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Green Team L.A.
Environmental Education for Families and Child Care Providers
“By working together, we can create
a healthier environment and protect the health
of our children.”
-Rockard
J. Delgadillo 
The Program
Launched in May 2005, Green Team LA works
to promote safer environmental conditions
around child care facilities and in the
home. The multi-agency taskforce – which
includes the City Attorney’s Office,
the American Lung Association, Los Angeles
Environmental Affairs, and Physicians for
Social Responsibility – helps child
care facilities identify and eliminate
environmental hazards that put children,
families, and communities at risk.
How it Works
Green Team LA is a voluntary and non-regulatory
program open to all licensed childcare
facilities in the City of Los Angeles.
The program seeks to empower parents and
educators, giving them the tools to create
a healthier environment for children to
lean and play. To accomplish this
goal, Green Team LA will provide participating
programs with workshops on reducing and
mitigating environmental concerns around
day care facilities and will demonstrate
how to conduct environmental self-assessment
and how to best address environmental risks.
Materials and workshops provided by Green
Team LA will assist participating childcare
facilities to address a number of environmental
concerns including:
- Identifying and eliminating lead hazards
- Eliminating or reducing asthma triggers
- Properly disposing hazardous household
waste
- Instituting the use of non-toxic pest
control
- Incorporating environmental education
into the regular curriculum.
Green Team LA will also institute recycling
programs at participating facilities and
provide additional educational materials
for families to learn more about environmental
safety at home.
Why it Matters
Most of us are unaware of the various environmental
hazards that our children face every day
inside our schools or even right inside
of our own homes. Children under
five face the greatest risk from environmental
toxins because their young immune systems
are still developing. Infants breathe
twice as much air and drink two-and-a-half
more water per pound of body weight compared
to adults. Lead, pesticides, mercury
and other indoor air pollutants put children
at increased risk for asthma, learning
and behavior problems and even cancer. Green
Team LA is a groundbreaking way to educate
and inform parents and caregivers about
possible dangers confronting our kids every
day and affirms the Office’s commitment
to Environmental Justice.
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