• Meadows, Robin, "Growing Pains." Environmental Health Perspectives. Vol. 104, No 2., February 1996.
• Sustainabilily and Justice, Urban Habitat Program, Earth Island Institute, San Francisco, 1995.
• Sandling, Dolores. "Houston: Just Say No to Garbage," People of Color Environmental Groups, Charles Steward Mott Foundation, Flint, Mich., 1994.
• "How Many Trees Does It Take to Store the Carbon You Produce? A Guide to Help You Contribute to the Prevention of Global Climate Change." USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, 1990.
• Centers for Disease Control, "Update: Blood Lead Levels-United States, 199 1-1994." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, pp. 141-145. February 21, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 7. Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham, Mass.

For this activity you will need:

· A map of your area, big enough to be seen when posted on a wall
· Many small, sticky dots in. a variety of colors
· Green and blue stars
· Address lists for families in your program
· Flip chart and markers

Step 1: Welcome participants and tell them that they will be developing a picture of the community and identifying locations where health-damaging activities take place.

Step 2: On the flip chart, write the following:

· yellow = air
· red = toxic dumps or buildings
· purple = water
· orange = other

Step 3: Give each participant two or three dots of each color. Ask them to think about where in their community the environment is being damaged. Ask them to go to the map and put dots at those locations. Refer them to the coding for the dots on the flip chart. Encourage them to put their dots on top of each other if two or more people identify the same hot spot; this will indicate the depth of concern of the group about that particular toxic spot.

Step 4: When everyone has distributed their dots, ask the group to consider the map.

· Do you see a preponderance of one kind of toxic spot in this community?
· Is the biggest issue air, water, toxic sites, or something else?
· What about the distribution of spots on the map? Are they concentrated in one area?

Step 5: Now consider the effects of those hot spots on the health of the Head Start families.

• Where do the families live? Mostly in one area? If so, are they grouped near any of the major problem spots?
• Have you noticed any ill health effects in families who live near any of these spots? Do you notice any connections?
• What about the location of the Head Start center? Are any toxic areas nearby?

Step 7: Ask each group to discuss its environmental problem. Questions that can guide the discussion are:

· What more information do we need about this issue?
· Who should we talk with to get more information?
· What do we want to do about this problem?
· Who else should be involved in our action? Which community agencies can collaborate with us on this?

Step 8: Ask each group to report back on its strategies. Ask other groups to suggest additional ideas.

· What barriers do they expect to encounter?
· How much do they think they can do?
· Ask the groups to make a commitment to follow through on their plans.

Step 9: Now check with the participants. Do they feel overwhelmed? Is this depressing?

All communities have both positive and negative features. Commend the participants for their willingness to tackle the challenges.

Give everyone five blue or green stars. As they leave the room, ask them to return to the maps and put their stars wherever in their community they find an environment that is clean, beautiful, uplifting, or even just improved from the past. Suggest that they think of or visit these spots whenever they feel overwhelmed by the challenge of changing a bad situation.

See Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice for an idea on celebrating the community's "cool spots." 

Points to Consider

• There are patterns of pollution that we can see when we look at a community. Knowledge of the pattern can help to target the efforts to correct the problem. It can also help to mobilize residents in a certain area, and draw the attention of elected officials in that area.
• In looking at major toxic problems, we have to realize that we can only do so much, and that often the situation is beyond our total control, regardless of our level of effort. It is useful to think of two general options:
• Is this a problem that we have a chance of solving if we work with other groups in the community?
or
• Is this a problem that cannot be solved but can be alleviated if we develop a strategy to minimize harm to our families?

Activity 2: Community Helpers

Purpose: Staff members will identify where to find assistance in the community when an environmental problem presents itself.

For this activity you will need:

· Handout J: Environmental Laws & Regulations
· Writing materials for each participant

Conduct this activity with staff interested in working on an environmental problem in the community. If possible, involve a staff member, a parent/family member, and a member of the Health Services Advisory Committee or Policy Council as a team. 

Step 1: Meet with the participant(s) to decide which environmental problem they will investigate. Clarify the problem with the participant(s).

In your first meeting, you may wish to incorporate information on the local ecosystem and why we care about it from Module 1:
Caring for Our Children, Caring for Our Earth.

Step 2: Ask staff members to research the problem they chose. They should gather information about the dimensions of the problem and how long it has existed. There is good background information in Module 2: Environmental Risks and Hazards. Confer with them on where to obtain information about legal implications of the problem. Check into relevant local, state and federal laws. Handout J: Environmental Laws & Regulations lists some important federal laws. States or counties are likely to have regulations covering aspects of the same problems.

