San Rafael, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/23/2014 -- Coleman Elementary in San Rafael, CA will launch its fifth year running Cool the Earth’s Climate Action Program this month as part of its Earth Day program. For four years Tanya Burdick has lead the program at Coleman— students have taken over 4800 actions, saving approximately 3,500,000 lbs. of carbon. That is the equivalent of taking almost 300 cars off the road!

Cool the Earth’s optimistic approach to addressing climate change through small, simple actions makes it a natural fit for elementary school kids. When Tanya heard about Cool the Earth from a friend at a nearby school, she immediately felt it was something she could get behind. “I really loved the idea of doing something that kids would get excited about and understand, and have fun at the same time,” said Tanya.

This year a total of 15 Marin County schools will run the Cool the Earth program. With the recent drought, and the County goals of zero waste by 2025, as well as its pledge to implement the United Nations 21 action steps to sustainability, getting school kids engaged in small actions that reduce waste, as well as energy and water use, can have a huge impact county-wide.

Actions include everyday things like turning off lights when leaving a room, taking shorter showers, and walking or biking instead of taking the car. These are things every child can do at home, and as Carleen Cullen, Executive Director of Cool the Earth points out, “Who better to get parents to change their actions and behaviors —parents will do anything for their kids!”

It turns out, she is right. Starting with kids in their own homes creates a real difference. A Stanford Study found 34.6% of students and their families take 2 or more climate “saving” actions, and two-thirds of those families continue with that behavior creating real change at home, in the community and that adds up. For Cool the Earth and the Coleman kids, acting locally creates change globally.

ABOUT COOL THE EARTH
Cool the Earth is a nonprofit environmental organization that has worked with over one quarter million kids and their parents. Launched in 2007 by Marin County parents, Carleen and Jeff Cullen, who were inspired to take action after seeing the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth.

Visit us at http://www.cooltheearth.org, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cooltheearth.org, or Twitter @CooltheEarth.

More on the Cool the Earth’s program can be found here: http://www.cooltheearth.org/our-program/