Monday, October 5th, 2009

Kristen von Hoffmann, founder and president of Greenfox Schools, has been invited to present a workshop and speak on a panel at this year’s Women in Leadership Conference hosted by Yale Law School on Saturday, October 24th, 2009.

Kristen’s workshop is entitled “Social Entrepreneurship in a Green World: Taking Initiative,” and will engage young women who are interested in becoming leaders in the emerging green economy. The Workshop will examine the overarching themes of globalization, social justice and environmental sustainability as well as discussing the details of how to start a green business.

Issues such as funding, networking, women supporting women, men and women supporting each other in business, operations, and budgeting will be included. The Workshop will be highly visual and interactive, allowing participants to engage in two colorful activities that relate to exploring individual’s strengths and interests. Kristen will also talk about her work with the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, for which she serves on a fifteen-person K-12 Sector Team that examines current sustainable education policy at a national level.

Kristen will also serve on a panel at the Conference, “Women in the Public Sector: Education Policy,” where she will share her viewpoints on education reform, sustainability in education, and emotional learning.

Monday, September 28th, 2009

During the second week of school this year I took my 5th grade class on a 3-day camping trip to Project Adventure in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Project Adventure is a company that is known for its exciting ropes courses and climbing challenges, and every year myself and a few other teachers bring the 5th and 6th grades to Project Adventure for 3 days of community-building.

On the afternoon of Day One I found myself trying to balance on a large wooden plank with half of my class and one of our guides. Heavy, jolted movements caused the plank to tip one way or the other and I noticed that when we bent our knees it helped us to balance, versus standing upright. After 15 frustrating minutes, the plank continued to tip on its fulcrum and touch the ground as we all moved around.

Our guide told us that to achieve balance would mean that no sides of the octagonal plank would be touching the ground. It was hard for me to imagine how this might be possible, since several people on the plank were absorbed in their own movements and not paying attention to the group dynamic.

Suddenly, one of my students raised his hand.

“I have an idea,” he said. Our guide got everyone’s attention.

“What’s your idea?” he asked.

“Why don’t we all hold hands and stand with our heels closer to the edge?” he answered.

There was some snickering and eye-rolling as my fifth graders considered the idea of holding hands, but before I knew it, we were all linked together and shuffling backwards towards the perimeter.

When we got there, another student spoke. “How about we shuffle one step to the right in a clockwise direction as we hold hands, to keep up the momentum,” she said.

The transformation was amazing. In one gentle movement it felt as though the plank lifted off the ground and that we were hovering in the air, low to the ground. I took in the sight of everyone holding hands and felt the lightweight sensation of the plank in balance as we moved together. It was awesome.

The experience is one that stands out in my mind and will not be forgotten. It was a powerful metaphor for the way in which we can achieve balance in our own lives when we work on it together. Likewise, when one person is self-absorbed, connection breaks down because they don’t notice what’s going on around them.

Without a doubt, the plank touched the ground and got unbalanced a few more times. But we had found a way to keep the plank more or less successfully balanced, and when I looked around the circle at my students’ faces, they were smiling.

I think this experience can also be applied to the larger question of sustainability that Greenfox Schools seeks to address in educational settings. It is necessary to recognize the interconnectedness of all living things on our planet, and to realize that this is why we need to implement long-term environmental solutions in schools that benefit the environment and teach our children how to be stewards of the earth.
Thanks for reading.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Think back to grades 3 through 12. What dominated your thoughts as you sat at lunch? In algebra class? Waiting for the bus? The answer for most people I talk to is always the same: “I was thinking about other people and myself.”

I would venture to say this is true of our experience as adults as well, as we continually process emotions at work when developing relationships with colleagues, or thinking about the relationships we have at home with family.

As a teacher I observe that students focus on subject matter to varying degrees, but it is clear that children’s happiness as human beings depends significantly on their ability to have successful relationships with other people. The same is true for adults. Why, then, have we failed to bring explicit emotional learning into mainstream education?

A place to start might be to ask: what is the function of K-12 education in America? Education as it now stands in our country functions to prepare children for the careers they will assume in society as adults, and so we teach them the intellectual skills necessary to be successful in the workforce. Math, reading, writing, science and history teach children the skill sets they need to organize and manage jobs relevant to these subject areas.

Aside from a handful of progressive programs and schools on the fringe, our education system has remained relatively unchanged for the past 50 years, which is ironic given the rapid pace at which the world is globalizing around us.

