Club members planted herbs and veggies for school use today. They selected their favorites: chives, rosemary, tomatoes, red and green lettuce, cucumbers, and spinach. Most of these are planted in a raised bed at the 5/6th grade building. The spinach and two tomato plants are in the beds by the North Annex building. Since a native Alder tree was growing from under that building, they transplanted the seedling to the nature trail by Disco Hall. Students will meet with Jan Berg to let the cafeteria know they can use the produce.

Also, check out the signs they made for the Campus Center floor. The floor may be a strange place for signs, but when garbage and recycling cans change places every night with cleaning crews, muscle memory for recycling is thrown off. The Club hopes having the disposal containers in the same place every day will increase sorting efforts.  Nice work Club members!

We all know Overlake has a gorgeous natural setting. It was still a surprise during the PFSA auction of November 2007, that our community fully funded the “Go Green Initiative” to reduce our impact on Earth and teach our students how to accomplish this. Over the subsequent three years those funds were spent primarily to encourage recycling and ensure reduced utility use. Students were also granted funds when they initiated Green projects on their own. The school committed to building structures that met sustainable practice guidelines and installed smart heating and ventilation systems that have remote access. Each department has rethought their processes and reduced paper. The Front Office was recalling times, “when stacks of paper went home to parents” and everyone has filled out applications and forms using pages and pages of paper. So much of this is now on electronic forms. Even student medical information will be submitted electronically for the 2012-13 school year. I reported to the PFSA last week that what started out as a Fund-a-Need effort and vision of prior and current Overlakers is now a consciousness and a never ending process of awareness that is all making a difference! Utility expenses are lower by $60,000 over four years. For electricity and natural gas savings, that is 190 tons of carbon dioxide that have been prevented – similar to taking 33 cars off the road for a full year. Landfill waste has been diverted by 42% by recycling and composting. Carpooling is being taken advantage of by 61% of students and 22% of faculty either walk, bike, or vanpool to work.
Overlake is a leader in the Seattle area and others are noticing. King County has noticed for years, since we are a Level Three Green School. This year King County asked Overlake to apply for the National Green Ribbon Schools award. Since there is so little “pomp and circumstance” for sustainable efforts, Overlake decided to apply to reinforce our innumerable efforts. Faculty and staff forwarded all information: from use of cleaning products to recycling of fluorescent bulbs, from student outdoor exercise to the source of cafeteria supplies, and to the water and/or energy saving improvements in 14 of our 15 buildings. Without going on and on as I did for the application, I can say that we are inspiring others and Washington state nominated Overlake as the only private school nominee for the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools award. Whether we are awarded this or not, we can feel good that our students not only attend a top school in traditional measures, but a school committed to sustainable practices. Our students are learning how to take care of themselves as well as the Earth with its limited resources. Gerald Blycker, Kent Renno, Jan Berg, and Kerri Hunt are stand outs at teaching students these principles. Buoyed by the knowledge that California schools are creating enough energy from solar panels to exceed their school needs, the Green Team will continue investigating alternate energy sources to reduce our need for fossil fuels. I will keep highlighting best case practices to encourage adjustments to reduce our foot print on Earth.

The athletics department eliminates hundreds of photos, frame folders, and processing by providing digital photos sent electronically to families.

Does your collection of sports photos look like this?? Yes, mine does. The photos do end up in a scrap book with the frame folder donated to charities. I look at them a few years later when I add the next batch. But this year the athletics department changed their process and I am so happy!  Before the season was in full swing I had already received a digital team image.  I can view the photo at will.  I can forward it to friends and family and they can delete it without the guilt of using resources!  It even looks like savings when posted in this Blog!  In addition, students or their families may also end up requesting all their other activities forward images electronically – Part of the cascading effect of starting small!  When I talked to athletics director John Wiley, he further explained the benefit of saving volunteer hours.  “You wouldn’t believe the amount of time it takes to load photos into the frame folders, sort and distribute to teams, and chase down athletes that miss their year end party”, John said.  Kudos to John for taking the risk of stressing the relationship with his photographer and creating a win-win solution for families and the environment.