Step 3: Give the participant(s) enough time to research the issue and to make contact with possible helpers. These helpers could be:
· environmental action groups

· local health department-Environmental Health section
· state health department-Environmental Health section
· regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Encourage the participant(s) to make good use of the already established linkages that their Head Start program has in the community. Have any of them expressed an interest in this problem?

Step 4: Give the participant(s) a date to report back on the steps that might be taken to address the environmental problem. Identify the next steps and recruit other members of the staff or community to become involved.

Points to Consider

• How did you decide to investigate this issue? Was there a complaint from parents, an obvious increase in illness in an area, or a growing concern about a long-term problem that might not yet be obvious?
• Environmental problems can seem overwhelming. Usually, however, there is a small piece that can be addressed. Something can be done that makes the situation better, though it might not completely solve the problem.
• Who was the most responsive: elected officials, staff of government agencies, or people in community groups? Can you identify groups you had not known of before who can now be community partners?

For this workshop activity you will need:

· Handout K: Home Situations
· Writing materials for participants

Step 1: Begin the activity by acknowledging the important work that all staff do in support of families. Certainly each staff member can recall some families that faced many challenges. It is always difficult to choose where to focus attention when many things need attention.

This activity explores some situations of environmental need, sometimes articulated by the family, sometimes not. Group members will look at several situations, decide how they might address them as pairs of staff people, then as a large group consider what place environmental concerns hold in their own Head Start program's "hierarchy of needs."

Step 2: Talk with participants about their experiences in working with families around environmental health issues.

• Have you ever noticed a family doing something that contributes to pollution in the community? Has a family ever brought up a concern about a neighbor's practices? What kinds of things?
• Have you ever been approached by a family member and asked for help working on a community-wide environmental problem? What kinds of things?

Once they have their plan, the large group will reconvene to discuss the situations. Out of the large group discussion a program-wide philosophy on environmental concerns could emerge.

Step 4: Allow the pairs approximately 10 minutes. During their discussion, ask them to consider the following:

• What is the parents' perspective on this situation? Is there great concern? Are they unconcerned?
• What is your perspective as a staff person? Is there great concern? Are you unconcerned?
• What aspects of this situation-if any-do you find particularly challenging or problematic?
• Who else would you involve in this situation? Others in your own Head Start program? Other community members or agencies?
• What steps do you plan to take?

• Are there some situations that would normally call for intervention?
• Are there some situations the staff would rather leave alone?
• What support might staff need in taking on a situation or problem that is unusual or controversial?
• Does it feel like a stretch to talk with parents about environmentally damaging practices?
• Most people find it easiest to address a pollution problem when there is a direct effect on the health or well-being of the people involved. Attention to ecological health is important but may not be a pnmary concern.
• How high a priority does this Head Start program place on involvement in community environmental issues?
• What do you do when you feel overwhelmed, the pollution is too pervasive, or there are too many issues to consider? How do you find a manageable piece of the problem to address? Who can help?
• How good are the linkages between this program and other community organizations that focus on environmental concerns? How could the links be strengthened?

Activity 4: Environmental Advertisements

Purpose: Participant(s) will work with the policy council or parent com mittee, helping them to develop some ideas for educating parents on environmental themes.

For this coaching activity you will need:

· Handout L-1: Be a Common Sense Citizen
· Handout L-2: Be a Common Sense Parent

Step 1: Work with the participant(s) whose role is to develop parent education materials. Ask about the themes that the parent education committee is working with this year.

• Do any relate to the environment?

• What is a simple way to present an environmental message?
• How could we give family members some information about protecting and enhancing the environment, focusing on issues that they have identified as important?

Step 2: Review Handouts L-l: Be a Common Sense Citizen and L-2: Be a Common Sense Parent. These were produced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. If you are close to a regional EPA office, check there for other educational materials. Check also with your local health department's environmental health section, the Cooperative Extension Service, the Forest Service, or an environmental studies department at a local college or university. See what printed materials they have that they will share.

Step 3: Meet with your parent council and discuss an environmental issue that is important and immediately relevant to them. What do they think might interest other families? Discuss how you could develop a simple handout or flyer with a message about the important topic on it. Review with the group some of the materials you have collected.

Step 4: Revise any existing materials in a way that is most appealing and understandable to your group of families. Write your own if you wish.

Step 5: Duplicate your materials and make them available as handouts, or include them in the program newsletter. Talk with parents and family members over the next few weeks to see if the materials were interesting, motivational and educational.

• Were you able to make any changes after reading them?

