The purpose of this program is to dynamically engage the entire Atherton community in addressing climate change by bringing them together in awareness, learning and actions that can positively impact our environment today. We intend to involve Atherton Students, Teachers, Administrators, Residents and Town staff (hence the acronym START) in a coordinated, collaborative “closed-loop” environmental action program that benefits all.

BACKGROUND: Atherton is a primarily affluent residential community, with over 2,300 homes and over 6,000 residents. While there is little in the way of commercial activity in Atherton, the town is home to ten schools, with slightly over 6,000 students in attendance. Students come from Atherton, Menlo Park, Redwood City and other surrounding towns to attend the outstanding schools located in Atherton. These are a collection of both private and public schools—but all schools are under great budgetary pressure and often don’t have the funds or the staff to focus on providing adequate environmental awareness, education or broad-based green practices. The GreenSTART program, developed by the Atherton EPC, addresses these issues.

KEY FEATURES:

• Challenges students in all grades in a town-wide environmental contest to envision their own project to green their school or neighborhoods
• No Limit to the number of project entries per school (virtually all projects will be accepted), so all interested students may participate
• Challenges and helps participating residents to reduce their home energy usage and “carbon footprint” and save both the environment and dollars
• Residents may also voluntarily offset their remaining home carbon footprint with tax-deductible donations to the GreenSTART Fund
• Donations to GreenSTART Fund will be used for funding our students’ carbon neutralizing projects to improve our own neighborhoods and help Atherton do its part to keep San Mateo County “sustainable”
• The entire community is engaged in action and mutually supported competition, with participation rates viewable on the web. All participating residents and students will get to vote on which school projects their funds should support
• Cash prizes will be awarded to students with the best environmental projects and the schools with the highest levels of participation. Prize amounts will increase with the rate of participation by the residents.