Those of you who have seen me speak recently know that I have had some pretty disparaging things to say about polar bears. Not because I have anything against polar bears (though I did visit a school in Alaska once where they had to put up a big fence to keep the bears from eating students), but because I don’t believe that polar bears are deserving of being the icon for sustainability, or even climate change.
Blog
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Green Apple Day of Service Kicks Off With Strong Commitments
The Center for Green Schools had barely begun to take our plans for Green Apple Day of Service on Sept. 29 beyond water cooler conversations, when two powerhouses came forward asking how they could help: Interface Global and Harvard University.
When two sustainability leaders want to know how they can be a part of your next big idea, you start to think you might be onto something.
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College Students Across the Country Conserve 1.74 Gigawatt-Hours Through Campus Conservation Nationals 2012
151 homes off the grid, 1,554,814 gallons of water saved, 2,642,287 lbs of CO2 diverted from the atmosphere, $157,925 saved.
This is what 250,000 students across the country can do when they take the environment and their energy usage into their own hands for just three weeks. During Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2012, these students educated, organized and mobilized to show themselves and their peers that small behavioral changes can drastically effect energy consumption on a large scale.
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Director’s Corner: Making Green Schools an International Conversation
Last month, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Beijing, China for the 8th International Conference on Green & Energy Efficient Building to discuss the green schools movement. Although there are so many implicit differences between the U.S. and China – the language and culture are incredibly diverse from ours – I tested my assumption that healthy, high performing kids are a universal value that requires no translation.
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Center for Green Schools Opportunities: Sustainability Summit
Sustainability Summit
The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is now accepting applications to attend this summer’s School Sustainability Leaders Summit from June 27-29. The Summit will be held at our offices in Washington, D.C. and is designed for school district or school system staff who are the point-people for sustainability within their organization. -
Chapter Spotlight: Charlotte’s Eco Learning Lab
Late last year, South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, NC built an “Eco Learning Lab,” an outdoor classroom for students, instructors and green building professionals. The laboratory provides a forum for students to strengthen their educational experience and opens a dialog with green building professionals that can assist in career exploration. The hope is that the Eco Learning Lab can be replicated at other high schools in North Carolina.