About Us

The Cool School Challenge program was developed in collaboration by Redmond High School environmental science teacher Mike Town, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and Puget Sound Energy’s Powerful Choices for the Environment program.

Conceptually modeled after the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, the Cool School Challenge aims to motivate students, teachers, and school districts to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions schoolwide. At the heart of the Cool School Challenge is the philosophy that big changes start with small steps, and that taken together, simple individual actions create a world of difference.

The goals of the Cool School Challenge are to:

• Educate young people, and by proxy their families, about climate change and everyday actions they can take to reduce their impact locally and globally;
  
• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gas emissions in and around schools;
  
• Encourage student leadership and empowerment;
• Foster a community of teachers/students working together to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Foster a new generation of environmental/air quality advocates.