LAUSD: Green Schools Growing In California's Biggest District (VIDEO)

Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest school district in the nation, and now they are working toward becoming the greenest.

A year long effort to bring gardens to their mostly concrete and asphalt schools has taken the education of LAUSD students to a new level. By providing hands on experience with gardening, the students -- 77% of whom live in poverty -- are being led by example toward a more sustainable and economically practical future.

In addition to the gardens, LAUSD is installing solar panels at 90 of their campuses which will save the district $5 million in energy costs every year.

In this video from CNN, check out the school district's efforts to go green, and see what the students think of the environmentally-friendly makeover.

WATCH California's biggest school district going green:

Comments

[lalin vong]

03:50 AM on 07/05/2010

what a great idea in term of environment friendly. If everyone start thinking about going to green, we may not facing the disaster like nowadays..... Our earth is really tired of pollution, now it's time to save our earth by make it to be green. It not only prevent disaster, but also provide us a fresh green environment.... we need to balance both technology and nature...

[bkrider9]

07:44 AM on 07/04/2010

Colleges and universities need to follow this example. They've got acres of useless grass.
Why not take 20%, or even 10%, or even 5% of it and convert it to useful food gardens. Get the work/study students involved in that creative gardening, have the food brought to their dining halls. Everyone knows the worst food on the planet is served to American university and college students, so food gardens on campus would solve many problems at once.

[snowejob]

08:43 AM on 07/03/2010

This is great. Curiosity and enthusiasm are an amazing tool to harness. Let's leave something for them.

[organicconnect]

12:34 PM on 07/02/2010

LAUSD needs to also teach our kids Green. Here's a program they should work in across the district: http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/2009/08/alice-waters-the-edible-schoolyard-2/

[sdmcmla]

04:45 PM on 07/12/2010

Actually, LAUSD is already working on developing a program to teach science, nutrition, etc through hands on work in the garden. One of the schools featured in the CNN special, Carthay Center Elementary, is a prime example of this work in progress. At this small elementary school, a Friends of Carthay booster club, PTA and community members raised funds to build a garden, with support from LAUSD. The children now learn all aspects of science, biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, nutrition, etc through their own garden-based science program. You can see from the reactions of the students in the CNN special that the garden program is a hit. And this small school’s outstanding garden program was all started by a parent volunteer, who is now working to help other LAUSD schools to build on the model developed at Carthay Center Elementary. So parents and community members can make a difference.

Of course, as always, the big problem is funding. So if you have an inclination to support such efforts, consider supporting your local public school's PTA or Booster Club.

[calsolareng]

11:02 AM on 07/02/2010

LAUSD! I am shocked and thrilled! This is a wonderful update and I am proud to have volunteered in your schools for the past three years. Keep the green coming, it helps students think of innovative applications of their math/science classes.

Well done!

[Blue North Wind]

04:30 AM on 07/02/2010

Teaching low income children, in large cities, how to sustain themselves with reproducing plant life, often edible. Brilliant! Teaching kids from a low income household, primarily raised on unhealthy eating habits, that the stuff that comes out of the ground can be GOOD for you. I like it! Imagine. Give kids hands on work, they burn calories, learn to grow food, and ingest the proper calories- give less to fast and junk food, good bye to fried and re-fried. It's a good idea to teach the children how to support themselves, because when they grow up, and have to deal w/ the end of civilization, they'll take into account what they learned in school, and apply it to the new every day life....if we're still around. It's better than forgetting about the kids and only looking at test scores...besides, activity builds brain power too..

[Ron Shook]

02:47 AM on 07/02/2010

As chemical, monocultured agriculture becomes ever more expensive in terms of both energyc water and health costs, we're going to need to turn the old refrain of "How we gonna keep 'em down on the farm?," on its head, "How we gonna get 'em back on the farm?" These sorts of programs not only engender school cohesion, a living environment, fun work, real food and a literal taste of real life, but could very well be the genesis of life occupations that some of these kids would never have dreamed of without the impetus of the garden.

Having grown up on a farm, I know how endlessly fascinating a garden with its biodiversity can be, as well as how much work it can be. To some of those kids, this will be a far more valuable life lesson than a concrete basketball court, and thank heavens for those who make it possible.

[Jasmine Tokuda]

01:47 AM on 07/02/2010

As a parent, I got increasingly pissed watching our school budget be cut every year since 2000. I got involved in establishing a gardening program at our local Middle School. Obviously, there is no money in the school district budget for our program. We got some seed money from our PTA to buy the seeds and supplies for our first plant sale. Now we have three plant sales a year, as well as providing free starter plants for low income families. Our surplus goes to the local food bank. There is a great resource here in California for school garden grants: http://www.csgn.org/page.php?id=91 Because the FDA was essentially dismantled under the Bush administration, resulting in increasingly large recalls of produce, for the time being, until the FDA has sufficient inspectors and updated protocols, I'll grow my own. It's unfortunate that our own food supply is more likely to do us in than any terrorist.

[Brutus76]

12:53 AM on 07/02/2010

Led by example toward a sustainable and economically practical future? Please, this is just another attempt by the left to indoctrinate and brain wash our children ... at least that's what I expect to hear on Faux News tomorrow.

[SueMVetforObama2]

12:00 AM on 07/02/2010

Right on

[pillstonic]

09:53 PM on 07/01/2010

90210 lawn society types vs a new generation of ecology jobs; interesting mix. I hope its good for the economy.

[camanokat]

08:06 PM on 07/01/2010

This is wonderful! I just noticed the other day that our town's co-op pre-school has a little salad garden with lettuces and tomatoes. Cute little pre-schoolers out there weeding the patch! Cute!

[JScott]

04:52 PM on 07/01/2010

So they apparently have the funds for this but not enough to avoid instructional staff layoffs.
Need to find a pot o money that that will fund.

[WittyUsername]

08:54 PM on 07/01/2010

green things are often cheaper than the alternatives. and school districts, towns, and counties all over the nation are getting FREE solar panels from companies that lease their roof spaces. The school district saves $$ on their energy use, and anything EXTRA that gets generated goes to the company (so it benefits small businesses). Thus, the system saves $5 million which it can then use to cut spending or pay for more teachers. Organic gardens are cheap ("student gardens" = free labor) and the produce made there goes to the kitchens (free food = cut costs); as a bonus, the kids get to eat healthy (healthy = less $$ on losing weight drugs later = less of a drain on the economy and working families).

why don't republicans like this? cuz the "government" is for it? say no to this - i dare you.

[andyc1110]

12:30 AM on 07/02/2010

Probably different funding sources. Most sources (levies, grants) have rules on how the money is spent. Teacher salaries are normally funded with voter approved taxes.

[WittyUsername]

04:30 PM on 07/01/2010

Anyone going to lay down odds that this will be repeated in Texas? Anyone?

[missjulz]

05:16 PM on 07/01/2010

LOL, maybe they'll rival it with a factory farm and slaughterhouse.

[WittyUsername]

08:50 PM on 07/01/2010

obviously - as factory farms and slaughterhouses are American. organic gardens and solar panels are what the Chinese use to oppress the founding fathers.

ugh.

[themainpoint]

02:56 PM on 07/01/2010

Fine idea. More school districts should do this. Better for the kids, better for the environment and very educational!