Our Mission
Founded in 2006, the mission of TeachingGreen is to enable a sustainable future for life on Earth through comprehensive and empowering environmental education for all.
What is TeachingGreen?
TeachingGreen is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing environmental education for people of all ages and interests. Our mission is guided by three main 
goals:
- Raise awareness about our most serious environmental problems, both local and global
- Encourage people to consider the environmental impact of their day-to-day activities
- Help people adopt a lifestyle that sustains, rather than depletes, Earth’s natural resources
Whether you are a teacher looking for environmental presentations for your students, or a business, club, church, etc. seeking a speaker to discuss sustainable living, we can help. We currently offer three programs: The Green Life for adults, Growing Up Green: The Early Years for grades K - 5 and Growing Up Green: The High School years for grades 10 - 12.
In Fall 2011, we will be launching a fourth program, Growing Up Green: The Middle Years for grades 6-9.
Click here to see TeachingGreen's founder, Kathleen Jacecko, talking about TeachingGreen's program at a 2011 Earth Day event in Manhattan Beach, CA.
The Green Life: Presentations for Adults
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” ~Native American Proverb
Tough economic times, asthma on the rise, mounting evidence of a planet in peril. If there was ever a time to “go green,” this is it. It seems that every day, there's a new gadget, strategy or website to help consumers save energy, water and other natural resources. Armed with these tools, adopting a truly eco-friendly lifestyle has never been easier.
At the same time, digesting today's flood of environmental news and endless lists of “Top 10 Things You Can Do to Save the Earth” can be overwhelming. Where to start? How best to spend your time, effort and money? Our Green Life presentations for adults take the mystery out of going green to help concerned individuals make truly effective environmental choices.
Participants in our Green Life program for adults…
- Learn hundreds of hot tips to shrink their ecological footprint and save thousands of dollars per year
- Feel good knowing they are doing their part to protect the environment
- Have fun!
The program covers the topics of Transportation, Food, Home & Garden, Solid Waste and Household Toxics & Hazardous Waste in a series of six presentations. Whether you're looking for a one-time speaker, want to hear all six presentations, or anything in between, give us a call, and we'll get it on the calendar. For more information about our Green Life program for adults, click here.
Go beyond reusable bags and hybrid cars…start living the Green Life today!
Growing Up Green: Presentations for Kids & Teens
When it comes to protecting the environment, no one has more to lose than those who will inherit the planet that we leave behind: our children. We believe that children understand this and want a healthy environment for themselves and the wildlife that they love.
The Growing Up Green program offers teachers two options. A speaker from TeachingGreen 
can be booked to visit the school to teach the lessons directly to students, or for schools that run a docent program, TeachingGreen will train parent volunteers to teach the lessons themselves.
The Early Years: Grades K - 5
Reduce, reuse, recycle: what's it all about? TeachingGreen's series of three lessons on this cardinal rule of sustainability teaches kids that the best way to protect the environment - to reduce air and water pollution, protect water resources and natural habitats and help prevent climate change - is to reduce, reuse and recycle. Kids are empowered to become stewards of the environment not just on tree-planting or beach clean-up days, but every day, for the rest of their lives.
The Middle Years: Grades 6 - 9
Coming Fall 2011...details coming soon!
The High School Years: Grades 10 - 12
As future consumers, voters, politicians, teachers and business owners, today’s teens have the power to create tomorrow’s sustainable society. Our Growing Up Green presentations for teens cover the what, why and how of green living in the areas of Transportation, Food, Home & Garden, Solid Waste and Household Toxics & Hazardous Waste. Teens learn the value of a healthy environment, and that they have the power to protect it through their consumer choices and everyday actions.
Who is TeachingGreen?
Kathleen Jacecko, Founder/Director
Kathleen was raised in a household with one cardinal rule: conserve energy and water under all circumstances. These lessons in conservation, along with regular camping trips to Yosemite and
other wild places in central and northern California, formed the foundation of Kathleen’s passion for protecting and restoring planet Earth and its many natural resources that are so fundamental to our way of life.
Kathleen holds a B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry and a teaching credential from the University of California, Irvine. While an undergraduate student, she worked in the research lab of atmospheric chemist F. Sherwood Rowland, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were depleting Earth’s protective ozone layer. Collecting air samples and analyzing them using gas chromatography, Kathleen gained firsthand knowledge about the detrimental effects of human activity on our air quality, and thus our lives.
Fresh out of college in 1996, Kathleen worked as an Associate Producer at a large educational software company. After three years of corporate life, she decided to put her passion for education to good use and became a teacher at Redondo Union High School, where she taught
physics and physical science, and incorporated environmental issues into her lessons whenever possible. Then in 2003, she left teaching to pursue a full-time career in the environmental field, a path which eventually led her to found TeachingGreen.
Before securing full-time work in the field, Kathleen volunteered with Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Heal the Bay, two local non-profit organizations working on water quality issues. She assisted Algalita with a study of industrial sources of plastic in the ocean, and as a member Heal the Bay’s Speakers Bureau, she educated children and adults about ocean pollution. She then went on to work for the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust and Santa Monica Baykeeper, where as Public Outreach Director, she developed, funded and ran the Clean Water Act: Empower the People Program. Through this program, she educated hundreds of Los Angeles residents about the Clean Water Act and the importance of citizen enforcement of this powerful but often unenforced law.
Now, as Director of TeachingGreen, the non-profit organization she founded in 2006, she is devoted to bringing comprehensive and inspiring environmental education to the public to help people live a greener, more sustainable lifestyle.
Board of Directors
President - Kathleen Jacecko, M.S.
Founder/Director, TeachingGreen
Secretary - Laura Bodensteiner, M.S.
Marine Biologist
Laura is an At-Large Director of the Mar Vista Community Council and serves as the Chair of the Green Committee for the Council. She is co-owner of Tickled Plum, an online boutique specializing in custom handcrafted stationery.
Treasurer - Michael M. Landman-Karny, M.B.A.
Sr. Finance Manager, Experian Inc.
Michael brings to TeachingGreen 18 years of accounting and finance experience.
Director - Dana P. Palmer, Esq.
Attorney, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Dana served as the inaugural staff attorney at Santa Monica Baykeeper where he helped defend a progressive plan to reduce trash in the L.A. River (the "Trash TMDL") and organized a statewide coalition against the use of once-through cooling at coastal power plants.
Advisory Board
Jim Aldinger
Former City Councilman, Manhattan Beach
Roger Fontes
Retired CEO and Environmental Engineer, Florida Municipal Power
Lillian Light
Board President, Environmental Priorities Network
Vanessa Poster
Board President, Beach Cities Health District
Dr. Alice Villalobos
Founder of Coast Pet Clinic of Hermosa Beach, Inc
