Green Teens Approved Business

I just received my Utility bill today and was first, very happy to see it was much lower than last year due to our efforts at water conservation and also because the bill included a card that described a program that reaches out to young environmentalists. In cooperation with the North Central Texas Council of Governments through funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Green Teens is a new program introduced in the Fall of 2008 to reach out to young environmentalists through training and hands-on demonstrations and allow them to educate their peers, as well as their community, on ways to green their lives.

The program includes educational and practical components to facilitate long-term, positive changes in attitudes concerning waste prevention, reduction, reuse, and recycling. The Green Teens go out in the community and ask businesses about their “green” practices and give each of them a set of criteria that will help them reach the goal of a “Green Teens Approved Business” status. The businesses are then placed in tiers based on the number of practices implemented, in our community of North Richland Hills, there are forty businesses and counting that are Green Teen Approved Business!!

A unique aspect of Green Teens includes an innovative, youth-oriented and targeted marketing campaign. Green Teens will provide education by producing an environmental PSA, creating and maintaining a Green Teens web site and MySpace page, and using a weekly “text tree” to provide helpful tips to peers. Additionally, Green Teens will utilize a video-enabled social network to send video emails, create video podcasts, have group video chats, and streaming video.

To learn more about this program go to:

http://www.nrhtx.com/green_teens.aspx

The card lists all the Green Approved Businesses and the Tier level they have attained. One of our favorite places, the Yogurt Patch Frozen Yogurt is in the Top Tier (20+ actions). Great yogurt and very green to boot!