Margaret Watson never expected the seeds of a small elementary school program to sprout into a global alliance.
But two and a half years after she led an Earth Day program at her son’s school, Watson—a Columbia architecture alumna—is leading an international organization aiming to make the world a greener place, starting with local schools.
Two years after Watson, GSAPP ’84, facilitated an Earth Day event in April, 2007, New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein, CC ’67, announced this spring that the entire public school district would be joining the Green Schools Alliance—the now global organization that grew out of Watson’s initial presentation.
According to Watson, the goal of the Alliance is to have schools measure their carbon output and begin to take steps to reduce it. Months after it was announced citywide, Watson, the GSA founder and president, said in interview that the Alliance has expanded its goals and word has spread.
“We haven’t done much outreach, it’s mostly been word-of-mouth,” she said.
Since she started the program, it spread across the country and has traveled overseas. “Schools started finding out about this. A school in Moscow found out about this and signed on,” she said, adding, “One school in California contacted us, and the facilities manager was from Peru, and said, ‘My rainforests are being destroyed. We want to become a member.’”
New York City has already taken the first step outlined in the Alliance by undergoing a school system-wide energy audit. Though the program doesn’t include any specific mandates, it will allow interested schools to establish better recycling programs and work to integrate sustainability into the classroom curriculum, according to John Shea, executive director of the Department of School Facilities.
“The New York City DOE joined GSA as a department, but allows each individual school to participate in the way they see fit,” Shea said in e-mail, adding that the district is working locally on installing more efficient fuel catalysts and controls for the boilers in many schools on the Upper West Side.
New York City’s 1,600 public schools now make up the majority of the Alliance, which consists of over 220 other school memberships in the United States, China, Mexico, and other countries, according to Watson.
The efforts of the Alliance, local parents have said, are in tune with many environmental initiatives that Harlem and Morningside Heights schools have already been pursuing independently.
“We are looking into a green roof, maybe starting a green house, and looking to write applications for grants,” said Rosezeter “Coco” McClain, president of the parent’s association at P.S. 180 on 120th Street.
A few miles south at P.S. 166 on 89th Street, the school has implemented several eco-friendly programs, including the distribution of “green” cleaning supplies and the creation of a green PTA policy publication designed to evaluate school activities based on environmental impact, according to parent Emily Fano, the co-chair of the school’s green committee.
“It’s a nice feeling that it’s there when before it wasn’t, and from a morale perspective it’s very uplifting to see that this initiative exists,” Fano said, adding, “I do want to see progress quickly, though, and see them move forward in a concrete way. I hope the initiative grows.”
Watson agreed, saying that she is currently in talks with other major cities across the nation to bring more public schools into the organization.
Her long-term goal, though, is not only to add more schools to the list but also to encourage carbon output reduction and the sharing of eco-friendly ideas that work for schools. “The growth has been surprising and organic,” Watson said. “I never set out to create an organization.”
But the importance of smart development, she said, has been on her mind since her days at Columbia.
“I’ve always been interested in, while I was in the architecture school, about the impact that buildings can have on the quality of peoples’ lives and their ability to tell a story,” Watson said, adding,
“And here we are now kind of looking at buildings as a teaching school, telling a different kind of story for the 21st century. Our future will be written by the way we build our buildings today.”
Comments
We're looking for comments that are interesting and substantial. If your comments are excessively self-promotional or obnoxious you will be banned from commenting. Consult the comment FAQ and legal terms.