I agree that academic excellence is of great importance because it enables us to train a workforce that fuels our economy and serves as an integral part of our society.

What I advocate for is a greater vision: a significant reform in our country’s education system that puts emotional learning on par with academic excellence. I believe that we can have both, and that to do so would result in a nation of adults who are much happier individuals, and an economy that is strengthened because of it.

The reason emotional learning results in happier individuals is because it allows people to gain a self-awareness that provides stability. The confidence in knowing oneself—fears, weaknesses and strengths, allows a person to better communicate their needs to others, and allows a person to better understand the needs of another individual. In the classroom, one example I have found to be transformative is helping children feel comfortable exposing a mistake they have made, rather than covering it up.

Emotional learning in schools would not teach children how they should feel, because that is up to an individual to determine. Rather, emotional education would teach children the explicit communication skills needed to gain self-awareness and to communicate joy and pain to other people in order to build stronger relationships.

Connecting to other people to build strong cooperative relationships is essential to teaching sustainability now and in the future, and for this reason as well, emotional learning belongs at the core of our education system.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, July 27, 2009

Thank you to our sponsors, writers, and editors of Greenfox Kids Magazine, a teaching resource on environmental sustainability for grades 4-8, with articles, lessons and games for classrooms and libraries.

Our first issue featured an article on the environmental impact and lifecycle of food products; an interview with Janie Katz-Christy, Director of the Green Streets Initiative; vocabulary keywords including “globalization,” “sustainability,” and “economy;” solar panel math problems, a word search game, and more.

A big thank you to the following individuals and companies:

Our Sponsors:

CitySprouts

The EarthSavers Gang

Little Bits Recycled

Greenward

Paradice Ice Packs

People Powered Machines

SolSolution

Our Greenfox Editorial Team:
Kevin Y. Lee, Creative Director
Patrick John Morris, Business Relations
Soren Harrison, Dan Riles, Camille Stevens, Writers
Janie Katz-Christy, Green Streets Initiative, Greenfox5 Hero
Puritan Press, Publisher
Brooke Beebe, Ashlee Martinez, Kyla O’Neill, Public Relations

Other News

Cambridge Montessori School

Greenfox gave a workshop this spring at Cambridge Montessori School, presenting to the CMS Green Up Committee. Notes from the lecture for public viewing can be found by clicking here.

Green Decade Cambridge

Greenfox was invited to present to Green Decade Cambridge, an organization of Cambridge residents concerned about global warming and taking action locally.

Greenfox spoke to the group about the Greenfox5: Energy, Waste Disposal, Food, Products, and Greenspace, and discussed its applicability to Cambridge Public Schools. More information on Green Decade Cambridge can be found by clicking here.

Facebook and Twitter

Check out Greenfox on Facebook and Twitter !

ExCL (Extras for Creative Learning)

If you are a teacher or involved in K-12 education in the Boston area, be sure to check out ExCL over the summer for excellent recycled supplies and materials for your classroom.

New White Paper
Kristen von Hoffmann co-authored a working paper entitled “Internationally Sustainable Education for the 21st Century” with June Gorman, Education Chair for the United Nations Association of the USA.

Both are members of the K-12 Steering Committee for the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development.

Thank you for reading, and have a great summer.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, June 29, 2009

When school lets out everyone sighs a collective breath, and as a teacher I can relate to the feeling of relief that arrives when the end-of-year frenzy gives way to slower summer days.

Summer, while a time of rest and relaxation, is also a time of planning for every school community: refreshing the classroom curriculum and budgeting for the fiscal year.

Summer is a great time to think about ways to green your school for the upcoming year, and to prepare a budget—whether for your classroom or school—that allows for sustainable consumer choices, environmental curriculum development, and environmental upgrades.

Below, Greenfox offers a few suggestions to get started this summer for those of you in the education field:

Administrators

o    Budget for areas of environmental improvement in any or all of the Greenfox5 areas:

Greenfox5
-Energy
-Waste Disposal
-Food
-Products
-Greenspace

o    Create a sustainability pledge based on the Greenfox5 that your school community signs together (this pledge can be voluntary or required)

Teachers

o    Add an environmental piece to your curriculum, or develop an existing one. Environmental teaching can be woven into nearly any subject, including science, math, social studies, and language arts.

o    Create a classroom “green team” that will be responsible for environmental endeavors in the classroom, such as turning off lights when the class leaves the room, collecting food at meal time for the composter, collecting recyclables at the end of the day, etc.

o    When buying classroom supplies, budget for eco-products, such as recycled content lined paper, folders, journals, and pencils.

o    Brainstorm an environmental community-service effort with your class such as collecting recyclables to raise money for tree planting, collecting and recycling cartridges to raise money for your school, or working with your neighborhood to pick up litter.

o    Work together with other faculty or parents to implement recycling programs, composting systems, and environmental programs.

