Play CBS Video Video Revolutionizing School CafeteriasRevolution Foods is a company that delivers healthy meals and nutrition education to schools across the U.S. Bill Whitaker reports on the effort to make-over school cafeteria food.
Video Banning School Junk FoodThe Senate is considering a bill that would ban junk foods from being sold in schools. Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest speaks with Russ Mitchell.
Video New Menu For School LunchesFor more than three years, a school in Cambridge, Mass. has waged a war on fattening foods, with positive results. Kids at the school are happy with the healthy alternatives. Nancy Cordes reports.
Revolution Foods is hoping to transform school lunchrooms, by not serving anything with high-fructose corn syrup or trans-fat. (CBS)
(CBS) When was the last time you heard that kids in a school lunchroom love broccoli, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes?
CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports students are saying “yes” to healthy foods, and “no” to junk food – all thanks to Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey of Revolution Foods.
“We are just so motivated by the idea of creating a healthier generation,” Tobey said.
Unlike old school lunchrooms, Revolution Foods won’t serve anything with high-fructose corn syrup or trans-fat. Meats and dairy are antibiotic and hormone free. They prefer local, organic ingredients. Nothing is ever fried, but they promise it’s always tasty.
“We knew if students were given a choice of a healthy meal that actually tasted really good and looked really good and was approachable to them,” Richmond said. “We knew they would eat it.”
Five years ago, the Berkely Business School grads behind Revolution were preparing 200 meals a day for one school. Now they’re running a company that serves almost 60,000 fresh and healthy meals to mostly low-income students in 350 schools and programs from California to Washington, DC.
It’s pricier than standard fare. The government reimburses schools up to $2.75 a meal. Revolution foods cost $3-4 a meal. Schools say the added benefit to the students is worth the added cost.
Their recipe for success: classic dishes with a healthy twist: chicken teriyaki is served over brown rice. Spaghetti and meatballs is made with less sugar in the sauce, and students get a say in the menu.
They’re letting them know old eating habits are changing one healthy bite at a time.
Monday April 26, 2010 is National Healthy Schools Day, when people across the United States celebrate and promote healthy and green school environments for all children. Sponsored by Healthy Schools Network in collaboration with US EPA and the Council of Educational Facility Planners – International (CEFPI), this year the focus is on using certified green cleaning products, which help reduce pollutants from indoor air.
One in six children in California has been diagnosed with asthma. It is the most common chronic disease among school-aged children, and is the leading cause of school absences due to chronic illness nationwide. Studies show that cleaning supplies commonly used in many California school districts could be clouding classroom air with more than 450 distinct toxic contaminants, including chemical agents linked to asthma and cancer. Green cleaning supplies, in contrast, release one sixth of the contaminants.
The California legislature is helping to raising awareness of this issue and urging schools to make the switch to green cleaners by passing a resolution recognizing April 26th as National Healthy Schools Day in California. We invite you to take part in National Healthy Schools Day and join the many schools across California that are already taking action to curb children’s exposure to these dangerous conventional cleaning products!
What can California schools do to recognize National Healthy Schools Day?
Commit your school to making the switch to green cleaners.
The Green Schools Initiative and the California Department of Public Health’s Work-Related Asthma Prevention Program are collaborating to help schools in California implement green cleaning through the Cleaning for Asthma Safe Schools (CLASS) Pilot Project. Our resourceswill help you get started.
Get Started! We give you a comprehensive overview of how to launch your program, as well as tools and templates to help you build buy-in, organize your process, and save you time.
Find Green Cleaning Products. We’ve put together a comprehensive Green Schools Buying Guide with product recommendations, cost calculators, and hints on writing bids.
Send a letter to your staff, board, parents, and local press proclaiming your commitment to healthy, green schools.
Plan some fun, educational, and action-oriented activities around the importance of healthy, green schools. Activities can be done in one class period or can be a school-wide activity or fair. Highlight classroom environmental education or involve students in learning about efforts to “green” the school facility.
Cool The Earth is a ready-to-run program that educates K-8 students and their families about global warming and inspires them to take simple actions to reduce their carbon emissions. The program is successful because it’s fun and empowering for the kids, and their enthusiasm is contagious!
Take Our Tour & Learn How The Program Works
Cool the Earth is easily run at any school through a team of parent volunteers, with minimal teacher involvement. You don’t need to be a climate expert or an educator to run Cool the Earth, you just need to believe that every action counts. Take Our Tour
It is our mission to engage kids and their families in climate change by motivating them to take simple, measurable actions to conserve energy. Collectively, these actions, and an increased awareness of energy, will make a significant impact on global warming.
Grassroots, Grassroots, Grassroots
Cool the Earth is a grassroots, school-to-home program that was founded in 2007 by Marin County parents, Carleen and Jeff Cullen, who were inspired to take action after seeing the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Startled at what they learned about climate change, the Cullens gathered parents from their community together to watch screenings of the film and discuss solutions. They found that even when people were exposed to the realities of climate change, they could still remain lethargic, so they set about developing a program, with other parent volunteers from their community, which would motivate households to make changes instantly—what they call, ‘education through action.’
Education Through Action
The resulting program is a parent and volunteer run program geared toward children in K-8th grades. By engaging students in the issues of climate change, the program motivates kids and their families to take actions to reduce their carbon footprint. Through these actions, learning occurs. Plus, the actions all add up to a large reduction of carbon emissions for the entire community. Because children are such strong catalysts for social change, the program has had wonderful results.
Big Goals for Big Change
First launched at Bacich Elementary school in Kentfield, California in 2007—the program is now running in numerous schools in the United States. It is the goal of Cool The Earth to have its program working to reduce carbon emissions in every school community across the country, and to aid in reversing the trend of man-made climate change. It’s a goal we know is shared by all the dedicated parent and teacher volunteer coordinators who make the program possible.
Play CBS Video Video Revolutionizing School CafeteriasRevolution Foods is a company that delivers healthy meals and nutrition education to schools across the U.S. Bill Whitaker reports on the effort to make-over school cafeteria food.
Video Banning School Junk FoodThe Senate is considering a bill that would ban junk foods from being sold in schools. Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest speaks with Russ Mitchell.
Video New Menu For School LunchesFor more than three years, a school in Cambridge, Mass. has waged a war on fattening foods, with positive results. Kids at the school are happy with the healthy alternatives. Nancy Cordes reports.
Revolution Foods is hoping to transform school lunchrooms, by not serving anything with high-fructose corn syrup or trans-fat. (CBS)
Monday April 26, 2010 is National Healthy Schools Day, when people across the United States celebrate and promote healthy and green school environments for all children. Sponsored by Healthy Schools Network in collaboration with US EPA and the Council of Educational Facility Planners – International (CEFPI), this year the focus is on using certified green cleaning products, which help reduce pollutants from indoor air.
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