Sowing Seattle Seeds for the Green Apple Day of Service

Emily Knupp 
Grassroots Outreach
Center for Green Schools

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Seattle for our very first Day of Service project. I joined the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders and Seattle Storm, along with Washington Green Schools and Seattle Public Schools, the Green Sports Alliance, Skanska, community volunteers and students from Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth High School to conduct a service project to gain momentum leading up to the official Green Apple Day of Service on Sept. 29.

The goal for the day was to expand the garden. We were tasked with building three plant beds and filling them with compost, soil, and plants, installing shelves in the tool shed and building a few benches. There were 22 middle and high school students there to join including the garden clubbers and some of the school’s athletes, new Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda, an amazing crew from Skanska, the Washington Green Schools program, Cedar Grove Composting who even donated a truckload of composted soil, as well as players past and present from the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders and Storm.

Helping Lucas Luetge with our project

In four hours we unloaded the soil, built three beds, two benches, planted kiwi, lavender, blueberries, strawberries and flowers, made an amazingly tasty lunch with ingredients from the garden, got really smelly and pretty much had the greatest day ever. The players were super engaged and excited to be there. I showed the Mariners relief pitcher Lucas Luetge (who pitched half an inning later that night!) how to plant a lavender bush and helped Superintendent Banda put a blueberry bush in the ground. They had a great time. The team from Skanska taught the kids about the company’s “Stretch and Flex” program which encourages job site safety and about being great advocates for Green Apple Day of Service.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Green Apple Day of Service (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Mallory Shelter 
Communications Associate
U.S. Green Building Council

Hello San Antonio! The Center for Green Schools team arrived this week in the great state of Texas for USGBC’s annual mid-year meeting, chatting with our most engaged stakeholders about Green Apple and the Day of Service. It’s been inspiring to hear how engaged so many of our leaders are planning to be on Sept. 29, and what they’ve already done to promote this day.

We’ve been spending our days with the chapter green schools committees and those interested in how they can further become involved in our mission to create healthy, high-performing schools for all within this generation. But through talking further about the Day of Service, one thing we’re finding is that people still have a lot of questions. How do I register? How can I get more volunteers? How do I promote my event on and after Sept. 29? Where can I find funds for my project? And the list goes on.

Well, for those of you reading this post and find yourself asking similar questions, you’re in luck! We’ve answered some of the inquiries we’ve been getting a lot of below. If we didn’t answer your questions, feel free to reach out to me at mshelter@usgbc.org and our team will be sure to get you an answer ASAP.

How do I find projects in my area?
Our Green Apple website supports search functionality for registered projects within a 100 mile radius of a zipcode, or by country. We’re seeing 8-10 new registrations a day, so check often!

Harvard Achieves a Record 75 LEED Certifications

Andrea Trimble, LEED AP BD+C
Senior Program Manager, Green Building Services
Harvard University

Harvard University recently achieved an important green building milestone: our 75th LEED certification, representing over 2.4 million square feet of our campus in LEED New Construction, Commercial Interiors, Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance and Homes systems.

We have estimated that over 11,000 people on campus work, learn or live in a LEED Certified project. Our focus on building and operating greener buildings has demonstrated that supporting the environment and public health ultimately supports our research and teaching mission by conserving resources, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. For example, our newest LEED Platinum lab building saves operational costs by using greywater for toilet flushing and by reducing air flow change rates during unoccupied periods with the use of occupancy sensors. Because of this, the building is estimated to consume 11 percent less electricity and 51 percent less steam annually.

How did our community reach this exciting green building milestone? There were two key strategies that helped us in getting this far. First, we focused on the bigger picture, creating university-wide Green Building Standards to integrate energy efficiency and conservation into every construction project. Second, we developed a strong internal service model comprised of experts who know Harvard’s building and culture better than anyone else.

A two-year demolition and reconstruction project transformed the Sherman Fairchild Building into one of Harvard's greenest labratory spaces. Photo credit: B.D. Colen, Harvard Staff

Harvard’s Green Building Standards are one of our clearest commitments to sustainability for our built environment. The Standards, adopted in 2009, go well beyond LEED to help ensure greenhouse gas impact, energy use and ongoing operational costs are part of the decision-making process during design and construction. LEED certification is just one piece of these Standards. Two reasons we use the LEED rating system are the opportunity for third-party verification and accountability for defining green building, and because the documentation aids in knowledge management to help promote continual improvement and institutionalize green building practices.

Introducing the Green Apple Day of Service

Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

Last week, I was able to visit one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to make an exciting announcement, recognizing the Green School in Bali as the Center for Green School’s “2012 Greenest School on Earth.” The school has some incredible features, such as structures made from environmentally friendly bamboo, solar energy and vortex hydro technology projects to remove the school entirely off the grid, bio-intensive farming around campus to raise organic food and so much more. The Green School is a reflection of the values of the Balinese people, an inextricable tie to nature, a true appreciation of the earth’s beauty and a fertile environment for most anything (and in this case children) to grow.

One of the things that most impressed us about the Green School was its commitment to giving back to the local Balinese community – the school offers an Indonesian Scholarship Program, which provides almost 100 percent financial support for local children to attend. The school is the way that famous jeweler John Hardy elected to give back to a country that had made his business so successful. The school is in and of itself an act of service.

This, and so many other actions by parents, teachers and students around the world have become inspiration for us. We wanted to find a way to bring together the people who care about our schools and making them healthier, more sustainable learning environments. So we are calling on volunteers to come together for one day to participate in the first ever Green Apple Day of Service.

The Lorax Can Teach Kids Important Service Lessons

Rachel Gutter
Director, Center for Green Schools

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax before it hit theaters. The showing, sponsored by NEA and Mocha Moms, brought hundreds of DC kids to view the movie and learn an important message about the environment.

One of the reasons why I like the Lorax book so much is because it’s about each of us can improve the environment around us. I used to think that saving the environment was something that didn’t have a lot to do with me. To me, the earth that I walked on and biked on and drove on seemed just fine.

© The Lorax

When I moved to DC six years ago, I moved into an apartment building in a neighborhood where people didn’t care too much about keeping the sidewalks and the streets clean. And because no one else seemed to care too much and because I was just one person, I didn’t think I could do anything about it. But then my nephew Matias was born and moved in with his mom and dad right across the hall from me. And even though Matias couldn’t walk or talk and pretty much all he did was sleep and eat and poop, I started to see my neighborhood in a different way.