Category: Education

Sidwell Friends School is the greenest school on the planet. Its middle school is the only Platinum LEED institution of its kind to have been brought to fruition. Most of the materials used in construction were either recycled or salvaged, like cedar wood re-used from wine casts. And 78 percent of the materials were manufactured regionally (within 500 miles) to minimize energy from transportation. All plants for landscaping purposes were native. The rooftop houses an array of photovoltaic panels. Low-VOC paints, glues, and adhesives were used in classrooms to improve air quality.

Passive solar design reduces the air conditioning load through natural ventilating and shading. A green roof reduces the "urban heat island effect" and removes pollutants from rainwater. And about 95 percent of the school’s water is recycled through perhaps the most impressive feature of the middle school: its artificial wetlands. Continued

Green School of Baltimore is an elementary school with a different approach to learning. Adopting a curriculum that embraces what they call “EIC” (Environment as an Integrating Context”, the school’s surroundings and community are used as the context for math, reading, science, and social studies. Each grade participates in year-long studies and projects that include creating rain gardens, planning and growing an edible, organic garden, developing a recycling program, and creating a tree nursery. The school’s mission is not only to educate its students, but help them increase environmental stewardship through experiential environmental education. 

Living Classrooms Foundation is a non-profit organization, operated for the benefit of the community at large, providing hands-on education and job skills training for students from diverse backgrounds, with a special emphasis on serving at-risk youth. The foundation uses maritime settings, community revitalization projects, and other challenging learning environments, along with a low staff-to-student ratio, to promote career development, community service, self-esteem, and multicultural exchange.

Biodiesel University, a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Maryland, focuses on educating students, teachers and consumers about renewable energy and environmental stewardship, while also inspiring students to pursue careers in science and technology. Using biodiesel as a tangible example of a renewable energy technology, they offer middle and high school students hands-on sensory experiences encompassing the entire lifecycle of a biofuel, believing that these fun and technology-rich experiences will gain America a higher output of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates.

On March 18, 2008, the metro (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) announced it would donate four of its dirtiest emissions transit buses to the university to be recycled into mobile teaching laboratories that will travel to schools, colleges and public events in the DC area and beyond. University founder and executive director Dan Goodman says the mobile labs will be “part classroom, part hands-on science center, and part theme park ride.” They will serve in part to educate visitors on the sustainability issues of food versus fuel, the carbon cycle, economic consequences, pollution, and land and water use. Continued

With roots dating back to the late 1970s, the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council dedicates itself to the revitalization of communities south of Druid Hill Park in northwest Baltimore City. Though a lack of investment has caused these communities to suffer, the council exists to educate the public on the rich history and resources possessed by the Reservoir Hill area, under the impression that an informed, organized and engaged citizenry is necessary for equitable community planning. They accomplish their mission by training community leaders to be effective, knowledgeable advocates, promoting mutual support among community associations, mobilizing residents in collective projects and campaigns, and advocating for policies and practices that support equitable revitalization.

Based at Knoll Farm, a working family farm located in Vermont’s Mad River Valley, the Center for Whole Communities offers workshops, lectures and retreats grounded in the concept that change is made by fostering connections between land, people and community. As a movement that integrates conservation, health, justice, spirit, and relationship, they nurture communities by helping people protect and care for the places they love. The group also publishes books on environmental activism, conservation, and sustainable agriculture practices.

21^st Century Radio, the brainchild of Robert and Zohara Hieronimus, is a sub-department of Hieronimus & Co., a foundation that seeks to support “the transformational age” via radio programs, websites, and books. Broadcast on WCBM 680 in Baltimore, 21^st Century Radio hosts academics, authors, and thinkers with esoteric or spiritually-oriented specialties; recent programs delved into astrological calendars, military encounters with UFOs, freemasonry, homeopathy, and ghosts in Annapolis.