San Diego Green Champions

Students at Pacific Ridge School, an independent charter school in Carlsbad, are making a ‘green’ difference in the community through various service learning projects. From selecting a mission to fundraising, each group of 5 to 10 students is responsible for every aspect of their project.

For example, the Recycling Group is on a mission to educate other schools about the importance of recycling and help implement programs like the one at Pacific Ridge. To do this, the students must call local schools to ask about current recycling practices and request to help launch one on that campus. They even perform a recycling rap to get kids pumped up. Already they are involved with a La Costa elementary school, working with the sixth grade to become recycling leaders.

With three groups focusing on environmental research and projects, ranging from local to global engagement, these students are actively making a difference.

For more information or to get involved, please contact Anne Carr at 760-918-0834 or anne@boltpr.com.

Green roof guru Jim Mumford of Good Earth Plant Company offers an “Introduction to Green Roof Design and Construction” at Cuyamaca College on November 8, 2008.

The half day workshop is presented in partnership with Cuyamaca College as part of its Greener Future and Renewable Energy Seminars. Mumford will be joined by architect Robert Thiele, AIA, LEED AP and roofer Ulf Waldmann of Mission Valley Roofing. Thiele has worked with both James Hubbell and artist Cristo. Waldmann is an experienced green roofer dating back to working with his father’s roofing firm in Germany 20 years ago. “I feel very fortunate to have Robert and Ulf as part of our green roof team,” said Mumford. “They have been invaluable to our ongoing success.”

The session will familiarize participants with existing green roof technology, design and construction. Discover the significant social, economic and environmental returns on investment from those who have created and installed green roofs in San Diego County. Benefits include reduced energy costs, filtering and lessening storm water runoff, extended roof life, habitat restoration and fire retardation.

Hours of the seminar are 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon and lunch is included. The class will take place at Cuyamaca College in Room F607 5510. The cost is just $20..

Green (or living) roofs are an engineered, lightweight roofing system that supports plants. Green roof technology is popular in northern Europe and Japan, and used in some North American cities including New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Portland. But modern green roof technology is not well known in most of the United States.

For additional information, visit http://www.greenroofsandiego.com

An archetect to protect

My mother Martha Gottfried and is currently working to design the first LEED acredited schools in all of San Diego county with the archetectual firm Renu Renu Clark. It is an extremly difficult undertaking to design a structure under the premise that it must function as an organism. Leed design means everything meshes fits together with out waste from the school grounds to the childrens values for their responsibilitys to the planet.
Although Leed design is now a mandate for new school construction, by her own motivation my mother has been working for years to incorperate sustainable design. Steps she has quietly taken have saved tax payers tens of thousands of dollars not to mention the eco benifits Her sustainable ideals required she put in long hours of work and research with out additional compensation exept knowing and decidedly doing the right thing. my mother the archetect to protect our childrens future.