Teens Turning Green

Home

Start A Chapter

We are building Teens Turning Green Chapters and school clubs around the country and have created a Tool Kit that can help you get started.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD TOOLKIT HERE

Ten Steps to Starting a Chapter in your School or Community

1. Get Educated:

Visit our website (teensturninggreen.org) and read about Teens Turning Green to understand the campaign issues and goals. The “Get Educated” link on our site contains websites, articles, and books we recommend to help with this process. We highly recommend, Stacy Malkan’s book, Not Just a Pretty Face, as it is a great primer to understand the broader context of the issues and will help you begin to master the subject as you start to educate others.

2. Learn the PowerPoint:

Study and learn the TTG PowerPoint and the content that is written under each slide to help you understand the goals of the presentation. You may also want to adapt with your own insights.

3. Set up School Presentations:

Once you feel confident and ready to start, call on the Student Activities Directors or Dean of the Upper School to ask to meet with their students. Often the Environmental Science teachers or Eco Clubs are most receptive. Start with a smaller class and work your way up to school assemblies. Invite teens to join you in this effort and be part of your core group from the beginning.

4. Develop a Database:

Gather signatures from interested teens and community members at every presentation you give. This will be your master list for sending out invitations to your future events. At each presentation, find out who is most excited and interested in helping to build the chapter in your area. Work with them to set up a meeting for the “active” members. Pick a date and location. Often the school will provide a room during lunch. Many of the Whole Foods Market’s around the country have offered space after school hours and on weekends.

5. Plan your First Meeting:

This can be done either at a school during lunch hour or after school at a nearby location. You might want to develop a strong chapter in your school or a community wide chapter where there are teens from a variety of schools attending. Create a flyer for outreach. Invite everyone you can think of to attend.

6. Introduce the Product Survey:

At your first meeting you can hand out the Teen Product Survey (see attached) and ask everyone fill it out. Set up a computer so teens can do a few product searches on the internet at cosmeticdatabase.com. They will see the list of ingredients in each product and their health impact. Ask attendees when they go home to use this resource to assess 5 products that they and their family use daily. As another option you can click here to go to our online Survey Monkey and ask members to fill it out online.

7. Present Product Survey Findings.

Use the Case Study Template attached to determine which products are most important to replace both personally and at school. At the next meeting be prepared to share findings and give presentation about what you learned.

8. Brainstorm Chapter Objectives: Investigate and assess products.

Identify your focus (Lifestyles, Schools, or Community)

Do case studies

Work with teachers and school administrators to replace toxic products from your school.

Work with local retailers, school stores etc. to carry non-toxic daily use, cosmetics and cleaning products.

Educate your peers and the community about healthier alternatives.

Give a presentation to the school using the information gleaned from the Teen Product Survey. Show the most popular products used and the health implications of the specific products. Come up with a list of greener alternatives ( we have plenty of info on our website )

8. Plan Actions, Projects and Events:

Go to a local Whole Foods Market or green retailer where you live and ask about greener alternatives

Plan a Green Spa and panel discussion with invited experts in your area to educate your campaign members.

Join in on our “Lips Against Lead” Campaign and host a canvas signing at your school. While educating and advocating, promote the objectives of the campaign.

Start a “speaker’s bureau” for the teens to begin giving presentations at their schools to further build the chapter.

Table at Whole Foods Market to raise awareness about the campaign and promote the Teens Turning Green Collection and other greener alternatives.

Assign teens to write blogs for ecofabulous.com, Whole Foods Market Blog, and the TTG Blog.

Investigate local legislation that should better protect your health and begin advocacy projects to get your voices heard.

9. Promote Your Chapter and Events:

Write Media Advisories to send to local newspapers and other media to promote your events and raise awareness about your new chapter. We can provide a template to use; just ask us.