USGBC Center For Green Schools Green Apple Day Of Service

The U.S. Green Building Council Center for Green Schools announced the first Green Apple Day of Service, a global call to take real action in support of healthy, sustainable schools. The Green Apple Day of service will take place on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012.  To participate, log onto the Green Schools page :
For more information about the Green Apple Day Of Service- click HERE

For FAQ's and to learn how you can participate:
How can I participate and what is the day of service about? Click HERE for an FAQ page about the event:

Mark Your Calendars! Learn Green 2012 October 19th

Join the USGBC South Florida Chapter Green Schools Committee and other teachers, administrators, school district staff, parent, student and community members interested in learning about how to make schools greener at this statewide conference!

GREEN CLASSROOM PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

You’ve been asking about it…it’s HERE!  The USGBC Center for Green Schools

GREEN CLASSROOM PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

How many of us realize how strongly the physical learning space effects student health and performance?  The USGBC Center For Green Schools has been able to verify how much a classroom environment can effect students. The USGBC is launching a new program specifically to teach educators about how to make their schools more sustainable and healthy places in which to learn, work and teach.

The Green Classroom Professional Certificate program, created for parents, teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and operations and maintenance professionals, will provide the tools they can use to make classrooms healthier and sustainable and impacting the next generation of students.

According to information on the USGBC Center for Green Schools, the certificate program will encourage teachers to:

·         Gain knowledge in green building practices, particularly for their classrooms and schools

·         Use knowledge to make classroom/learning spaces healthier and sustainable learning   environments

·         Help foster an attitude among youth and future generations to appreciate and model green building and sustainable practices

·         Support green building and sustainability practices through energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction and improved indoor air quality

·         Support health among school occupants and decrease student absenteeism due to environmental factors

According to feedback provided by teachers from around the country who have already reviewed the program;

a) The program addresses many learning styles

b) The program is applicable to teachers who are involved with different subjects related to the environment or sustainability.

c) The certificate program is flexible and allows teachers and others to complete 12 virtual modules and an online assessment wherever they have a computer and an internet connection.

Teachers want to educate in a space where the health and well-being of our future leaders and their own health is paramount will want to participate in this program. Through this program teachers have an opportunity to learn new ways to make classrooms healthier learning spaces for students and other classroom occupants.

March 2012 is the scheduled date for the launch of the program, so make sure you check back for more information about how you can enroll!  For more information, visit: centerforgreenschools.org/greenclassroom.

For more information and to ENROLL click on the following links:

http://centerforgreenschools.org/utility-nav/blog/12-02-07/Green_Classroom_Professional_Certificate_Program.aspx

http://centerforgreenschools.org/main-nav/k-12/curriculum/Greenclassroom.aspx

Upcoming Green Schools Events and Opportunities

National Green Schools Conference

The Second Annual National Green Schools Conference will take place in Denver Colorado from February 27^th through February 29^th 2012.  The USGBC will be exhibiting there with information about the Center For Green Schools and they will have lots of information about Day of Service, the Green Classroom Professional Certificate, and more.

If you are interested in attending you will need to make your reservations fairly quickly:

http://www.greenschoolsnationalconference.org

We will report any information we can garner from the conference on this blog. 

International Green Schools Day of Service – September 29, 2012

New resources and information to support efforts for green schools projects on International Day of Service are available at the Center For Green Schools website at: www.centerforgreenschools.org/greenservice for more information, and make a commitment to host an activity in your community on September 29!

Green Your School Challenge

Presented by DoSomething.org and HP

HP and DoSomething.org know you have what it takes to protect the environment and fight climate change. This year over 200,000 teens took action and ran eco-friendly projects at school through the Green Your School Challenge. Thanks to them, the world is a greener place.

http://www.dosomething.org/green-your-school

The ABC’s of LEED and why Galaxy Elementary is aiming for LEED Platinum

Parents want to know: why is building a school as a LEED school so expensive?  Initial construction costs may be high, but with a careful budget and post construction energy performance studies, it has been proven conclusively that building to LEED standards saves a great deal of money for the School District of Palm Beach over time. 

An excellent case in point is that Pirtle Construction, which has been contracted for the LEED Platinum Galaxy Elementary project, looks to have brought the base bid and alternates for the project in under budget thus far.  Once the building is occupied there will be studies of the energy consumed (energy performance studies) over the years to show the cost savings. 

An important fact to note is that $2.3 million of the dollars necessary for the construction of Galaxy Elementary will be secured through grants and donations, not through taxpayer dollars. 

Even though the school board for the district of Palm Beach has made it mandatory for the district to build all new construction to LEED standards, many people still do not know the meaning of the acronym LEED.  Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000, LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and the LEED rating systems are developed by an open consensus based process, and it stands for a set of international standardized building construction benchmarks. 

According to the USGBC; “LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.” 

LEED is a rating system with six components: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in design.  The levels of LEED certification are certified, silver, gold, and platinum.  Buildings are certified with the LEED ratings, not people, and the certification process is done by a third party organization known as the GBCI, or Green Building Certification Institute.  These standards were created to encourage building owners to construct, renovate and operate facilities in an environmentally sensitive manner.  In order to achieve a LEED Platinum rating, the building process entails achieving the highest number of points in the six component rating system.

 
Along with governmental incentives, there are distinct advantages afforded by high performance (LEED) construction.  Building “green” makes sense, especially with high energy costs. 

