The Go Green Initiative

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The Go Green Initiative

• Overview of the Nations Leading EE Program

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What Prompted the Go Green Initiative?

• Concern for childrens health, now in the
  future
• Desire to teach kids good environmental behavior
• Need to design a program that is simple, yet
  panoramic

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What is the Function of American Public Schools?
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Why Go Green?

• More people fewer natural resources
• Schools are a significant source of waste
  generation in most communities
• Schools can have a long-term impact
• Schools act as a catalyst

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GGI Partners

• Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
• National School Boards Association
• National Recycling Coalition state affiliates
• National Audubon Society Science Div.
• American Forest Paper Assoc.
• PTAs
• And many more

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The Five GGI Principles

• Generate compost
• Recycle
• Educate
• Evaluate environmental impact
• Nationalize principles of responsible paper
  consumption

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Intended Results

• Teach children to be responsible caretakers of
  the Earth
• Heighten community awareness of, and
  participation in, environmentally responsible
  behavior

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Measurable Impact

• National Waste Diversion from 9/05-3/06
• 2 million pounds of paper
• 14, 000 pounds of cardboard
• 25,000 pounds of aluminum
• 48,300 pounds of plastic beverage containers
• 1650 cellular phones
• 8700 printer cartridges
• 202,090 pounds of mixed recyclables
• 13,648 pounds of food waste

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Measurable Impact

• Environmental Impact of Waste Diversion
• Saved 24,792 trees
• Avoided 17 billion BTUs of energy use
• Avoided 892 metric tons of greenhouse gas
  emissions
• Avoided 7.2 million gallons of water use, due to
  paper recycling
• Avoided 392,540 gallons of oil use, due to paper
  recycling
• Kept 21,775 pounds of petroleum products out of
  our rivers and oceans, due to ink cartridge
  recycling

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The San Jose Model
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What are Schools Saying About the Go Green
Initiative?

• Its simple quickly becomes the schools MO
• Easily integrated into every classroom
• Its flexible respectful of site autonomy
• Promotes teamwork
• Full-service menu of resources training
• It is complete, panoramic and 3-D

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The Go Green Initiative

• Catalyst to
• Green Building for Schools

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Green Building in SchoolsHow do we define it?
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Why Build Green Schools?
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How Go Green Can Bolster Green Building