Dan Schnitzer is the Director of Sustainability and Operations at the Academy for Global Citizenship. Here he writes about teaching students to be environmental stewards as they design their dream school.
If you asked a child to build their dream school, what do you think it would look like? How do you think a designer, engineer or architect might react? Would you laugh if the child told you that they wanted sheep grazing on the roof?
The Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC) is a unique Chicago Public Elementary School located on the southwest side of the city. Dedicated to academic achievement, global education and environmental sustainability, AGC knows that the creative wisdom of children can inspire. Working with OWP/P | Cannon Design, AGC has embarked on designing their new school, a net-positive energy living building.
AGC instills within its students the knowledge that they can positively impact their community and world by making responsible choices and bettering everything that they touch. The facility will be designed and built with the same philosophy.
Sheep on the roof? How would they get up there? They will meander to the roof when you design the building into a landscape where the building creates hills and pastures for livestock. How can ecosystems exist to support diverse native plants, vegetables and animals within an industrial urban area? They can support biodiversity when the facility is surrounded by acres of concrete converted into rich organic soil.
If it is our job to create a world that supports our children and to raise children that are stewards of the land, the question isn’t “how,” the question is “when.” The answer is now. Come along for the journey as AGC uses the design, fundraising and building process to further global collaboration and begin educating a generation of students who will be prepared to thrive in their world.
Have you ever thought of the power of 24 million voices talking about education and the environment? Have you ever considered how far a single dollar can go?
To support AGC in their effort to create a thriving, net-positive energy building, please visit their site and click on the ‘Donate Now’ button in the upper right corner.
