As this year comes to an end, we realize we have a lot to be thankful for. 2012 has been an incredible year for our team, and we truly couldn't have done what we did without the support of our larger green schools community, who work day-in and day-out to teach our country and the world that where we learn matters.

In 2012, we have:

• Garnered nearly 75 million print and TV media impressions, including Fox News, USA Today, the Boston Herald, Sacramento Bee and more.
• Helped push through more than 80 bills across 28 states seeking high-performing schools.  ...

Hannah Debelius
Center for Green Schools Associate

Stepping off the bus and onto a street corner in San Francisco, it suddenly occurred to me that we had actually done this. We actually drove 3,227 (carbon offset) miles across the United States, all in a giant green bus. We actually started with a group of 20 strangers and became a team of student leaders, sharing knowledge and time with hundreds of K-12 students. We actually did what we set out to do, spreading the message and furthering the mission of healthy, sustainable schools. And actually, I wasn’t surprised at all, because ...

By Molly Hislop, LEED® Green Associate
Director of Programs and Marketing, Green Education Foundation (GEF)

Recently, GEF hosted a contest for teachers of grades 3-7 asking them to write a review of our free lesson, Wonder Wheel! Food for Healthy Kids and a Healthy World. The lesson, developed in partnership with Cabot Creamery Cooperative, includes three activities that emphasize how students can choose foods that are healthy for them, their communities and the environment. The winner gave us some excellent feedback and she will be using her prizes to host a healthy holiday party for her classroom. As ...

By Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

My passion for advancing the green schools movement is personal. My little sister spent her first year as an inner-city elementary school teacher in a sweltering classroom without natural light and no outdoor space for kids to play. After more than 20 years of service to our local school district, my mother has permanent respiratory damage from the mold-ridden, toxin-laden, airless school buildings she worked in. Call me crazy, but I think that every student and every teacher deserves a school that enhances learning instead of getting in the way of it....

Statement from Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, USGBC, Response to the Fourth USA Today Article Attacking Green Buildings

Washington, DC (Dec. 11, 2012) – USA Today has once again written an article attacking green building, deliberately ignoring information we provided and cherry picking data that misleads readers. The story is unbalanced and purposely attempts to impugn LEED despite the fact that it has helped lead quantified best practices in designing, constructing and operating all our buildings, including our nation’s schools.

Our kids deserve schools that enhance their ability to learn by providing more daylight, better acoustics and cleaner, ...

By Dr. John Slade
English teacher and author

As a teacher of many years, I have a big heart for kids. And it saddens me to know that there is an unprecedented future that awaits them. Young people have heard about climate change. They have looked at pictures of wildfires in Colorado and the devastation from Hurricane Sandy. Having taught for 10 years around the world in countries like Norway and Russia, I have observed that some students are much more advanced in their thinking about climate change and ecology, and others have rarely encountered ecology in their classes.

How ...

By Carly Cowan
Executive Administrative Assistant

I left Washington, D.C. for Cartagena, Colombia with a bold idea, a big hope and a nebulous understanding of what exactly I was throwing myself into. For months I sat behind my computer promulgating Green Apple to any and all international school contacts I could grasp. I spent countless hours talking to people thousands of miles away, sometimes convincing them to take part in our emerging global movement, sometimes walking them through a project and in those intermittent moments of magic, listening to their hopes for their schools. 160 projects and 2400 miles later, ...

By Jenny Wiedower
K-12 Manager

At the Center for Green Schools, it's our mission to advocate for school facilities that enhance the learning experience for all. Through this mission, we strive to create materials and resources that assist school occupants and staff in making decisions to create better learning environments. That's why we're teaming up with Architecture for Humanity to create a new resource that highlights strategies for implementing financing options for school improvements. But we need your help.

When it comes to making improvements to school buildings – replacing HVAC systems, upgrading windows, installing new furniture – what ...

By Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

For me, one of the highlights of Greenbuild 2012 in San Francisco was the faux show hosted by Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough at the opening plenary. I was particularly struck by Biz Stone, the founder of Twitter, who came on stage and announced that “philanthropy is the new marketing.” He described a world in which a company would spend more money on philanthropy then they would on actually promoting the work that they did to further elevate their brand.

This in particular resonated with me, as we at the Center for ...

By Kristin Simmons Ferguson
Higher Ed Associate

Our friends at the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology have just completed the annual update of their sustainability case study database. The database includes a highlight of the best green projects of 2012 that reduce pollution, waste and costs, including recycling, energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy installations and green jobs training programs. With the addition of the “Best of 2012” submissions, the database includes 800 case studies from colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada spanning more than two decades. 

The work these campuses are doing coincide with NWF’s efforts to educate ...