Parents

o    Ask your child’s teacher how you can be of assistance with any green or environmental initiatives in the classroom.

o    Work together with faculty and administration to implement recycling programs, composting systems, and environmental programs, or to create a “Green Committee” at your child’s school.

o    When buying school supplies for your child, budget for eco-products, such as re-usable lunchboxes and sandwich wrappers, recycled content lined paper, folders, journals, and pencils.

o    Set up a clean-air carpool or bike group that will commute to school in the fall.

Students

o    Have fun and enjoy nature! The first way to help the environment is to care about it. Have a wonderful summer!

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Friday, May 15, 2009

Subscribe to the Fall 2009 issue of “Greenfox Kids! Magazine!”

Greenfox Kids! Magazine is a teaching resource on environmental sustainability for grades 4-8, and includes articles, lessons, and games for classrooms and libraries.

For questions, please e-mail Kristen von Hoffmann at kvh@greenfoxschools.com.

Monday, April 27, 2009

I was at a recent meeting for an environmental organization where someone brought up the term “state of emergency” to describe global warming. The organization talked about the possibility of declaring a “state of emergency” in order to get something done about energy use in their city. Some people stood behind it, while others felt it was too drastic.

At the time, I listened and didn’t state my opinion, and I enjoyed learning about people’s different perspectives on the issue. I do not know whether or not the term would be appropriate for purposes of public interest and public policy, but I would agree that our planet is in an environmental state of emergency.

For some, it can be easy not to recognize the extent to which our environment is in danger unless one has personal ties to drastic situations. For example, cancer clusters possibly caused by chemical Superfund sites, slash-and-burn deforestation, or the breaking off of an iceberg. The examples I’ve cited seem so extreme that it can be difficult to connect them to our lives. And yet, Superfund chemical sites occur in our own hometowns, and people drive cars emitting carbon dioxide daily.

The type of environmental degradation occurring today as a result of a century’s worth of degradation is generally insidious rather than explicit, so I can further understand why people would hesitate to use a term as alarming as “state of emergency.”

But what if we were to look closer to home? What if we were to look, simply, at the rate at which land is being developed in our own towns?

Take a moment to notice how many “land for sale” signs you see on the side of the highway the next time you are driving. What is your reaction?

Unless we pay attention, our daily routines do not necessarily cue us into the harm that is taking place. It might be true that for people who recognize the level of degradation, every day is a conscious “tuning in” to what is happening to the environment.

The complexity and depth to which the environment is intertwined in our lives can feel intimidating, and as a result it may be hard to conceptualize the idea of positive change. One thing we aim for in teaching the Greenfox5 is creating order out of chaos, and providing a roadmap for change.

Related to K-12 education in particular, it is important that the facts of environmental degradation are presented thoughtfully to children, with attention to the appropriate age-level, and again, with an emphasis on making a positive connection to the environment.

What I’d like to propose is developing an awareness about the environment rooted in personal connection and optimism. With a personal connection, empathy develops, and a willingness to change that was not there before.

I propose identifying what is important to you personally (for example, it might be the people you care about) and identifying those things born out of the environment that you like (for example, food).

How do we become aware of these things? By making a point to slow down once a day or once a week, and become mindful. Out of such mindfulness we develop a sense of connection.

Maybe it will take the implementation of the term “state of emergency” to get the ball rolling in some places. Maybe it will be a long time before such is declared. The answer to changing our daily behaviors is not through fear alone, but through feeling connected.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, March 23, 2009

Greenfox News

o Greenfox Kids! Magazine debuts next month, April 2009. Our magazine provides articles on sustainability using the Greenfox5 as a teaching tool, in addition to games and lesson plans. The magazine is paid for by our sponsors, and is free for schools.

o If you are interested in receiving issues for your class, or sponsoring an ad in the magazine, please e-mail kvh@greenfoxschools.com.

o Greenfox welcomes Patrick Morris, our new intern, to the Greenfox Team. Patrick can be reached at pjm@greenfoxschools.com.

o Greenfox Schools will be giving a presentation at the Cambridge Montessori School on the Greenfox5 and its application to sustainability systems and teaching in schools. The workshop is at 7 PM on Wednesday, April 29th. If your school is interested in a workshop, please contact us.

o Check out an article in the New York Times, “Offering the Best Supplies for Learning: Free,” by Amy Mayer, 3/14/09, featuring ExCL (Extras for Creative Learning) a non-profit for which Kristen von Hoffmann is on the Board of Directors. ExCL is a great resource for teachers, and the organization collects excess materials from businesses and redistributes them to schools for classroom projects, diverting waste from landfills and promoting creativity for children.

o Greenfox Schools also encourages you to check out the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development. The Partnership convenes mainstream business leaders, educators, and policy makers, providing information on sustainability education for schools across the nation.

Teaching the Greenfox5: Spotlight on Greenspace

Background on Greenspace

The Greenfox5 is a strategy that Greenfox Schools uses to teach and implement sustainability. The Greenfox5 names five categories of environmental optimization: Energy, Waste Disposal, Food, Products, and Greenspace.

Our logo depicts five circles of color, each representing a category of the Greenfox5.

Today’s article focuses on how to teach Greenspace. As educators, when thinking about Greenspace, imagine the physical space at your school, whether rural or urban, and where green space (forest, gardens, fields, natural habitats, trees) fits in. Then, consider how green space at your school can be optimized, as well as integrated into your curriculum.

Pine Forests in Beverly, Massachusetts

Teachers: Diving Into Greenspace

➢ Talking Points for Class Discussion/Greenspace at Your School

• On the board, have students list all of the green space areas at your school

• In what ways do students enjoy this space?

• What is the quality of these green spaces?

• Are they well maintained?

• Are they in the care of the school or under different ownership?

• Is this green space a forest, a garden, a field, a natural habitat, or trees?

• In what ways can it be protected? Studied? Added to?

• Can this space be integrated into existing science, art, social studies or other curriculum in your class?

• If your school is entirely urban, how can green space be created within your building? classroom?

• Are there health benefits of green space?

Here are three examples of class projects that can affect green space locally, nationally, and globally.

1. Local: Last year Greenfox implemented a program for 5th graders. Students gathered local tree seeds from home, learned how to identify each tree, placed the seeds in a refrigerator for several weeks, and grew the seedlings at school in a sustainable process.

5th grade students carefully sort their tree seeds

Students plant tree seeds in old pizza boxes

Students used old pizza boxes that they filled with compost and dirt. They set up a rainwater collection barrel, which they used to water the seedlings via recycled plastic soda bottles that they popped holes in to make “watering cans.” Throughout the study the children also learned about photosynthesis and the biology behind tree-growing. Students enjoyed coming into their classroom every morning to check on their seedlings’ growth, and nurtured and watered them. At the end of the study each child took their tree home and planted it.

2. National: Greenfox has helped raise money for planting trees in forests through bottle-and-can recycling drives. For a list of plant-a-tree organizations, see links below.

3. Global: Greenfox recommends raising money to plant trees in the rainforest via the Cloud Forest School in Monte Verde, Costa Rica.

Greenfox set up an exchange program where a U.S. school raised money through a bottle-and-can recycling drive to pay for the planting of 25 new tree seedlings in Costa Rica at the Cloud Forest School

Greenspace Links

Natural Habitats
American Forests
Arbor Day Foundation
Cloud Forest School
Massachusetts Audobon Society
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
The Nature Conservancy
Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC)
Sierra Club

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, February 23, 2009

Greenfox News

• Read an interview with Kristen von Hoffmann as she discusses Greenfox Schools for Ecopreneurist in Reenita Malhotra’s article, “Greenfox Schools: Greening the Obama Generation.”
  

• Greenfox Kids! Magazine is debuting in April. The magazine provides articles on sustainability for grades 3-7 using the Greenfox5 as a teaching tool. It provides games and lesson plans for teachers and parents. The magazine is paid for by sponsors, and is free for schools.

• If you are interested in receiving issues for your class, or sponsoring an ad in the magazine, please e-mail kvh@greenfoxschools.com

• Greenfox is recruiting interns for the spring and summer. Interships are part-time, unpaid. If you or someone you know is interested in applying, please e-mail cs@greenfoxschools.com. Note: interns do not need to be based in the Boston area.

• Greenfox recently had the opportunity to try Eco-Canteens: safe, eco-friendly, and reusable stainless steel water bottles. They are excellent for both children and adults, and can easily be taken to school. Check them out here.

