We have much more to do and your continued support is needed now more than ever.
U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award gets the Green Light!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsmLWNAK4_U&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Today is a fantastic day for the environmental education movement! The U.S. Department of Education alongside the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency launched the U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award. This program will recognize and award schools that make exemplary efforts in greening schools in the following 3 areas: Environmental Impact and Energy Efficiency; Healthy School Environment; and Environmental and Sustainability Education.
The effort to get the U.S. Green Ribbon program adopted by the Department and working in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, has been strongly supported by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL), alongside Earth Day Network, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. Green Building Council. These organizations, along with the greater NGO community, have worked with many interested parties and stakeholders to build a robust and comprehensive awards program that will celebrate the innovative greening efforts of the nation’s schools.
NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program has been helping schools in the U.S. since 2009 integrate sustainable principles throughout schools and curriculums across the country. The Eco-Schools USA program will act as the stepping stone needed for many schools interested in pursueing the nation’s first U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award.
Recognizing schools for their environmental and sustainability efforts is a tremendous step forward in making our schools healthy green living laboratories that will provide students with the skills necessary to innovate and excel in the 21st Century global green economy. The country that invests in environmental and sustainable education will be the country to lead in the 21st Century. We cannot build the innovators of tomorrow with the inefficient, unhealthy, education system from yesterday and with the announcement of the U.S. Green Ribbon Schools Award we know that that the U.S. is headed down the right green path!
We hope you will learn more and apply to become a U.S. Green Ribbon School today!
