San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/27/2014 -- Cool the Earth’s Climate Action Program today launched its 2014 enrollment campaign. The free, ready-to-roll, climate action program educates K-8 students and their families about climate change, inspiring them to take simple actions to reduce their carbon footprint at home, at school, and in their communities. Parents or teacher volunteers run the program for each school.

Cool the Earth uses positive messages and makes it fun and easy to implement with rewarding results. Based on the “trickle up,” theory, where children learn and then are empowered to lead their families in behavior changes at home and in their communities, the 6-week program creates real change.

According to a 2013 Stanford University study, through the CTE program, families took more personal actions to reduce their carbon footprint, considered the environment when making purchases, and 38% went on to take civic action. Trickle up meets trickle down.

Developed with busy parents and teachers in mind, the ready-to-roll toolbox includes all of the program materials and collateral they need to easily get started:

- Kick-Off Assembly: This spirit-filled event is where it all begins!
- Timeline and Action Calendar
- Action Coupons: Take an action, turn in a coupon, and get a reward.
- Action Goal Banner: See how all those actions add up to make a big difference.
- Program Enhancements: Further ways to engage students and inspire action.

Cool the Earth’s Climate Action program highlights pragmatic solutions to address climate change that leave kids and parents feeling empowered and inspired. Since 2007 Cool the Earth has worked alongside over a quarter million children from almost 500 schools to save over 2 million pounds of carbon.

“We are so excited to kick-off the 2014 program,” said Carleen Cullen, Cool the Earth founder and executive director. “Worry about climate runs deep, yet action is still shallow. I know some people who can help change this and they weigh about 60 pounds, stand only 3 feet tall, and are missing some teeth! Who better than kids to show their parents how to begin? Little is huge.”

“The CTE program went really well, ” said parent Heidi Rhymes from Petaluma, CA. “Parents who considered themselves pretty green were deeply challenged by their kids (particularly the younger ones) to do even better – turn off lights, bike to school, pick up trash, etc. I was impressed with the positive feedback we got throughout the program from the kids, families and the administrators.”

The Climate Action Program is inspiring kids and families across the country to take positive steps to help slow climate change. When you bring together families, hope, and action, the result is big change, and it begins at home.

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, or Twitter @CooltheEarth.

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