Installing no-idling zones for parents picking up children from school, switching to plant-based cleaners and banning pesticides from playgrounds and playing fields are just some of the efforts being pushed in schools these days. Teaching kids to recycle and preserving local wetlands are also popular. That's in addition to actually making the buildings green with certifications like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Making the school grounds safer for the environment is also safer for the kids, a generation experiencing drastically increasing asthma rates.

Administrators say once the children learn the importance of environmentalism, it's often the parents – who drive the SUVs and refuse to turn off their engines while waiting – who seem to need instruction.