Welcome to the Fall 2007
Newsletter
As the summer draws to a close, many families begin preparing for back-to-school. This issue is designed to help you do just that. To kick things off, we’ve been busy over the summer creating a Greening Your School kit, in an accessible, easy-to-print format. It’s now available on our website: School Info Pack (17 pp.)
This info pack is our response to all of you who have called our Center, asking how to approach your local school administrators about implementing green cleaning practices. The kit will give you those tools with accessible information for your school principal, supplies purchaser or head custodian. As more schools adopt Greening the Cleaning®, we in turn are able to go out and educate more facilities about the health and environmental benefits of making the switch. As always, let us know what you think and how we can assist your efforts.
Also in response to many of the calls we received, we’ve added a newsletter sign-up feature to our website. If someone you know would like to join our mailing list, spread the word about our online form: Join Our Mail List (www.Imusenvironmentalhealth.org)
As we continue to focus on schools in this issue, we’ve included a link for information on reducing institutional food waste, and an article on healthier kids' meals. As we try to serve healthier foods everyday, the food supply itself is under siege from a decrease in honeybees, which are responsible for pollinating much of our fruit and vegetable supply. The alarming collapse of bee populations is like a canary in the coal mine. We must protect this integral and critical part of the food chain, and use nature’s lessons for protecting ourselves and our children from environmental threats.
Also in this issue, find out about environmental injustice, eco-travel and sustainable back-to-school shopping. All of us at the Center wish everyone that makes our schools work – administrators, teachers, custodians, chefs, parents and students –- a happy and successful year.
My best,
Deirdre Imus
President and Founder
CHAMPION OF CHILDREN AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Ms. Imus is also co-founder and co-director with husband, Don Imus, of The Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer, a 501(c)(3) not for profit. The authentic 4,000 acre working cattle ranch in northern New Mexico provides the experience of the American cowboy to children suffering from cancer and various blood diseases, as well as to children who have lost a brother or sister to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). For more on Deirdre Imus, click here.