Green Schools Inititative

I love the Internet. It is a marvelous way to find great information on accident when looking for something else. I found the website when looking for one a colleague was telling me about, which is a multi-layer marketing business (yes, like Amway or Mary Kay) that could be a great investment opporunity (http://ilearningglobal.biz/product.html) that sells online content for businesses and business people. I typed in the wrong URL and instead got an Internet site that should be of keen interest to our learning community because it has to do with greening schools and campuses.

The URL I ran across happily by accident was for Global Learning (http://www.globallearningnj.org/), which belongs to the New Jersey Sustainable Schools Network, defined as, "a new partnership of individual schools, professional associations, higher education groups, state agencies, state-based, regional and national nonprofit organizations, and corporations. Our long range goal is to promote education for a sustainable future -- local as well as global -- in all schools in New Jersey, working through existing educational organizations and agencies in a consortial approach." I found the website to be a very useful tool for those looking for ideas on making their school more sustainable.

As it turns out, the initiative in New Jersey is affiliated with the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE)(http://www.ase.org/section/_audience/educators/). According to the home page on the educators tab for the site: "Schools spend more on energy than on computers and textbooks combined. Reducing energy use is an effective way to help cash-strapped schools funnel more money into the classroom instead of the local utility. Just as important, the concept of energy efficiency provides multidisciplinary learning opportunities in math, science, and language arts. The Alliance to Save Energy offers educators a wide range of tools and resources to bring energy efficiency into the classroom to save energy while helping students build vital real-world skills."

The ASE has programs for K-12 (http://www.ase.org/section/program/greenschl/) and college campuses (http://www.ase.org/section/program/greencampus) which covers all of us in the learning community. After checking out these websites, if you are doing something at your school or campus along these lines, and/or affiliated with the Energy Saving Alliance please add to this post.