April 26, 2011 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announces plans to create a Green Ribbon Schools program that will be run by the U.S. Department of Education with the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
A Texas live oak, the official tree depicted on the Education Department's official seal was planted in the plaza at 400 Maryland Ave., S.W., facing the National Mall.
Also attending
- U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
- White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
- Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson
- Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig
- American Forests CEO Scott Steen
- Fifth grade students from D.C.'s Amidon Elementary School Knowles Elementary
- Jośe Rodríguez (Teacher Ambassador from Cedar Park, Texas)
The program will promote public schools that show exemplary efforts to:
- raise environmental literacy, both inside and outside the classroom;
- reduce a school's environmental footprint by improving energy efficiency and resource use; and
- increase a school's environmental health.
"At
Earth Day Network, we are particularly excited to have collaborated with three key leaders in the Green Schools movement – the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, the National Wildlife Federation, and the U.S. Green Building Council – to make this initiative happen. This exciting new program has the potential to invigorate and empower schools nationwide for growing the 21st-century economy. By encouraging schools to apply for this award, powerful strides will be taken to ensure we meet our shared goal of greening America’s schools within a generation."
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Official Tree
Arne Duncan
