The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced today the 2014 Best of Green Schools recipients, recognizing 10 individuals, institutions, projects, and events representing the best environmental efforts in schools across the country this year. The list highlights the national leaders and innovators in school sustainability for the year.
“Selecting the Best of Green Schools honorees is an exciting and challenging process, as there are so many fantastic examples of efforts being made in communities large and small,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools. “Some of the honorees go about their work quietly, others are in public positions and have the attention of a national audience. Every one of the honorees is a leader, taking risks, setting an example for others, innovating and diligently pursuing a world in which every student attends a green school within this generation.”
Recipients include:
• K-12 School – The Monarch School (Houston): Since its founding in 1997, The Monarch School’s environmental education program has offered students with special needs the opportunity to learn about the environment on campus and to share that knowledge with their families and the greater Houston community.
• Higher Education Institution – Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Mich.): Over the past two decades, the Western Michigan University (WMU) community has collectively served as a leader in sustainability through energy conservation efforts, recycling and waste reduction programs and by facilitating cooperative research into green manufacturing practices.
• Ambassador – Mark Swiger (Wheeling, W.Va.): Mark Swiger is a teacher in Marshall County Schools. Active locally, statewide and nationally, Mark was behind the movement in his county school system to work toward greener building and sustainable operations. Mark partners with the entrepreneurial program at a local university to encourage the initiation of green businesses.
• Policy Maker – Representative Brenda Gilmore (Nashville, Tenn.): As the chair and founder of the Tennessee Green Schools Caucus, Representative Gilmore has worked with colleagues within Tennessee and across state lines to promote activities that improve the places where our children learn. In 2014, Representative Gilmore championed legislation that encourages school districts to utilize less toxic products and schedule all cleaning and maintenance acts at times that limit student and staff exposure to health harming chemicals.
• Student Leadership – Dunloggin Middle School Oyster Gardeners (Ellicott City, Md.): For the past three years, Dunloggin Middle School Oyster Gardeners have cared for and relocated nearly 12,000 oyster spat as part of an initiative to help clean the Chesapeake Bay. Each year since it's inception, the oyster gardening group has grown in size and increased the total amount of oyster spat they have relocated in the bay.
• Business Leadership – Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York City): Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) established a senior level Sustainability Council in New Jersey in 2009. Since the summer of 2013, BMS has funded a Green Schools Fellow at New Jersey School Boards Association, a position that is not only transforming how school board members view their responsibilities but also changing how other School Board Associations approach green schools education.
• Collaboration – University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (Buffalo, N.Y.): In partnership with the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York (SUNY-Buffalo) worked to convene over 150 organizations and more than 300 members of the general public in three region-wide Environmental Congresses to create “Our Shared Agenda for Action”, a blueprint for action on regional environmental issues.
• Transformation – Green Bronx Machine (South Bronx, N.Y.): Green Bronx Machine is transforming an unused library in a 100+ year-old school building into the first ever Health, Wellness and Biodiversity Center in the South Bronx – one of America’s poorest Congressional Districts.
• Community Event – Learning Gate Community School (Lutz, Fla.): EcoFest 2014, presented by Learning Gate Community School in conjunction with the City of Tampa and USF Patel College of Global Sustainability drew more than 4,500 participants in April of 2014.
• Moment for the Movement – Annie Donnelly (West Palm Beach, Fla..): Annie recently authored a children’s book titled Willow Watts and the Green School Wish. Her story teaches children about a wide range of sustainability measures, from vegetable gardens, to clean construction, to energy efficient heating and cooling. The book empowers children to take action and make a difference in their communities.
Related Stories
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top science and technology sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, Affiliated Engineers, and Skanska top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest S+T sector design and construction firms.
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top convention center AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, AECOM, and Hunt Construction top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest convention center design and construction firms.
| Aug 21, 2014
Apartment construction hits 25-year high
The boost to apartment construction suggests that job gains are encouraging the creation of households.
| Aug 21, 2014
Strategies for providing great customer service
Customers are inherently inefficient and inconvenient to do business with, writes Customer Service Consultant Micah Solomon, in a recent Forbes post. That’s why he believes great customer service depends on understanding this. SPONSORED CONTENT
Sponsored | | Aug 21, 2014
Defining the measure of success when implementing new technologies
Sasha Reed and Chad Dorgan, McCarthy Building Cos.’s Vice President of Quality and Sustainability, discuss the keys to managing innovation within a large construction firm. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Aug 21, 2014
RTKL's parent company Arcadis acquires Callison
The acquisition of Callison, known predominantly for its leadership in retail and mixed-use design, builds on Arcadis’ strong global design and architecture position, currently provided by RTKL.
| Aug 21, 2014
Must See: Detroit's Beaux-Arts parking garage
An opulent Renaissance Revival building in downtown Detroit is being used as a parking garage.
| Aug 20, 2014
WELL Building: The next step in green sports construction
The WELL Building Standard, a new protocol that focuses on human wellness within the built environment, is a particularly good fit for sports facilities, write Skanska's Tom Tingle and Beth Heider.
| Aug 20, 2014
Seattle's King Street Station thoughtfully restored [2014 Reconstruction Awards]
After years of neglect and botched renovations, King Street Station sparkles once again.
| Aug 20, 2014
Tour an office with no assigned workstations [slideshow]
The New York office of the Gerson Lehrman Group recently redesigned its office without personal desks or cubicles. The company gave each of its 250 employees a locker, a laptop, and told to work anywhere they wanted, according to Business Insider.