Efforts to link labor and the environment are gaining strength with new national green job initiatives and educational conferences bringing together steelworkers and school teachers.

The American Federation of Teachers, one of NYSUT's national affiliates, is among the labor unions that teamed with environmentalists for a new Green Jobs initiative earlier this month at a national educational conference.

Other union sponsors were United Steelworkers, Laborers International Union of North America, Communications Workers of America and Service Employees International Union.

"Labor is now working together with environmentalists for a better planet and better jobs," said NYSUT's health and safety specialist, Wendy Hord. "As educational unions, we should be leaders in this movement."

Keynote speakers included the new director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson; Van Jones, founder of Green For All and one of Time magazine's 2008 environmental leaders; and David Foster, director of the Blue Green Alliance, a national partnership of 6 million union members and environmentalists set to expand the green economy and advance workers' rights worldwide.

Sessions addressed policy, advocacy, strategy, and even Labor 101: Why unions are essential, how they shaped today's workplace and why they are important to creating good jobs.

AFT's involvement in the Washington, D.C., conference (www.greenjobsconference.org) showed the importance of the role teachers need to play and the place unionists need to occupy in advocating for safer, greener schools and buildings for all, Hord said.

"We need to be teaching kids to be environmental stewards. Some young activists already realize how important it is to save our planet, and that in the future the jobs they'll need to support themselves are green jobs," said teacher Margaret Sergent, secretary of the Rochester Teachers Association and a member of NYSUT's Health and Safety Task Force.

The green jobs conference fortifies AFT's union campaign: "Building Minds, Minding Buildings," including a "how-to- build-green-schools initiative" (www.aft.org).

Conference presenters showed how in Ohio all new schools or school renovation projects have to be silver-certified by LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Hord said.

Darryl Alexander, AFT health and safety director, was one of three speakers who addressed how strategic investment in schools creates healthier environments and helps drive the creation of good jobs.

Several AFT Connecticut teachers shared how career and technical education programs there have students building wind turbines and installing solar panels.

"Teachers are educating kids about carbon footprint, the environment and actual work skills," Hord said.

Green issues can be incorporated into science, family and consumer classes, career and tech ed, character education and physical education.

She also said School-Related Professionals are affected in the job market by green initiatives.

"Almost any job can be a green job," she said, noting how custodial jobs are changing with new requirements for green cleaning, energy-efficient lighting, and use of pesticides.

Examples of what schools have been doing to raise awareness: One school revealed it was using 8,000 whiteboard markers a year. A top source of toxic waste for schools and offices, they contain the chemical xylene and other toxins and chemicals that are not biodegradable. Refillable, eco-friendly markers are one alternative.

City University of New York has created a building performance lab to train students to make the city's buildings green through green property management, urban sustainability, and energy management.

— Liza Frenette