Points to Consider

• Companies advertise to sell their products. They are in the business of motivating people to take action and to buy. We can think in the same way in designing advertisements for environmental action.
• Simple written materials can provide information that people can consider at their convenience. In designing these materials, take reading level, language, and cultural preferences into account.
• Think about the commercials that you saw recently on television.
• Why were they effective? What techniques did they use?
• How can you apply advertising know-how to educational materials for parents?

For this activity you will need:

· Handout M: The Environmental Balance Sheet
· Writing materials for participants

Step 1: Discuss with participant(s) the issue of solid waste production- garbage. Industry produces many disposable products, which we use once and throw away. Disposing of the garbage is left to future generations.

• Do we consider all of the costs and benefits when we choose which products to buy?
• What is the ultimate result of this type of consumerism?

Step 2: Review the guidelines on reducing solid waste:

• First choice, reduce: Try not to acquire the item in the first place.
• Second choice, reuse: Use something once, then use it again, and again, and again (a good example is the efficient use most schools make of paper printed on one side, then reused on the other).
• Third choice, recycle: Have the item broken down into its basic parts and made again into a new item.

Step 3: Ask the participant(s) to think of a variety of disposable items used in the Head Start program. Some examples:

· paper plates and paper or plastic (styrofoam) cups
· disposable diapers
· disposable baby bottle liners or baby bottles
· plastic silverware
· products packaged in styrofoam pellets or plastic wrap
· juice boxes or other disposable food containers
· disposable paper towels
· tissues

Step 4: Select one product for each participant to analyze. Give them a copy of Handout M: The Environmental Balance Sheet. Ask them to take some time to research the costs and benefits of this type of product. Community recycling groups may be a good source of information. How products are manufactured and transported could be learned by calling manufacturers or suppliers.

Step 5: When the participant(s) have gathered enough information on the product(s), meet again. If it seems appropriate, discuss the issue in a staff meeting. Decide if you would like to switch to reusable products and plan how you would make this change.

Points to Consider

• Can we put a value on production or reduction of garbage? How do values affect our decision on this?
• Consider the important sub-issue of packaging. Products, even those that are reusable, often come in packages that are immediately thrown away.
• How much garbage does that make?
• How can each of us reduce the amount of packaging we throw away?
• What about a community solution? Can we set up local regulations that limit how much packaging is permitted?
• Could we establish a buying club with other users of certain products and collectively demand that manufacturers and sellers reduce, reuse, or eliminate packaging?
• Many people are very good at finding new uses for things that other wise would be thrown away. Congratulate staff if they reuse some thing rather than throw it away, especially if it can be reused yet again.
• Food and yard waste make up 25% of many communities' waste streams. Composting is nature's way of reusing organic materials, rather than throwing them away.

For this workshop activity you will need:

· Handouts N-1 through N-3: Getting There in a Better Way
· Large charts
· Key to Activity 6: Facts on Transportation-For Trainer Only

This workshop could work very well as an extension of regular staff meetings, since it takes place over time. You may want to consider the background information on behavioral change in the Health series guide: Enhancing Health in the Head Start Workplace. 

Step 1: Tell the participants that this workshop will take place in a few parts. One section is for assessing what we are doing now; in another section we work on making positive changes in our behavior. The behavior to change is over-reliance on auto travel. We hope to reduce auto travel and contribute to cleaner air. By choosing other means of transportation, we also help our own physical fitness. Lead a discussion on choices in transportation and practices and concerns people have, using the information in the Key to Activity 6: Facts on Transportation-For Trainer Only.

Step 2: Decide with the group the time frame for the workshop. Two weeks is a reasonable time period to do your observations of trip behavior, meet to set goals, and arrange for any assistance needed to bring about change. Then work on your changes for another two weeks. The whole activity might continue over four to six weeks. At the end, celebrate your accomplishments.

Step 3: Discuss how you will record trips during the observation period. Establish your definition of a "trip"-going somewhere, even a short distance for work, errands, family business, etc. Count personal trips and trips taken in the course of the Head Start day. Consider how your group's travel patterns are alike or different from the national average. Emphasize that this is a group effort to make a change-a reduction-not a requirement for people to completely give up their cars.

The Department of Transportation has set some goals for increasing the number of trips that Americans take by bicycling and walking from current 8% of trips (1.6 per week) to double that to 15% (3 per week).

Do any staff members already walk or bicycle for more than 15% of their trips? Do any staff members regularly carpool or take the bus? Congratulate them. They will be very helpful as the team works toward changing travel patterns.

Step 4: Draw your chart to record observation time. Ask each participant to put her name in one section. If you wish, invite parents or other community partners to join. An example of the poster follows: