Kristen von Hoffmann, Founder of Greenfox Schools

Green Businesses are hotter than ever and even in the worst of economies, Ecopreneurs are looking for ways to get get funded and bring their dreams to fruition. However when it comes to the business of K-12 education, it can be challenging to get the show on the road. It helps of course to have a solid business plan and passion to carry out your mission.

Ecopreneurist recently had the opportunity to interview Kristen von Hoffmann, the president and founder of Greenfox Schools, a consulting company that provides schools with cutting edge environmental technology, products and programs to help them go green. A member of K-12 Sector Team for the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, Kristen bases her company on the Greenfox5, a strategy she developed that defines the five main functional points of optimization for any building as Energy, Waste Disposal, Food, Products, and Greenspace. Passionate about her mission, her is what she had to say to us.

EP: What is Greenfox Schools? When did you begin it?  Why?

KVH: Greenfox Schools is a start-up company founded in March 2008, with the aim of helping schools go green. We are currently a team of 8 people. I was inspired to work on Greenfox when I started teaching elementary school, after I finished college in 2006.

As a Yale undergraduate I was part of the then fledgling Yale Sustainable Food Project (YSFP), which has since grown into a thriving model for campus sustainability nationwide.

Read more of this story »

As The US House of Representatives votes on No Child Left Inside this week, this is your last chance to let your legislator know you want MORE funding for training teachers in outdoor education, MORE funding to expand environmental education programs and MORE programs to ensure that US graduates are environmentally literate.

You can write your representative directly and/or find out how she our he stands at the No Child Left Inside home page. With school budgets cut and the increased emphasis on teaching to the test, not much needed recess, this effort is needed now more than ever.

Jennifer Lance wrote about this effort back in May, but it bears repeating especially as the bill comes up for vote.

While Congress waits to vote, there’s an effort afoot to pass around this video to bring awareness to the issue, by adding this video to your blog. You can get the link on Youtube here.

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

Related Posts:

Can You Imagine Your Kids Going to School 4 Days a Week?

No Child Left Inside Video

Uniting Schools at Green California Schools Summit

EP: How does your experience teaching influence the Greenfox mission?

KVH: I believe in teaching children about the five senses -  sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. I believe in incorporating sensory orientation into subject teaching as much as possible. I believe that children are naturally inclined towards this direction, more so perhaps than adults. By teaching them to explicitly engage their senses in the fullest way possible, children learn to be more self-aware, and more aware of others’ needs.  A child who is tuned in to the world around him develops compassion and a sharpened sense of understanding.

Ultimately this process helps my students develop stronger interpersonal skills, because they understand the depth of interconnectedness among people, and eventually, among industries, economies, and cultures.

The truth about globalization, including depletion of natural resources, will require that the most intelligent decisions pay attention to both the details and the big picture, and find as much of a balance as possible. That’s what sustainability is all about.

It is my experience as a teacher that sensory orientation allows decision-makers to feel as well as think.

I realize now, more than ever, the importance of schools as community-educators, a topic I recently wrote about for our blog. Schools educate their communities because children are connected to families and parents, who are in turn connected to various industries and cultures. And so the network grows.

EP: Is “Gree” a trend in schools? Is “Sustainability” a trend?

KVH: This is a great question. It is true that “green” is catching on in schools, particularly because children are interested in and sensitive to the issues of global warming, and because many teachers are activists or passionate about change in their own right. However, I would not call it a trend because that suggests it might be a passing vogue.

The sustainability movement or green revolution is here to stay because the overuse of resources—which is at the heart of the environmental problem—is a problem that affects every person, and cannot be easily reversed. Furthermore, as the definition of sustainability suggests, environmental degradation is intrinsically linked to all economic sectors, and all parts of the world. Therefore, it is in everyone’s best interest to create systems that can sustain themselves over long periods of time and with minimal harm to the planet.

EP: Please describe your program - is it more “Green Building” focused?  Or “Green Education”focused? Or does it help schools to go green in their administrative practices?

KVH: Greenfox is both Green Building focused and Green Education focused.

Our audits look at the building design and internal systems and make recommendations for service providers and products. We do not, however, implement the physical building changes, meaning we do not install actual solar panels or plant green roofs.

We also design our own sustainability curriculum, and have programs that teach students, teachers, and administrators how to implement a sustainability initiative, such as how to run a school-wide composting system, how to run an energy-efficient classroom, and how to implement a school-wide sustainability pledge.

EP: How many schools have you visited vs. how many are you targeting? Public schools? Private schools? National Schools? International schools?

KVH: Since our inception in March last year, we have worked with 3 private schools, and consulted informally with 14 schools, public and private included. We are working directly with schools in the Boston area, but educators read our blog across the country, and we receive e-mails and requests from schools nationwide.

Last May we conducted a Greenfox Schools National Market Survey, in which we polled hundreds of teachers, administrators, and educators across the country on the subject of greening schools. We were excited by the results that suggested a large percent are highly interested in sustainability. Teachers repeatedly noted that they want to make change but feel like they don’t know where to start or where to get the resources for their classrooms. Similarly, administrators responded that they didn’t know where to start in the process of “greening” their school, but wanted to make change happen through green building, operating systems, and student education.

Looking ahead, we’d like to help city school districts implement the Greenfox5. Our aim is to generate widespread change, and public school districts contain multiple schools.

EP: Is there a difference in perceptions or attitudes towards the importance of green education in private vs. public schools?

KVH: I have not observed a difference in attitude among public and private school teachers. Rather, students and teachers are both very excited and think going green is important. However it is harder among the administrations, because there is more red tape to cut through before schools can say “yes” and move forward with a sustainability initiative.

The good news is that it gets easier for administrators to say “yes” when they realize that a school-wide sustainability initiative not only benefits children and the environment but also saves money in the long-term.

EP: How easy or difficult is it to get teachers on board?  Who supports you in this mission? The school administration?  The State?  The Dept of Environment? Parents?

Teachers are great. Like myself, most teachers are in the classroom in the first place because they care about children and are passionate about what they do. The teachers I know give so much energy and go above and beyond what is asked of them to make life better for children. It is no surprise then that some of the greatest advocates of green schools are teachers.

Overall various people—parents, children, teachers, administrators and city officials, support us.

EP: As an Ecopreneurist, what are the challenges or benefits of your target market?

KVH: The challenge, as perhaps with any project, is getting enough people to say “yes” before we can come in and be hired to do an audit, give a presentation, or teach.

For public schools in particular, money is not always easy to come by. Budgets are drawn up early in the year, so finding money mid-way through the year to finance a sustainability initiative is difficult. Therefore, it requires planning, patience and sometimes fundraising on behalf of the schools before before they hire us.

Furthermore school green committees, comprised of parents and teachers, are popping up all over the place. The committees are great if they are open to learning how to implement sustainability in new ways. However in some cases the committees are formed to make change from the inside only without bringing in a consultant or outside research.

EP: What does an “Obama generation” of kids mean to you? How does it impact the purpose of Greenfox schools?

KVH: I love this term. The children who are raised in this generation are definitely more worldly, tech-savvy, and communications-savvy. They know what global warming is. They are ready to tell you all about the wonders of the presidential election. They love clothes. They are on Facebook. They want to save the world, and they want to have 500 friends while doing it.

In my mind, the risks of this generation are that children may become so wrapped up in technology and unauthentic forms of communication, such as texting, e-mailing, and IM’g, that genuine people skills will diminish.

It is ironic, but there is the risk that as we become more connected, we become less connected in the ways that truly matter. For example, while our blackberry allows us to stay connected to e-mail, news, and the internet 24/7, if we have it on during family-time or out to coffee with a friend then we do not allow ourselves to connect whole-heartedly to that person. We do not allow ourselves to be in the moment 100% because a part of us is ready to break that connection at any moment to read a text-message. If we are aware of that reality, though, I think we can find a healthy balance.

With this in mind, it is my goal with Greenfox to help children develop interpersonal skills through sensory orientation, and to put that in the context of sustainability.

I think it’s important for kids to realize that “environment” is not just this word you put in some box or isolated category. “Environment” is part of the greater term “sustainability,” which teaches children that the environment is connected to our homes, to our restaurants, to our banks, to our neighboring countries, and to each other as individual people.

EP: What are Greenfox’s plans for 2009?  For the ‘Obama generation’ of kids beyond 2009 ?

KVH: We plan to continue consulting at schools, performing environmental audits based on the Greenfox5, giving workshops, teaching curriculum to K-12 schools, and debuting our magazine, Greenfox Kids! in April. Growth is important to us, but we believe in starting small and doing something well before doing more.

More information about Greenfox Schools can be found at www.greenfoxschools.com

Image credit: Greenfox Schools

But another way parents can encourage green habits in their kids, other than reading books, is checking out Atlanta-based idBids, a company that offers cool eco-friendly starter kits that help kids take “iddy biddy steps for a greener world.”

It’s clear that many companies are jumping on a “green bandwagon” - creating eco-friendly products not necessarily because they believe it down to their very core, but because they know it’s popular and will sell.

Not idBids.

Read more of this story »

Homes for Our Troops is a non-profit organization, founded in 2004, that has already completed 28 specially adapted homes across the country for veterans of the current conflict.  Two dozen homes are currently underway, and they plan to build 100 more homes over the next three years.  They raise donations of money, building materials, and professional labor, and coordinate the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility.  All of this is done at no charge to the veteran.

With the current grant from The Sierra Club, new homes will be built with environmental and energy conservation concerns in mind, participate in the Energy Star program, and the LEED for Homes program established by the US Green Building Council.  These new homes will provide long-term economic and environmental benefits to the veterans and their families.

Homes for Our Troops will also incorporate outreach into its new home program, educating the home construction industry and the general public on the benefits and importance of green building.  They hope to promote a greater understanding of the benefits of the green building movement.

As the wife of a (thankfully) healthy returning veteran, I fully support this effort to give back to those who keep us safe and free.  I urge our readers to visit the Homes for Our Troops website and donate to this worthy cause.

EP: How does your experience teaching influence the Greenfox mission?

KVH: I believe in teaching children about the five senses -  sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. I believe in incorporating sensory orientation into subject teaching as much as possible. I believe that children are naturally inclined towards this direction, more so perhaps than adults. By teaching them to explicitly engage their senses in the fullest way possible, children learn to be more self-aware, and more aware of others’ needs.  A child who is tuned in to the world around him develops compassion and a sharpened sense of understanding.

Ultimately this process helps my students develop stronger interpersonal skills, because they understand the depth of interconnectedness among people, and eventually, among industries, economies, and cultures.

The truth about globalization, including depletion of natural resources, will require that the most intelligent decisions pay attention to both the details and the big picture, and find as much of a balance as possible. That’s what sustainability is all about.

It is my experience as a teacher that sensory orientation allows decision-makers to feel as well as think.

I realize now, more than ever, the importance of schools as community-educators, a topic I recently wrote about for our blog. Schools educate their communities because children are connected to families and parents, who are in turn connected to various industries and cultures. And so the network grows.

EP: Is “Gree” a trend in schools? Is “Sustainability” a trend?

KVH: This is a great question. It is true that “green” is catching on in schools, particularly because children are interested in and sensitive to the issues of global warming, and because many teachers are activists or passionate about change in their own right. However, I would not call it a trend because that suggests it might be a passing vogue.

The sustainability movement or green revolution is here to stay because the overuse of resources—which is at the heart of the environmental problem—is a problem that affects every person, and cannot be easily reversed. Furthermore, as the definition of sustainability suggests, environmental degradation is intrinsically linked to all economic sectors, and all parts of the world. Therefore, it is in everyone’s best interest to create systems that can sustain themselves over long periods of time and with minimal harm to the planet.

EP: Please describe your program - is it more “Green Building” focused?  Or “Green Education”focused? Or does it help schools to go green in their administrative practices?

KVH: Greenfox is both Green Building focused and Green Education focused.

Our audits look at the building design and internal systems and make recommendations for service providers and products. We do not, however, implement the physical building changes, meaning we do not install actual solar panels or plant green roofs.

We also design our own sustainability curriculum, and have programs that teach students, teachers, and administrators how to implement a sustainability initiative, such as how to run a school-wide composting system, how to run an energy-efficient classroom, and how to implement a school-wide sustainability pledge.

EP: How many schools have you visited vs. how many are you targeting? Public schools? Private schools? National Schools? International schools?

