The 21st Century School Is a Green School

Schools are an important anchor for vital communities. “School facilities are powerful indicators of community values and aspirations,” according to the 21st Century School Fund (www.21csf.org) and a coalition of school facility and community-based groups called Building Educational Success Together (BEST). “They not only support the academic needs of the students they serve, but can also address the social, educational, recreational, and personal needs of the members of the broader community. Schools should be a resource to the community at large. When school facilities are perceived this way, value is created for the school and for the community, since families can be strengthened and communities can realize added vitality.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the April 2005 issue of American School and University magazine, nearly three-fourths of the nation’s school buildings need replacement. According to green building developer Gregory Kats, green schools effectively reduce student absenteeism and teacher sick days, diminish maintenance and operation costs, decrease social inequity, and reduce insured and uninsured risks. On average, a green school typically utilizes a third less energy and water than a traditionally designed school, while saving as much as 585,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Properly designed schools also contribute to academic success. For example, a 1999 study by Hershong Mahone Group showed that students with the most daylight in their classrooms scored 15–20 percent better on math tests and 19–26 percent better on reading tests than those with less daylight. Businesses and individuals alike are waking up to the 21st century concept that green schools make educational, environmental, and economic sense.

In 2004, Earth Day Network (EDN), an organization that promotes environmental citizenship and year-round progressive action worldwide, began research on a program dubbed the National Civic Education Project (NCEP). EDN strongly believes in creating personal responsibility for the environment among students around the world. The intimate connection between civic and environmental education allows students to understand how their actions can influence the environmental health of their own communities. The NCEP prepared to launch a pilot project to empower students, teachers, and the community to effect environmental changes in their schools and advocate for better school structures and design with local and state authorities. During the research and selection phase, the NCEP found the school environments of greatest concern were in Ohio, where students were still using school buildings built in the 1870s!

Every day, students in Ohio—and Cincinnati, in particular—faced enormous environmental challenges that affected educational performance and civic engagement. According to the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission, “About 40 percent of Ohio schools report unsatisfactory conditions that negatively impact the learning process.” A U.S. General Accounting Office report from 1997 stated that Ohioan students, and particularly students in Cincinnati, “[are] more likely to be in unsafe or unsatisfactory buildings than those in any other state.” Academically, the situation was similar: almost 25 percent of Cincinnati students did not graduate from high school, according to the Ohio Department of State’s Cincinnati Schools 2005-2006 Report Card.

EDN launched the NCEP at three Cincinnati schools in the 2005-2006 school year to foster economic, environmental, and health-based solutions to the deteriorating conditions of the schools. Given the dire condition of these Cincinnati school buildings, the EDN team selected green building standards as its main priority. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a green school is “a school building or facility that creates a healthy environment that is conducive to learning while saving energy, resources, and money.”

EDN recruited teachers from diverse urban communities, brought them together for a summer training session, and paid them for their extra efforts. Teachers developed projects that provided an opportunity for students to demonstrate their accomplishments; inform local groups, leaders, and officials about community issues; and publicize their work to millions of organizations and individuals around the world through EDN’s Web site (www.earthday.net).

Students learned about the beneficial aspects of sustainable design adoption and eventually presented their findings to the Mayor’s office, the Park Board, the local PTA, and the Cincinnati School Board. The students’ efforts resulted in an impressive victory. They helped convince the Cincinnati School Board to adopt green building and energy efficiency standards through a $1 billion state refurbishment bond. More than a year later, the momentum of this initial effort helped propel legislation for all new school construction and a large portion of reconstruction to strive for green building standards. EDN, along with the Cincinnati schools, supports the third-party rating standards developed by the USGBC—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for schools.

With our initial success, EDN expanded the NCEP to Los Angeles and New Orleans. In New Orleans, the EDN helped schools recover from Hurricane Katrina while fashioning the first green roof on a New Orleans school.

A burgeoning green school movement

In only a few years, almost 80 schools nationwide have been certified green by the USGBC, with literally hundreds on the certification waiting list. The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) estimates that 10 percent of the school construction market, a total of $53 billion annually, will reflect green building standards in 2010.

In addition, part of the federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for EPA to establish standards for environmental health and safety for states to use on a voluntary basis when locating, constructing, or refurbishing schools. The act also authorized grants to states to develop programs to implement the standards. The grants authorize by this law can be used to implement EPA’s current IAQ Tools for Schools program to improve indoor air quality and the Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool program.

On Earth Day 2007, Earthy Day Network launched green school projects in six cities at seven different schools, focusing on low-income, highly diverse urban settings. We successfully implemented large-scale green school makeover projects that built outdoor classrooms and green roofs, and replaced existing lighting with energy-efficient bulbs. Last November, former President Clinton announced a partnership with The Clinton Foundation, the USGBC, EDN, and others to green all of America’s schools within a generation.

Growing a green generation

Now is the time for green schools because every student deserves to attend a healthy school. Green schools make students aware of the importance of a healthy environment, making the school building itself a teaching tool. With one-fifth of America going to school every morning, the classroom is one of the best settings to promote a sustainable future.

Back-to-School Greening Strategies

• Talk to your school about switching to LED exit signs (www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=exit_signs.pr_exit_signs), which last longer and use less energy, thereby saving money.
• Pack a waste-free lunch for school using reusable containers (not juice boxes, plastic water bottles, or paper bags). 
• Talk to your district about reducing school bus idling, thereby reducing harmful emissions (http://epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/antiidling.htm).
• Replace your light bulbs with CFL bulbs: they use a quarter of the energy and last much longer, saving you money.
• Read the labels on your art supplies to ensure the ingredients are nontoxic. Check out the Art & Creative Materials Institute (http://www.acminet.org/) for information about art products labeling and safe art supplies.
• Go outside! Explore ways to green the outside of your school, such as removing invasive species of plants, planting drought-tolerant and pollinator-friendly plants, and establishing sensory and vegetable gardens. Your school will have an outdoor learning environment ideal for education and nature appreciation.

Sean Miller is the director of education at Earth Day Network (EDN). He can be reached at miller@earthday.net.