Rebuilding New Orleans
GLOBAL GREEN USA UNVEILS GREEN SCHOOLS INITIATIVE; FIVE GREEN SEED SCHOOLS AND TWO SHOWCASE HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOLS
Exciting Aerial Art Display Helps Celebrate Green Rebuilding Projects
New Orleans, May 10th, 2007 Global Green USA celebrated the exciting expansion of its green rebuilding initiatives today at an event in the Holy Cross Neighborhood. Their New Orleans green schools initiative will benefit thousands of students and teachers by providing technical assistance and resources to local schools. The goal of the high performance schools initiative is to create healthier classrooms and more energy efficient schools that in turn improve student performance and save money for school districts, while helping protect the environment and reducing global warming. The initiative has been made possible by a grant from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.
“Across the country we have seen high performance schools create a better learning environment for students and reduce energy and water costs by 20% to 40%,” said Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA. “Test scores improve by 20% to 22% in green schools, and can lead to fewer absences due to improved indoor air quality.”
Green Seed Schools
The initiative will begin with the selection of five schools to be designated as “Green Seed Schools” that will receive assistance and resources to improve energy and water efficiency, improve indoor air quality, and if feasible, on-site renewable energy generation. The five schools will receive technical assistance, training, informational
materials, general oversight assistance in implementing the program, and up to $75,000 in grant funds towards specific improvements. The school selection process will be announced in early May.
Showcase Green Schools
A second and more ambitious phase of the program will result in the creation of high performance showcase green schools including the major rehabilitation of two schools over the course of the next two years.
“We hope to not only make these schools selected for the Green Seed and the Showcase projects more energy efficient and healthy for students and teachers, but to encourage schools throughout the city -- and the state --to adopt green building principles,” said Beth Galante, Executive Director of Global Green New Orleans.
Global Green Aerial Art Sketch and Poetry Showcase
As part of the celebration event, Global Green USA presented an exciting large-scale human art mural - with the assistance of aerial artist John Quigley of Spectral Q -- which was photographed from the air following the press event.
"The human aerial art mural teaches cooperation and creates a unifying
team photo that serves as a lasting reminder of the lessons of the
program,” said aerial artist John Quigley. “It’s a creative way to engage kids to be energy aware and community minded, while inspiring a sense of ownership over their future."
The Green Schools Initiative is the second major Global Green initiative in New Orleans. In August 2006 Global Green announced the selection of architects to design a multi-family residential development in the Holy Cross area of the Lower Ninth Ward that will be built according to green principles.
Global Green USA’s Green Building Resource Center has been open to the public since April 2006, and has also been providing extensive educational green building workshops and panels on a monthly basis since the fall of 2006. The green building workshops and panels take place at Global Green USA’s permanent New Orleans office and Resource Center which is located at 841 Carondolet Street. The Resource Center is open to the public 20 hours a week where green materials are on display, and staff is available to help citizens, builders and others learn about green materials and building principles.
Global Green USA is a national environmental organization that merges innovative research, cutting-edge community based projects and targeted advocacy to create a sustainable future. Global Green USA has helped green nearly $20 billion in affordable housing, school, college and municipal building construction through technical assistance, partnerships, advocacy, and education. The organization has written, and implemented green building, energy efficiency, and solar power guidelines in addition to legislation and incentives at the local, state, and federal level. It has also pioneered partnerships with countless non-profits and government agencies. Please visit www.globalgreen.org for more information.
Spectral Q has created 75 human aerial art images involving nearly 100,000 people around the globe. From icebergs in Antarctica to the disappearing arctic ice shelf, to landscapes all over North America and Europe, these images have generated extensive global media coverage. The mission of Spectral Q is to cultivate creative expression and to facilitate collaborative art for the common good. Past images have focused on the issues of global warming, peace, human rights, freedom and protecting the environment. Spectral Q has worked with over 50,000 school children through environmental education programs that teach individual responsibility, cooperation, artistic expression, and that each student's actions make a difference.