KVH: Since our inception in March last year, we have worked with 3 private schools, and consulted informally with 14 schools, public and private included. We are working directly with schools in the Boston area, but educators read our blog across the country, and we receive e-mails and requests from schools nationwide.

Last May we conducted a Greenfox Schools National Market Survey, in which we polled hundreds of teachers, administrators, and educators across the country on the subject of greening schools. We were excited by the results that suggested a large percent are highly interested in sustainability. Teachers repeatedly noted that they want to make change but feel like they don’t know where to start or where to get the resources for their classrooms. Similarly, administrators responded that they didn’t know where to start in the process of “greening” their school, but wanted to make change happen through green building, operating systems, and student education.

Looking ahead, we’d like to help city school districts implement the Greenfox5. Our aim is to generate widespread change, and public school districts contain multiple schools.

EP: Is there a difference in perceptions or attitudes towards the importance of green education in private vs. public schools?

KVH: I have not observed a difference in attitude among public and private school teachers. Rather, students and teachers are both very excited and think going green is important. However it is harder among the administrations, because there is more red tape to cut through before schools can say “yes” and move forward with a sustainability initiative.

The good news is that it gets easier for administrators to say “yes” when they realize that a school-wide sustainability initiative not only benefits children and the environment but also saves money in the long-term.

EP: How easy or difficult is it to get teachers on board?  Who supports you in this mission? The school administration?  The State?  The Dept of Environment? Parents?

Teachers are great. Like myself, most teachers are in the classroom in the first place because they care about children and are passionate about what they do. The teachers I know give so much energy and go above and beyond what is asked of them to make life better for children. It is no surprise then that some of the greatest advocates of green schools are teachers.

Overall various people—parents, children, teachers, administrators and city officials, support us.

EP: As an Ecopreneurist, what are the challenges or benefits of your target market?

KVH: The challenge, as perhaps with any project, is getting enough people to say “yes” before we can come in and be hired to do an audit, give a presentation, or teach.

For public schools in particular, money is not always easy to come by. Budgets are drawn up early in the year, so finding money mid-way through the year to finance a sustainability initiative is difficult. Therefore, it requires planning, patience and sometimes fundraising on behalf of the schools before before they hire us.

Furthermore school green committees, comprised of parents and teachers, are popping up all over the place. The committees are great if they are open to learning how to implement sustainability in new ways. However in some cases the committees are formed to make change from the inside only without bringing in a consultant or outside research.

EP: What does an “Obama generation” of kids mean to you? How does it impact the purpose of Greenfox schools?

KVH: I love this term. The children who are raised in this generation are definitely more worldly, tech-savvy, and communications-savvy. They know what global warming is. They are ready to tell you all about the wonders of the presidential election. They love clothes. They are on Facebook. They want to save the world, and they want to have 500 friends while doing it.

In my mind, the risks of this generation are that children may become so wrapped up in technology and unauthentic forms of communication, such as texting, e-mailing, and IM’g, that genuine people skills will diminish.

It is ironic, but there is the risk that as we become more connected, we become less connected in the ways that truly matter. For example, while our blackberry allows us to stay connected to e-mail, news, and the internet 24/7, if we have it on during family-time or out to coffee with a friend then we do not allow ourselves to connect whole-heartedly to that person. We do not allow ourselves to be in the moment 100% because a part of us is ready to break that connection at any moment to read a text-message. If we are aware of that reality, though, I think we can find a healthy balance.

With this in mind, it is my goal with Greenfox to help children develop interpersonal skills through sensory orientation, and to put that in the context of sustainability.

I think it’s important for kids to realize that “environment” is not just this word you put in some box or isolated category. “Environment” is part of the greater term “sustainability,” which teaches children that the environment is connected to our homes, to our restaurants, to our banks, to our neighboring countries, and to each other as individual people.

EP: What are Greenfox’s plans for 2009?  For the ‘Obama generation’ of kids beyond 2009 ?

KVH: We plan to continue consulting at schools, performing environmental audits based on the Greenfox5, giving workshops, teaching curriculum to K-12 schools, and debuting our magazine, Greenfox Kids! in April. Growth is important to us, but we believe in starting small and doing something well before doing more.

More information about Greenfox Schools can be found at www.greenfoxschools.com

Image credit: Greenfox Schools