Here are some surprising statistics:

• Buildings account for as much as 60 percent of all electricity consumed in the United  States. 
•  On a school campus, school buildings account for a large portion of the operating budget. 
• Many school districts are now making it a requirement for all new buildings constructed within the school districts to meet LEED standards.
• Commercial buildings also generate nearly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
• Did you know that LEED projects award points for taking action to make sure the construction project takes into account a wide variety of environmentally friendly actions by the construction company during the duration of the project?  Every environmentally friendly action is considered, from demolition of the previous building, to the construction site waste and how it is handled, and materials re-use.

The Galaxy state of the art campus is the eighth “green” school for the district.  Green schools provide the community with sustainable and healthy learning environments for administrators, educators, and their students, enhanced teaching tools, and provide connections with the surrounding businesses and cultural resources.  Research has proven the occupants of LEED certified buildings experience a higher satisfaction level, better health, and improved personal productivity.  As a matter of fact, research has been conducted to show that among occupants and attendees at green schools, more than 70 percent reported that these new facilities reduced student absenteeism and improved student performance.  An added bonus in regard to Galaxy is that according to community leaders, the new Galaxy Elementary School is considered an important part of the economic revitalization of Boynton Beach.

The argument can be made that with the shortfall in district budgets it can be perceived as extravagant to build a school to LEED Platinum standards due to the initial cost.  Thankfully the costs of building to LEED standards have flattened out, especially since one of the requirements of certification in the process requires that everyone involved with the project submit a precisely specified budget for the building to be built.  Most importantly, a building constructed to LEED standards will quickly recoup the investment with a facility that’s less costly to operate each year, and the investment will yield returns for the life of the building.

So the next time you hear someone talking about LEED schools and why they are important, hopefully you will understand more of the details about the LEED rating system.  Most importantly you will know why building to LEED standards saves money, provides both educators and students with a healthier learning environment, and is so important to our future. 

New Green Schools Program and Certification Announced at Learn Green

On November 11^th the Learn Green Schools Conference and Expo and Lessons Learned Workshop took place at the Dreyfoos School of The Arts, and this year the event included people from all over the state of Florida.  Well over 900 people attended the event!  In attendance were 90 presenters, 88 exhibitors in addition to administrators, teachers, vendors, architects, engineers and others within the construction industry.  The Presenting Sponsor for the event was the Solid Waste Authority, and food was provided by the Whole Foods Market of Wellington.  Susan Toth, the Director of Education for the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center and Joseph Sanches, the Chief of the Division of Support Operations for the School District of Palm Beach County also spoke at the opening ceremonies and did a wonderful job of coordinating the entire event along with a host of volunteers. 

One of the highlights of the day was the keynote speech presented by Rachel Gutter, the Director of the Center for Green Schools at the USGBC (US Green Building Council), who delivered a motivational and inspirational speech with the goal of putting every student into a green school within our generation.  Rachel would like to see a “Blueprint to a billion”, and she feels we need a "nuclear" reaction in order to green every school in this generation.  Rachel feels there is something in the green schools movement that will appeal to everyone, and she feels green schools are directly related to the, “Triple Bottom Line”; People, Planet and Prosperity.  Green schools save people, save the planet and help make us prosper in a variety of different ways. 

Rachel announced some exciting developments regarding green schools initiatives in 2012:

·         The U.S. Department of Education will initiate the Green Ribbon Schools Program, a contest that will recognize schools that save energy, reduce costs, and feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, as well as protect health, foster wellness, and impact effective environmental education.  The Green Ribbon award will acknowledge high levels of achievement in three areas: 1) environmental impact and energy efficiency; 2) healthy environment; and 3) environmental literacy.  Florida has officially signed on as a state education system to be a part of this program.  **For a direct link to find more information please see the "Links" tab.

There will be a Green Classroom Professional Certification Program, made available by the USGBC in conjunction with the GBCI (Green Building Construction Institute) in 2012.  In accordance with each mission statements, the program encourages sustainable practices in classrooms.

Green classroom professionals advocate for healthier environments in which to work and teach. With the Green Classroom Professional Certificate, the classroom will turn into a living laboratory, creating foundational awareness of greener lifestyles, energy savings, and environmental health in students.

The program is designed to provide pre-K-12 teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators with the knowledge and skills to:

·         Identify features that support or impede environmentally healthy and sustainable learning spaces

·         Recognize, adopt, and implement practices that promote health among students and school occupants

In Rachel’s speech she mentioned some fascinating statistics;

·        There are over 133,000 K-12 Schools in the United States, and over 4,300 colleges and universities.

·         Over 15,000 of those educational facilities have unbreathable air

·         Asthma is the leading cause absenteeism in the United Sates schools, and green schools have been proven to reduce the incidence of asthma

·         Millions of dollars are saved when schools are built to green /LEED standards due to energy cost savings through energy management

Presentations made throughout the day featured informative sessions regarding all areas of school sustainability including; Community Partnerships, Curriculum Integration, Design and Construction, Innovative Programs and Practices, School Grounds Enhancement, and School Sustainability.  The day was topped off by a fun filled evening tour of Citiplace. 

Join us at the LEARN GREEN Event Next Friday November 11th!

Pine Jog Environmental Education Center/Florida Atlantic University and the School District of Palm Beach County invite you to the 3rd Annual Learn Green: A Green Schools Conference & Expo

When?  November 11, 2011 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where?  Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts - 501 S. Sapodilla Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

A variety of breakout sessions will take place throughout the day including: School Grounds Enhancement, School Sustainability (Energy, Water, Waste), Youth Voices, 2011 Lessons Learned and Best Practices Workshop, School Design and Construction, Exhibit Hall with 100+ exhibitors, Walking and bus tours and much more…

To register and for more information visit:

www.ourgreenschools.com/learngreenconference

Click Here to view the event flyer: 

http://www.ourgreenschools.com/media/2011/09/learn-green-conference-and-expo-20111.jpg