A Closer Look at Public Transportation
Good for the Environment, Good for the Soul

As president of a green company, I advocate for the use of public and alternative transportation as a means of reducing our carbon footprint, and encourage schools to do the same. Choosing sustainable travel greatly impacts both the Energy and Greenspace categories of the Greenfox5.

But, in a more personal way, I can also advocate for public transportation because it has always had special meaning for me.

I think that in choosing public transportation we might also consider what our experience riding the train, subway, or bus means to us.

By making that connection, we may realize that there is a positive aspect to riding the bus, say, because we actually like it.

Kristen von Hoffmann in the classroom

Every once in awhile my mom would let me miss school to come to work with her.

As a four-year-old, I remember taking the train with her from Montclair, New Jersey, into Penn Station, New York; a ride that took about 25 minutes and made several stops along the way.

At the time I had a purple lunchbox with rainbow hearts on it, and I’d pack this lunchbox with things like pencils, erasers, and a pad: an assortment of tools that I would happily unpack once we got to her office—an architectural firm with grey wall-to-wall rugs and lots of natural light in a building many stories high. She worked at a drawing board on an exposed 2nd-floor loft where I could spread my things out, and look out over the architects working below.

In the space between home and destination, I remember the force of the train rushing alongside the platform where we’d be waiting. I would squeeze tight my mom’s hand as I squinted against the wind, squealing wheels, and fuel smell. I felt small and exhilarated at the same time.

On the train I’d slip around on the plastic seats, excited to open my “lunchbox” and mostly, to get my mom to myself for the day.

Since then, I’ve ridden many trains, subways, and buses, everywhere from New York, New Jersey, Boston, and San Francisco to London and Paris. I’ve ridden public transportation to commute to work, for trips, and simply to get from one place to another.

In college, I rode the Metro-North train between New Haven and New York.

Then, as now, I always look forward to riding the train. There is a feeling of being connected and separate at the same time. I feel at once very independent, and also connected to something greater than myself: humanity and the spirit of people all around me.

On the Metro-North trips in college, I’d take care to get ready for these trips, and to consider what I was packing. I wanted to look my best.

The train ride was a half-way place where I wasn’t on campus, and I wasn’t at my destination either. I was not responsible to anyone but myself, and could work, relax, listen to music, and watch the trees and estuaries pass by for an hour and forty minutes.

There was something exhilarating about leaving behind the regularities, comfort, and even boredom of campus life, and breaking away. The anticipation was something like my excitement waiting for the train as a four-year-old.

Sometimes I made these trips as much for the sake of traveling as for reaching my destination. Sitting on the train, caught in the comfortable place of moving in one direction, independent yet surrounded by people, I could reflect on who I was in a space unlike anywhere else.

Now, as a resident of Massachusetts, I do a lot of walking, and also ride the T and bus often. I love being in the mix of people, and, while I admit that the cons of public transportation are overcrowding, florescent lights, and waiting, when I think of all the positive experiences I’ve had in transit, I am grateful that it exists.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Whether you are using the Greenfox5 to green your classroom, home, or business, it helps to have a roadmap and suggestions on how to do it easily and efficiently.

Please check out an article I wrote for LighterLiving.com, published on January 1st, 2009:

“Go a little green and help to make a large difference.”

Marjolein Brugman, founder of LighterLiving.com, is a Pilates master and innovator in world health and fitness. Her company, LighterLiving.com provides access to positive change for thousands of people by showing them how to transform their lifestyles through simple and healthy mind, body, and soul practices and believes that “going green” is part of that process because it improves quality of life for both the individual and the planet.

Also, check out an article I wrote for the Green Streets Initiative, just published, called:

“Going Green Ain’t Easy–But It’s Important!”

Director Janie Katz-Christy runs the Green Streets Initiative, a grassroots organization of people from Cambridge, Massachusetts and surrounding cities, who celebrate, promote, and advocate for the use of alternative transportation.

It is well known for Walk/Ride Days which occur on the last Friday of every month, encouraging people to wear green and go green by walking, biking, and using public transportation. Even better, the Green Streets Initiative can be actively promoted in schools among students and families.

Also, check us out on PeoplePoweredMachines.com a Greenfox partner that sells eco-friendly machines and tools.

Happy New Year 2009!

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Kristen von Hoffmann kicks off Walk/Ride Days in Harvard Square with Janie Katz-Christy, Director of Green Streets Initiative