Getting the Grades to Go Green

It's called an Earth Friendly Garden. Signs written in crayon by a group called the Super Earth Savers are posted throughout the palm-tree-filled planter at 22nd Street and the Strand.

But the garden and signs are not the work of activists trying to save money on ink; they're the work of the youngest environmentalists in Hermosa Beach--schoolchildren--spurred by an environmental awareness education program called Grades of Green.

Inspired by the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, several stay-at-home moms decided to take helping the environment into their own hands by starting Grades of Green (GOG), a nonprofit that teaches students how to be environmentally conscious. 

The Manhattan Beach-based group is led by founders Lisa Coppedge, Suzanne Kretschmer, Kim Martin and Shaya Kirkpatrick. Grades of Green takes its program to elementary and middle schools throughout the country.  

Locally, several South Bay school districts have gotten behind the program, including Hermosa, El Segundo, Manhattan and Redondo Beach. Both Hermosa Beach schools, Valley and View, are involved, and their programs are headed by  Elizabeth Riley, Hermosa Beach GOG co-chairwoman.

Riley started the Super Earth Savers this year. Its project at 22nd Street and the Strand shows people how to save water and reduce polution. Riley said she hopes it will inspire the hundreds of people who walk the Strand daily.

Riley hopes to have the garden, which was planted March 20, completed by  Earth Day on April 22.

"If we can just get people to do a couple little things to change their habits then they start wanting to be greener and help the environment," she said.

GOG has gained attention using a grass-roots, word-of-mouth approach. The program began at a PTA meeting at the Grand View School in Manhattan Beach.

GOG later gained national attention when it was featured in Disney's FamilyFun magazine. It also won the EPA Environmental Award in 2009.

The program is being used in more than 18 schools in states including California, Idaho and Colorado. More than 14,000 students are participating in GOG.

The group is partnered and co-funded by Waste Management. With the help of various federal, state and private grants, donations and speaking fees, GOG has raised about $54,000. Its fundraising goal is $550,000 by the end of the year.

 GOG focuses on five main initiatives: trash reduction, emissions reduction, global outreach, environmental education and a reduction in water, electric and chemical use in schools.

The program has saved money in unexpected ways. Grand View, for example, saved $50 a classroom by switching from large trash cans to small cans and by composting.

"If we can change the ways students perceive how we see the environment, it's good for the future," Kretschmer said. "Our goal is to reach 100 schools by the end of the year. It's gonna explode."