Earth Day is the perfect time to recognize the green schools movement – a nationwide effort to make America’s schools more sustainable while teaching young people about the value of environmental stewardship by providing the facilities and the education to make it happen.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s Arizona Chapter is championing a Green Schools Initiative that will fully implement a unified schools effort by 2014 through engaging all of the branches – including the Sonoran Branch – to make this successful.
“The construction industry has a significant role to play in helping schools improve energy-efficiency, reduce water consumption and interact with the natural environment in a more meaningful way,” says Dan Osterman, Sundt Preconstruction Project Manager and USGBC Sonoran Branch Vice Chair (and Arizona Chapter board member). Dan is also the chair of Sundt’s sustainability committee and our resident expert on green construction.
“Sundt has built a number of LEED certified schools, and in many cases we helped them surpass their original sustainability goals while staying within their budgets,” he added.
The chapter’s plans have been inspired by schools like Manzo Elementary in Tucson, which has made extraordinary efforts to be green. This page includes a short video (located halfway down the page) that shows more about Manzo’s transformation into a vibrant focal point of its neighborhood.