. Cycle 1 closes Jan. 15.

Illinois Biodiversity Field Trip Grant: Funding for field trips for grades PreK-12 to study some aspect of Illinois' biodiversity. Deadline Jan. 31.
How to Fight Back Against Injustice in Your School Cafeteria
"This op-ed article in TeenVogue argues that our system of 'cheap' industrial food and low-wage labor is incredibly costly in the long term." Author Jennifer Gaddis, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is an expert on school lunch workers, the history of the U.S. National School Lunch Program, and food work as a form of care work. She emphasizes that "youth can and should play a key role in transforming not only school lunch, but also the economic and ecological systems they will inherit as adults" and offers ways that students can take action.

Read the full article HERE.
Pay it forward - Donate to Zero Waste Schools
When you donate to Zero Waste Schools, you support:
  • teaching the next generation the How and Why of recycling, composting, and food recovery
  • drastically reducing the amount of waste that schools send to landfills
  • the creation of new tools/resources, including our forthcoming Food Waste Reduction Toolkit for Illinois Schools.

Please  SUPPORT THIS WORK  by donating today.
We have zero time to waste. Thank you for your generosity.
Events
Jan. 22, 4:30-6:30, Chicago, IL
Learn how to engage students and incorporate food education into your classroom. All teachers who attend will receive free access to Pilot Light’s curriculum and resources and two Continuing Professional Development Units.
Jan. 29, 11:50 am-1 pm, Highland Park, IL
Learn about Ravinia Elementary School's amazing greenhouse and their Green Growers student club. Meeting will start at 11:50 in the greenhouse, students will join in at 12:15, and the post discussion will end at 1:00. RSVP HERE.
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Feb. 29, 8 am-1 pm, Chicago, IL
Join students, teachers, and environmental professionals to share knowledge and celebrate each other's efforts to improve the Chicago River at the Friends of the Chicago River's 23rd annual congress. This year's theme is climate change. Deadline for registration is Feb. 19.
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Feb. 24 & 25, Bloomington, IL
School nutrition professionals, PE teachers, school nurses, school social workers, and others dedicated to the well-being of Illinois schoolchildren are encouraged to attend this free conference of the Illinois State Board of Education. Three session tracks will feature Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Social Emotional Health. Attendees can receive up to five Continuing Education Units.
Mar. 2-4, Portland, OR
Three days of invaluable education and networking opportunities.
The early bird deadline has been extended to Jan.10.
Apr. 2, 3 pm-7 pm, River Forest, IL
Bill McKibben, founder of the environmental organization 350.org, was among the first writers to warn of the danger of global warming. He will join via Skype at 6 pm. Throughout the afternoon, community sustainability experts will share their work and invite us all into active participation in caring for our Earth. FREE.
Do you have feedback for Zero Waste Schools?
Contact us with feedback, recommendations, stories to include, and more at zerowaste@sevengenerationsahead.org.
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