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Overview

The Green Schools Alliance (GSA) works with and through the pre-K to grade 12 school community to meet their energy and sustainability goals, raise environmental awareness, and engage all members of the school community including students, administrators, faculty, plant managers, business officers and parents. The GSA helps unite individual concerns about climate change and the environment into collective action to protect our shared future. In order to remove obstacles to participation, a commitment of environmental leadership is the only basis for membership.

Mission

The Green Schools Alliance (GSA) works with and through the pre-K to grade 12 school community to meet their energy and sustainability goals, raise environmental awareness, and engage all members of the school community including students, administrators, faculty, plant managers, business officers and parents. The GSA helps unite individual concerns about climate change and the environment into collective action to protect our shared future. In order to remove obstacles to participation, a commitment of environmental leadership is the only basis for membership. There are more than 95,000 public schools and 34,000 private and independent schools in the U.S. alone. Schools must be active participants in global efforts to conserve resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare citizens for a sustainable future.

History

First envisioned on World Environment Day, June 5, 2007, the GSA was created in response to Mayor Bloomberg’s challenge to New York City institutions to reduce their carbon footprint 30% by 2030. On October 11, 2007, hosted by the Allen-Stevenson School, forty six schools gathered to explore Climate Change and What Schools Can So About It. The Green Schools Leadership Commitment was first introduced to 21c environmental challenges through integrated sustainable and energy-smart solutions and, with support from The Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Business Officers Association (NBOA), and other local, state, national and global resource partners, the GSA was launched.

Program

GSA’s institutional and grassroots initiatives integrate education and action to build confidence, inspire environmental stewardship and help schools meet their goals. Programs include: the popular annual Green Cup Challenge®; local Resource Fairs that educate faculty and students and connect schools with green vendors; the Student Climate & Conservation Congress (SC3) which brings over 100 top students from around the country together for an unforgettable week-long training at the nation’s premier environmental training facility

Impact

In just 3 years, the GSA has grown to include over 7400 public and private schools in 43 states and 53 countries.

Goals

We seek scholarship funding to deserving applicants to attend the Student Climate & Conservation Congress, an intensive leadership training for the environmental leaders of tomorrow. Fellows are asked to make a year-long commitment, and return to their schools and communities to plant the seeds of change and engage other students on the grassroots level.

Coordinated by the GSA and hosted by the Department of Interior’s premier training facility, the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), outstanding students and faculty, who have demonstrated environmental leadership, are nominated by their schools.

The mission of the Sc3 Congress is to empower participants with the skills, knowledge, and tools necessary to become global leaders in their own communities. Fellows live at NCTC for 5 days and learn about the interconnectedness of the environment, science and the economy from NCTC scientists, world-renown environmental experts and policy-makers.
Past fellows include Bobby Kennedy Jr., Dr. Sylvia Earle, Bill McKibben, Historian Douglas Brinkley, Father of LEED Rob Watson; Carl Safina and many more.

One century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt articulated a vision for a Global Conservation Corps that would reach and motivate every corner of society. Sc3 is intended to cultivate future environmental stewards who will fill the shoes of conservationists, scientists and conservation experts who came before. Sc3 is the response to President Roosevelt’s call-to-action.

CEO

Sharon Jaye has a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s degree in project management, and a doctorate of education. Her dissertation on benchmarking greenhouse gas emission inventories in higher education was published in the International Journal of Facility Management. She is a Sustainability Facility Professional through the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), authored IFMA’s How-to Guide on Carbon Footprinting and co-wrote the How-to Guide on Waste Management. Sharon’s leadership has been recognized by the USGBC Center for Green Schools; USGBC Georgia's High Performance Healthy Schools; IFMA's Award of Excellence "Distinguished Member" and "Distinguished Author in 2012"; as well as the Association of Energy Engineers in Georgia, New York and internationally. We are excited that Sharon will be taking the reigns as the Executive Director of the Green Schools Alliance in July 2015.

Board

GSA Board of Advisors & Directors:
Peg Howard Watson, GSA Founder & President;
Veronique Choa Pittman, Social Entrepreneur;
Ashok Gupta, Director, Air and Energy Program, NRDC;
Rob Watson , CEO and Chief Scientist, EcoTech International; Developer of LEED™;
Ken Higgins, Director of Sustainability, The Town School NYC;
Dr. Sharon Jaye, GSA Executive Director (Ex Officio);
Sam Kosoff, Director of Sustainability, The Lawrenceville School, NJ;
Sean Lynch, Proviseur/Head of School, Lycée Français de New York;
David Patnaude, CEM, CPE, CPS, Director of Plant and Sustainability, Riverdale Country School NY;
Dr. Mark Sorensen, Head of School, The STAR School, AZ;
Sarah Beatty Buller, Founder, The Green Depot;

Countries

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See (Vatican City State), Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Moldova, Republic of, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Province of China, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.s., Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

States

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Virgin Islands of the U.S.

Contact

13017 Wisteria Drive
Suite 278
Germantown, MD 20874
Phone: 1-919-GREEN06
http://www.greenschoolsalliance.org/
EIN: 13-3831327


A Gift Card

Environment

Sponsor a student

Send him/her to SC3

This gift will sponsor a young environmental activist of modest means to attend an unforgettable week-long training at the nation's premier environmental training facility. It will provide them the skills, knowledge, and tools necessary to become global leaders in their own communities. The cost to underwrite a student is $500 for the 5-day program including meals and lodging at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...

$50.00