Browsing environmental news so you don't have to
Read the full post at Waste Dive.
The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) and Keep America Beautiful (KAB) have signed a memorandum of understanding that will lead to collaboration on food waste research and education in K-12 schools.
This webinar series, part of U.S. EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Web Academy, provides comprehensive guidance on conducting a tracking assessment using EPA’s Reducing Wasted Food & Packaging Toolkit. The toolkit includes a guide and a tracking spreadsheet to assist commercial and institutional food services in tracking and reducing their food and packaging waste by implementing reduction strategies. Reducing food and packaging waste saves money, reduces the environmental impacts of waste, and improves organizational image.
For more resources on reducing food waste, visit EPA’s Sustainable Management of Food site. The Tools for Preventing and Diverting Wasted Food page is particularly useful.
Businesses and organizations can learn to effectively prevent wasted food by taking source reduction steps such as inventorying supplies, changing processes and buying less. EPA has developed tip sheets for grade schools, food manufacturers, restaurants, universities and grocery stores that provide suggestions for ways these sectors can prevent food loss and waste.
Read the full story in Environmental Factor.
An NIEHS-funded study showed that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are present in older schools and that the likely source is outdated building materials, including window caulking and light ballasts. The multi-year study is one of the largest to examine airborne PCBs in schools.
Marek RF, Thorne PS1, Herkert NJ, Awad AM, Hornbuckle KC. 2017. Airborne PCBs and OH-PCBs inside and outside urban and rural U.S. schools. Environ Sci Technol 51(14):7853–7860.
Thu, Aug 24, 2017 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM CDT
Register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5241897873918733828
We can reduce food loss and waste throughout the food system, and significant reductions can happen at institutions, such as schools. Students and schools can find opportunities and participate in actions that reduce waste and ensure nutritious food ends up feeding people, not landfills – by taking a closer look at what’s being thrown away at their location.
In April 2017, EPA, USDA, and the University of Arkansas finalized the Guide to Conducting Student Food Waste Audits: A Resource for Schools. The guide presents information for students, and those who work in schools, on the value of conducting an audit, how to perform the audit itself, and what to do with the data collected. It also includes a number of food waste prevention ideas.
This webinar will introduce participants to the guide, and share examples from schools that have used to the guide to meet their waste reduction goals.
Read the full story in Planet Ark.
A new report from Planet Ark examines how prepared the next generation is to tackle the biggest future challenges facing humanity. Find out what 200 surveyed teachers said were the top skills kids needed for the future.
The Learning from Trees: Life Lessons for Future Generations report, commissioned by Planet Ark and sponsored by Toyota Australia, is being released in the lead up to National Tree Day (Sunday 30 July 2017). The report examines how prepared the next generation is to tackle the biggest global challenges facing humanity. These challenges have been defined by the United Nations, with climate change the most concerning challenge overall.
Read the full story from PBS.
Four Democratic senators are sharply criticizing a conservative think tank’s efforts to bring climate change skepticism into the nation’s public schools as “industry funded” and “possibly fraudulent” and demanding to know whether federal education officials have been in contact with the group.
