by Shane Henson — October 1, 2012—Green Apple, an initiative of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), was announced recently at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting held in New York. Green Apple is a global movement to put all children in schools where they have clean and healthy air to breathe, where energy and resources are conserved, and where they can be inspired to dream of a brighter future.
Facilities managers in charge of school and university campuses nationwide are encouraged to learn about and support Green Apple, as they can play an integral role in promoting and making decisions that lead to healthy, sustainable schools for the children and young adults who learn there as well as the teachers and staff who work there.
As USGBC notes, more than one-quarter of all Americans walk through the doors of an educational institution every day, yet instead of walking into places of opportunity, millions enter buildings where the air they breathe is filled with toxins and mold, where classrooms are poorly lit and overcrowded, and where resources are limited and outdated. Many children are learning in buildings that are compromising their health and ability to succeed. Green Apple enables individuals, companies and organizations to transform all schools into healthy, safe, cost-efficient and productive learning places.
Green Apple is made possible by partners such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), United Technologies Corporation, Interface, Excel Dryer, Armstrong and SolarCity. As part of the CGI commitment, Green Apple is working with these partners to develop and deploy resources, including toolkits, trainings and case studies to help schools implement positive change.
For example, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a global education leader that delivers interactive, result-driven education solutions to 60 million students in 120 countries, will draw on its sales force to connect schools with resources (including benchmarking and needs-assessment tools, teacher-training resources and ongoing support) to facilitate their transformation into safer, healthier and better places to learn.
