LOS ANGELES, Calif. — California Safe Schools (CSS) celebrates their 26th annual pioneering “Your Life Is Now” Forum which brings together students, members of the public, local, state and federal government. “The importance of bringing together community leaders with regulatory and enforcement agencies and government officials has shown over time to have enormous value in solving environmental issues in communities,” said Robina Suwol, California Safe Schools Executive Director.
“We are excited about California Safe Schools 26th Anniversary October celebration that continues this networking forum and its mentoring of youth who aspire to become the new generation of leaders.”
26 years ago, California Safe Schools (CSS) was founded by Robina Suwol with a mission to protect children on school sites from ever being exposed to pesticides. To ensure this vision, CSS spearheaded the Los Angeles Unified School District Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Policy, the most stringent pesticide policy in the nation for K-12 public schools and the first to embrace the “Precautionary Principle” and “Right to Know.” Today, Los Angeles Unified School District’s IPM policy serves as a national and international model for school districts and communities.
The policy’s success also led to California’s Healthy Schools Act in 2000 and AB 405 (Montanez), sponsored by California Safe Schools. It is a critical bill that bans experimental pesticides, whose health effects are unknown, from California K-12 public schools. As a result, more than 6 million California school children and hundreds of thousands of teachers and school employees are protected from experimental chemicals.
“California Safe Schools is a brave voice fighting for health and safety for our children and against toxic chemicals, harmful pesticides, and polluted air in and around our schools. From the front lines in communities to the halls of Sacramento, Robina is a tireless voice for our children. Congratulations on twenty-six years of leadership in the fight to make the world a better place!” said Angela Johnson Meszaros, Senior Attorney, Community Partnerships Program – Earthjustice.
CSS is committed to its mission of protecting children from toxic environmental exposures because they are the most vulnerable to lifelong health impacts as their bodies and minds are still growing.
CSS continues to be a leader for children’s environmental health through numerous projects at both the grassroots and policy level, prioritizing environmental justice areas overburdened by pollutants.
Current CSS programs include creating awareness to reduce and eliminate:diesel idling emissions; lead; household hazardous waste; perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) ubiquitous in food packaging, clothing carpets, cookware and paints; and establish the use of beneficial pests such as ladybugs instead of pesticides in school garden programs.
For additional information or to contribute to CSS, please visit their website at https://calisafe.org/ or click to donate: https://give.communityin.org/cabelowliforniasafeschools?ref=ab_eDKZDe
MEDIA CONTACT:
Robina Suwol
Executive Director
California Safe Schools
818.785.5515
calisafe@earthlink.net
Related link: https://www.calisafe.org/
This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network – all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022