Middle School Environmental Club saves two indigenous trees! Can you see the tree before the students went to work? Invasive Himalayan Blackberries had nearly overgrown the trees before the MS Environmental Club pruned and removed them. Kudos to these committed Club members who continuously learn how to care for our campus and our environment. Club members with ‘becca Flora and Melody Gulledge learn many of the Pacific Northwest native foliage and move the campus interpretive signs around for continued awareness. They’ve studied the North Pacific Gyre, plastic island, ways to reuse plastic, and read about local cities banning plastic bag use as they have been found not only in the oceans, but in the bellies of sea life and whales. MS Environmental Club makes posters to exemplify recycle, waste, and compost bin use and has performed skits during announcements to reinforce sorting practices. Overlake has reduced its landfill waste by 42% and MS students verified they are 100% comfortable with recycling practices in a recent survey this week.

Parties and events, which by their very nature encourage excess and disposable goods, are a great opportunity to apply a Sustainability Mindset. A super example of such is the recent Overlake Auction and the decisions and actions taken by this year’s auction chair JK Schatzman. Just a few of the more visible items JK utilized included eConfirmations, eCertificates, and ePurchasing. While many are familiar with e-vites and electronic confirmations, eCertificates may be a new concept. Normally, when a product or service is purchased that isn’t on site, the auction winner takes home a paper certificate to later redeem their purchase. This year’s redemption certificates were electronic eliminating hundreds of printed paper certificates. Further, this e-flexibility enables the auctioneer to sell the same auction item repeatedly without having to overprint traditional certificates as a contingency and consider that a single item is often redeemed but large groups of people all requiring a certificate. All the flexibility, none of the waste – I love it!

The not so obvious items included a plan to reduce portion sizes and to use local/seasonal products where possible. Consider the transportation impact our environment takes to move food from one part of the country to another. JK worked with the Westin to utilize their relationships with local farms and to provide menu items growly locally. She also schemed to reduce dessert portion sizes to reduce that traditional uneaten waste. She says, “Our venue partner was amazingly accommodating to such requests and they have a great reputation for their environmental dedication”. Indeed, the Westin Bellevue is on the honor roll with King County as one of the Best Workplaces for Recycling and Waste Reduction.

In the end, feedback from the event was stellar – people enjoyed themselves and had plenty to eat. A great example of Sustainability Mindset put into action. No one felt compromised and the environmental impact was reduced. Truly a win-win for all concerned. Going forward, JK says the next step is to move to all electronic payments eliminating the paper trail that personal checks create and all the labor involved in processing such. Always thinking…

For your own party and event plans consider the following opportunities to
be “Greener”.

1. Consider use of e-media wherever possible.
2. Decorate with recyclable paper instead of plastic.
3. Reuse materials from prior events
4. Reduce portion sizes on consumables – people can always ask for seconds.
5. Utilize locally grown and in-season products which reduce environmental transportation impact and support our local community.
6. Select suppliers and partners that have an established reputation for Green Practices.

7. Consider the 6 “R”s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-buy, Recover, and RETHINK!

Please send me other ideas and success stories to share with our community!

Sustainability – the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting
natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.(1)
A 1987 UN conference defined sustainability as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The key word for me is “balance” and extending the definition to include “Balancing the needs of the planet against those of society” (balance within balance). If Sustainability efforts always result in disappointing compromise or inferior outcomes then forward momentum is lost. The Sustainability Mindset I advocate is one of intelligently pursuing win-win scenarios. In other words, having smart solutions to get what we want while being environmentally friendly.

