By Nathaniel Allen
Center for Green Schools Advocacy Lead

Yesterday, state legislators, key decision makers and USGBC chapter members from across the South and Midwest convened at Richardsville Elementary School in Kentucky, the nation’s first net-zero energy school, for a “Common Ground” event to discuss the success of the green schools movement in the region and the best practices that can be applied to their own communities.

This regional roundtable discussion will be part of a larger series in 2012 launched by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council to bring local elected officials from across ...

By Emily Knupp
K-12 Associate

While many of us are turning the focus of our free time towards holiday preparation, sale-scouting and travel planning, USGBC’s volunteers continue to be hard at work on behalf of green schools. To learn more about the recent happenings of Green Schools Committees from coast-to-coast, be sure to check out this video from this summer’s Green Schools Committee Symposium.

U.S. Green Building Council Green Schools Symposium from U.S. Green Building Council on Vimeo.

In Mississippi, Chapter Green Schools Committee Chair Sally Zahner and her team were involved in the groundbreaking for what could ...

By Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

It seems like we only just made it through back-to-school season at the Center for Green Schools and now the holidays are right around the corner. With USGBC’s annual Greenbuild Conference and Expo under our belt, the Center team is hard at work on many upcoming initiatives to carry us through 2011 and into 2012.

This year’s Greenbuild was held in Toronto, and focused on “what’s next” in the green building movement. The Center played off the theme by partnering with United Technologies Corp. to release a new independent nationwide survey conducted ...

By Nathaniel Allen
Center for Green Schools Advocacy Lead

Just weeks after the Department of Education released the framework for the Green Ribbon Schools award, 22  33* states, plus the District of Columbia and  the Bureau of Indian Education, have announced their participation in this voluntary program. From Pennsylvania to California, red to blue, states are realizing the Green Ribbon Schools program is a way to achieve current goals around the improvement of their education systems. In case you’ve missed the buzz, the Green Ribbon Schools program is an initiative from the U.S. Department of Education, in collaboration with other ...

By Kristin Simmons Ferguson
Higher Ed Associate

Last month, the Center for Green Schools and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) teamed up to present the first ever Innovation in Green Building Award at AASHE’s annual conference in Pittsburgh. The award recognizes a leading college or university that is transforming the built environment and creating living laboratories for sustainability. This year’s winner is the University of Texas at Dallas for their LEED Platinum Student Services Building. We caught up with Dr. Calvin Jamison, vice president for Business Affairs at UT Dallas, to discuss the ...

By Pat Lane
USGBC Students Lead

In the first two months of the academic year, USGBC Students is off to a roaring start! The national network of volunteer national and regional chairs has tripled the size of the program, and students are putting together inspiring events and activities on campuses across the country. We are now gearing up for Campus Conservation Nationals!

Campus Conservation Nationals 2012 is a national residence hall electricity and water reduction competition that encourages colleges and universities to compete with each other to have the greatest energy reductions. With over 120 schools committed, and 1,400 buildings ...

By Bretta Beveridge
Green Schools National Conference Producer

Register now for the second annual Green Schools National Conference (GSNC), taking place from Feb 27-29, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.

Be sure to register for the 2012 GSNC online by Nov. 18 to get the early bird discount rate. And, as a benefit of being a  Center for Green Schools blog reader, you can take advantage of the special USGBC discount code

1. Go to http://www.greenschoolsnationalconference.org/register_now.php
2. Scroll down and click on Register Online
3. Click on Affiliate Rates
4. When asked for a discount code, enter usgbcschools

(If you are registering more than five people ...

By Emily Knupp
K-12 Associate

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. This is the mantra of the Emmy-winning television show Friday Night Lights, epitomizing the spirit of a fictional high school football team in this Texas-based drama series. These six words embody the can do – the must do – attitude of people in a small town, trying to do what’s right for their families and their community. After a recent visit to the Lone Star State, for the USGBC Central Texas-Balcones Chapter’s Green Schools Symposium, it occurs to me that attitude goes beyond the small screen, and far beyond ...

The Center is excited to launch a brand new Facebook page and Twitter account. These social media platforms will serve as a way for our network of advocates, volunteers, chapter members and students to engage with the Center staff on a more conversational level, and stay up-to-date on all of our happenings!  In addition, Rachel Gutter, the director of the Center for Green Schools, has also launched her own Twitter account. We will be putting lots of content about the importance of green schools and how you can get involved, so be sure to check out the pages, ...

The Center has several new videos highlighting our work over the past year. These videos feature programs and events such as the Center for Green Schools Fellowship Program, and the U.S. Green Building Council Green Schools Symposium. We also created a video that gives a great overview of the importance of green schools, and how we are furthering the mission of putting every student in a green school within this generation.

Green Schools for Everyone:

The Center for Green Schools Fellowship Program:

The U.S. Green Building Council Green Schools Symposium: