When Los Angeles Westside Realtors Mimi and Jon Torp wanted to find a way to reward their daughter, Emily, for her diligent work recycling and conserving water, they couldn’t come up with anything that properly praised her accomplishments.   Talking to other parents, they quickly realized that there was an obvious dearth of environmental based awards for our young Eco-Warriors.   Thus was the genesis of “Environ-Medals”.  

Designed by Emily and Jon, the Torps hired a medal maker to create an engraved “Planet Earth – Environ-Medal” with the slogan “Champion of a Greener World”.   With Emily's help, they also developed a checklist of eco friendly tasks that a child (or adult) could perform to help our planet.    The list includes everything from bringing trashless lunches to school, to printing on both sides of the paper, to turning off lights when leaving a room.   When a person has performed a specific number of tasks, they’re rewarded with an Environ-Medal.

The Torps offered to sponsor an “Environ-Medals” program at their daughter’s school.  Tracey Schwengel, head of Franklin Elementary’s GREEN TEAM, loved the idea and embraced it whole heartedly.  

“The Environ-medals are an incredible addition to helping us "go green" at Franklin.   The checklists give the kids a way to document their green efforts at home and they are proud to receive their unique medals at school.  Checklists continue to come in consistently each week and have proven to be a great way to motivate our students to be more eco-minded” says Schwengel.

The Torps knew they were on to something when one of the parents at the school thanked them profusely for developing and sponsoring the program: “For years I’ve been trying to get my husband to turn off the water when shaving or brushing his teeth, but he never listened.  But now that our son can earn a medal for reminding his Dad to conserve, he’s finally turning off the water”.

Emily, Mimi and Jon are thrilled and inspired by the remarkable response their Environ-Medals program has generated.   They are proud to contribute a portion of every transaction to support their important Environ Medals program.

Please visit their website, Stevens-torp.com for further information...

Emily Torp is now a high school freshman who enjoys basketball, soccer, playing the clarinet, sax and being relentless about recycling.