They're green, they're growing and they're active. They're Earth Mamas, a new grassroots organization whose goal is to educate mothers, and fathers, so they can make healthy and environmentally friendly choices for their children.
Earth Mamas tries to meet once a week so they can share environmental information with other mothers, whom they invite via newsletters and e-mail. The meetings, which they call gatherings, are informal and largely focus on four topics: eco-friendly cleaning, eating local and organic foods, daily care products and energy conservation.
"We do the research and try to support other moms with the information so they can make correct choices," said Debbie Millikan, who co-founded Earth Mamas in 2007 with Dr. Wanee Gomez. "The goal is to instill these things in little kids before they develop bad habits. If they start them while they're young, they don't have to make that change."
The Earth Mamas haven't relied solely on meetings to get the word out, however. Last July, Millikan, who has two children ages 3 and 5, and another mother, Lani Corrie, were about to enroll their kids in kindergarten at Waikiki Elementary School when they saw a green opportunity.
"We arrived at the school and immediately saw potential for a lot of changes that could be made," said Millikan, who holds a doctorate in biology. "Within the first month, we created an outline of what we wanted to do and presented it to the principal. She was very interested, but I don't think she was eager to add more work for her staff."
Calling their plan "Project Green," Millikan said she and Corrie were primarily interested in encouraging the school to start using non-toxic cleaning products. Before long, though, they had secured a small grant from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports environmental education to schools and communities, and launched a project to create an organic garden at the school.
"We worked with the kindergartners and their families to plant a rainbow garden," Millikan explained. "The kids planted fruits and vegetables according to the colors of the rainbow. Safeway Kapahulu donated snacks for the kids and their families, and City Mill donated the tools and bricks to enclose the garden."
Millikan and Corrie also were able to get funding to plant 65 fruit trees on the Waikiki Elementary campus, courtesy of the national Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.
Project Green was so successful at the Waikiki school, the Earth Mamas now want to expand it to other schools in the state, Millikan said. The group has already met with state Reps. Scott Nishimoto (District 21) and Lyla Berg (District 18) about possible
legislation to mandate the removal of toxic materials from cleaning products used in public schools.
A federal mandate passed in 2004 directed all states to establish wellness guidelines by 2006 and implement them in all schools by 2010, Millikan pointed out. The State of Hawaii completed its guidelines a few months ago, she added.
"One of the things we can do is help schools interpret the guidelines — they're kind of complicated," she said.
Meanwhile, in addition to expanding their Project Green to more schools and lobbying the state Legislature to enforce school wellness standards, the Earth Mamas continue to "gather" once a week in hopes of reaching as many mothers as they can with their message.
"We've registered a Web site, but we've been so busy we haven't had time to build it — we're working on it," Millikan promised.