I am surprised how often GREEN efforts actually result in a superior (more desired) outcome. It isn’t just soft on the planet but we prefer the result over original practices. Examples of such include the trend to digital photography – the ecological benefits are obvious: Chemicals, paper, plastic negatives no longer ending up in the landfills. The double win is that people prefer the flexibility and manageability of digital images and the few that desire prints have them made, in the format the want. A beautiful win-win result.

Another example is a satisfied personal experience of transitioning to an all-electric vehicle (EV). While I compromised on driving range, I did not on the driving experience which for me was the most critical. And because I don’t need range in my daily driving routine coupled with having a second vehicle for such purposes, I am elated with the result because the driving experience is in my opinion superior.

Of course the outcomes of many Sustainability efforts are simply neutral which results in a don’t-care but glad-to-help the ecological balance.

Finally, there are compromises that hamper our lifestyle and/or degrade the quality of our experiences.  There is so much to be gained by the application of win-win and win-neutral that I feel it is unnecessary to advocate the win-lose scenario and the rejection that it can generate. We want future generations to meet their needs!

A current example of working this balance is a study to retrofit the new gym with energy efficient lighting. This is our school’s “palace” used for sports events and so much more. Will anybody be satisfied if retrofit lighting results in a 50% power savings but destroys the ambiance and esthetics of the otherwise amazing facility? I endeavor to maintain “balance within balance” as my position on Sustainability.

(1)Dictionary.com

Cheers for the holiday season.  Consider using reusable bags for gifts – or reuse cardboard shipping boxes with colorful ribbons and bows!

12 Awards now recognize Overlake’s leadership efforts in Sustainable practices. This 2011-12 school year continues the legacy with new faces and efforts all focused on tangible reductions in the way we touch the environment we live in. Is the Sustainability Mindset mainstream yet? Not quite, and this is why the role of the Green Team, started in 2008, is changing from one of implementation to one of education and promotion. And why, I will shift the focus of the Going Green! Blog to become, as much as possible, a show case of Sustainable best practices. I join Green Team members Ellen Allen, Tom Neir, Gerald Blycker, Thomas Frizelle, Lyle Skjervheim, and Matthew Haddock to lead and empower improved practices that impact our environment. Our “Green” mission goes beyond community recognition, awards, cost savings, and reductions in utilities. It is also about establishing a Sustainable Mindset that our students can use and take forward and share with others throughout their lives; that our faculty will embrace in every endeavor; and perhaps even that our parents and families will benefit from. Many groups are already applying a Sustainability Mindset and my hope is that sharing their creative endeavors will inspire and motivate others to follow suit. Recent examples of such include continued support of School Environmental Clubs and their efforts, the 2011 Overlake Auction, photo changes in the Athletic department, students as an alternative power source, and more, which will be showcased in the Going Green! Blog. Next week I plan to tackle what Sustainability means and doesn’t mean to me as the Director of Sustainability and how the Green Team is applying a standard of reasonableness to its recommendations and endorsements. Until then, THINK GREEN!

After three years as Green Team Coordinator, Chris Berry passes the “green baton” to Melody Gulledge, Overlake’s new Sustainability Director. Along with leading the Go Green Initiative and the ongoing Green Team, Melody will also lead OWLS Project and other sustainability initiatives on campus. Please wish Melody all the best as she continues the important work of sustainability at Overlake!

Overlake’s Bike-to-School Day was held on Friday, May 20, drawing 44 participants! The event, coordinated by Rob Neir (Class of 2014) and Transportation Director Gloria Califf was funded by a Green Grant and included the installation of three bike racks throughout campus. Participants included students, parents, alums, faculty and staff, and included one student who walked and two who skateboarded. Congratulations to Rob and Gloria for a well-organized event with special thanks to Matt Haddock for supporting the installation of the bike racks.

Visitors to the first floor of the TLC can now see a colorful display, including a 42-inch kiosk featuring a touch screen, highlighting the LEED certification and green technologies of the building. The display was a collaboration between the technology department and the development office, with tech director Tom Frizelle coordinating the kiosk and webmaster Megan Sykes designing the wall wrap.