Chris Tyler is a sustainability engineer for Thermal Equipment Sales, and also sits on the board of directors for USGBC’s Kentucky chapter. Chris’ children attend Rosa Parks Elementary, a school that recently cut its energy usage by 47 percent with no additional cost to the school. They made these dramatic reductions by improving operations and educating teachers and students on energy reduction strategies. This Friday, the school is being recognized by Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) and Mayor Jim Gray for receiving Energy Star certification, and also its hard work to reduce overall energy consumption. The school will receive its Energy ...

Phoebe Beierle
Center for Green Schools UTC Fellow for Boston Public Schools

Things are buzzing in the facilities department and the administration building at Boston Public School (BPS) as everyone is preparing for the students to return for the 2012 school year. I’m now one month into my Center for Green Schools UTC Fellowship in Boston, and I’m finally figuring out how to describe my role. It’s been a challenging yet exciting first few months, and I’m being inspired more and more every day by amazing students and devoted school leaders. While the web of BPS sustainability initiatives is a ...

Rachel Gutter, the director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, has taken her flip cam on the road to speak with everyone from teachers, parents and students to policy makers and leaders in sustainability, green building and education.

In the first of many interviews, Rachel speaks with Congressman John Sarbanes of Maryland. Rep. Sarbanes, a member of the Center's Congressional Green Schools Caucus, is a longstanding supporter of green schools efforts. Rachel discusses the bi-partisan No Child Left Inside Act introduced by Rep. Sarbanes, and the support it is gaining.

About Rachel on the ...

Nathaniel Allen
Center for Green Schools Advocacy Lead

Green schools were the focus of a reception with more than 60 attendees – mostly state lawmakers – at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) this past Tuesday, August 9. Co-hosted with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, leading legislators from the 50 for 50 Green Schools Caucus Initiative convened with their colleagues from other states to discuss some of the recent updates in the national green schools movement and opportunities to stay engaged in the coming months.

Illinois State Representative Karen May, Chair of the Illinois Working Group on ...

By Rachel Gutter, Director, Center for Green Schools

It’s been a crazy-busy summer at the Center for Green Schools. In the fall, the Department of Education will release the criteria for their Green Ribbon Schools Award and we’ve been working closely with agency staff and our partner organizations to make sure public and private schools have everything they need to submit applications come winter. The launch of Green Ribbon Schools opens up a new dialogue in the education world, and publications like Education Week, American education’s newspaper of record, are calling upon the Center to weigh in on ...

By Heather Henriksen, Harvard Office for Sustainability

Earlier today USGBC announced that Harvard University had reached a first for any higher education institution in the world – 50 LEED certified projects. It’s an exciting green building milestone for us and one that entire Harvard community can celebrate.

Anisa Baldwin Metzger, Center for Green Schools Fellows Manager

Last month, more than 30 school district staff, consultants and volunteers from across the country came together at USGBC's National Headquarters for a training session with the newly appointed Center for Green Schools UTC Fellows.

The Fellowship program, in its inaugural year, provides school districts with a fully funded sustainability expert who collaborates with school district leadership on initiatives to make their schools healthier, more sustainable learning environments. This year's two fellows, Phoebe Beierle in the Boston Public School District and Farah McDill in Sacramento City Unified School District, kicked ...

Emily Knupp
ByEmily Knupp, K-12 Associate

These days, everyone seems to be trying to do more with less. More than a dozen USGBC Chapters did just that by making a little money go a long way toward greening their local schools with the 2010 Green Schools Committee Innovation Grants.

Last summer, seventeen USGBC Chapters were the inaugural recipients of these grants, which range up to $2,000. The grants were given to Committees that demonstrated well-defined programs, concrete goals and effective strategies for connecting with their communities in support of green schools. The recipients immediately set to work on ...

By Pat Lane
USGBC Students Lead

We don't need to convince college students there are problems with the built environment around them. This is a generation of sustainability natives born into a changing planet.

They grew up with Asthma, taking steroids for their lungs and with inhalers in their pockets, all because of the unhealthy built environments they have been living and learning in. They are ready to change the poor conditions they have grown accustomed to.

Students are at the forefront of the movement to change our schools into healthy, high performance buildings. They are discovering and implementing solutions ...