NOAA Joins Public-Private EcoZone Green Schools Initiative

Linda Taylor Austin
NOAA National Ocean Service
Strategic Communications and Outreach Partnerships

December 8, 2008 — NOAA’s National Ocean Service recently joined the EcoZone Green Schools Initiative, a public-private environmental outreach and education effort sponsored by EcoMedia and the CBS Corporation. The program’s goal is to inspire students to do what they can to help the environment.  

At the launch of the project in Miami in October, John H. Dunnigan, NOAA Assistant Administrator for the National Ocean Service, stressed the importance of NOAA participation in innovative, collaborative efforts such as the Green Schools Initiative.

“Environmental awareness is the thread that binds the wise use of our natural resources together with the strength of our economy," he said, "NOAA is proud to join with EcoZone as part of a partnership between industry and government to educate the public and promote improved awareness and action to benefit our environment.”

The Green Schools Initiative will begin as pilot projects in Miami, San Francisco, and Chicago, with the purpose of doing “green” makeovers on area schools. Part of the initiative is a “Green My School Contest” that will result in one school receiving a green makeover valued at more than $100,000.  Other prizes also will be awarded, and a sustainable environmental program will be provided to schools in the participating cities.

NOAA will serve on a panel to select the winning schools in early 2009.

Dunnigan sees the project as a unique way to carry NOAA's message forward to new audiences through creative forums. The end result will hopefully be better water quality, increased public safety, and improved coastal environments.

"We feel the excitement and passion that motivates us to work for America’s oceans and coasts every day," Dunnigan said. "We owe it to the public and to ourselves to do a better job of outreach, sharing that excitement and passion in a way that the public — our customers — understand the critical missions that we carry out for them, and why it all matters."

In addition to playing a role in the EcoZone Initiative, NOAA also serves as one of many agency and non-profit organizations that advise EcoMedia on how to best reinvest in non-profit environmental projects and efforts. NOAA is thereby able to connect with bricks and mortar projects creating on the ground results.

EcoMedia sells green-focused advertising, then reinvests up to 50 percent of profits back into local community projects. EcoZone is a national public-private partnership spearheaded by EcoMedia that helps cities, counties, and states support environmental projects and initiatives related to air and water quality, energy conservation, and the preservation of parks and green space, at no additional cost to taxpayers.