This month, Kimberly Tseng (LEED AP BD+C) was recognized as one of USGBC’s Above and Beyond Volunteers – volunteer leaders whose contributions have led to outstanding achievements in the green building movement.
Earlier this afternoon, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and White House Council on Environmental Quality Acting Chair Mike Boots announced the 2014 class of Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) honorees, highlighting a total of 57 schools and school districts from around the country.
My favorite part of my job by far is getting to watch and hear about STEM teachers who are making science and math come alive for their students; teachers who are using issues that are both interesting and applicable to their students to demonstrate how STEM truly is all around us.
Now in its fifth year, The Princeton Review’s Guide to 332 Green Colleges, 2014 Edition, released today, profiles higher education institutions in the United States and Canada that demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.
This past Saturday, in her address at the National Green Schools Conference in Sacramento, our fearless leader Rachel Gutter inspired the crowd of green schools supporters to leave the conference as ONE VOICE, ONE MOVEMENT. As she pointed out, this imperative to speak with unity is why we think the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools program is so important.
Originally published in the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Magazine, Winter 2014
Answer: Because we have to learn how to live well in our places without undermining the ability of our places to sustain us over time. If we are to succeed at doing so, then the knowledge, skills and habits-of-mind we need to do so must be cultivated in our schools.
In 2013, the Center for Green Schools reached further, leveraged greater and invested more than we ever have. How do we know? We are maniacal about tracking our work – whether it be the number of people we engage, the number of resources we distribute or the way people talk about our work in the media, their social networks or in surveys.
The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is proud to announce the expansion of Community Green, thanks to the continued and generous support of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. Launched in 2012, Community Green partners with community colleges to prepare for careers in sustainability and green building. Community Green is supported by a network of volunteer national chairs, located regionally across the U.S., who work with colleges to implement program benefits and deepen engagement with USGBC.
As volunteers and teachers around the world gear up for Green Apple Day of Service 2014 next September, Riyaz Gayasaddin and Mike Rennard are working with students in Baltimore City Public Schools to research, plan, plant, harvest and—of course—eat vegetables in indoor vertical gardens in their classrooms. Our friends at Teach for America first told us about Gayasaddin, who is one of their teacher trainers, and Rennard, who is a teacher at Green Street Academy.