The kids in Occidental may be among the luckiest in Sonoma
County, and perhaps in all California, when the Salmon Creek
Falls Environmental Center gets certified. The town just cut the
ribbon on this wavy-roofed beauty, positioned to become the
county's first LEED-platinum-certified building and California's
first LEED-platinum-certified structure on a K–8 campus. Why are
these kids so fortunate? Lots of reasons, not the least of which
is getting to spend part of the school day in a toxin-free
environment. The new campus building does not include
classrooms, but the cafeteria, auditorium and meeting spaces of
the center are free of VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
According to the U.S. Green Building Council, conventionally
built school buildings—and the carpets, paints and furnishings
that go with them—emit neurotoxins absorbed by body and brain.
Often these structures are inadequately ventilated with little
natural lighting, and waste so much energy that heating and
cooling costs eat up the equivalent of