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USGBC West Michigan Chapter
April 2013 Newsletter
Thank you to our Annual Sponsor

SILVER
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In This Issue
Schools of the Future
Green Apple Day of Service
Stair Week
Membership Update
Letter from the Chair


Featured Project

Mel Trotter Ministries

Mel Trotter Ministries

LEED CI v 2009 Silver


Affiliate Organization Events
 
May 20
Alliance for Environmental Sustainability
  LEED GA: Core Concepts & Strategies - Detroit

May 21
Alliance for Environmental Sustainability
  HOMES 252: Understanding LEED for Homes - Detroit

USGBC Members:
Use Coupon Code USGBCWM for $10 off each Alliance for Environmental Sustainability Event

June 6



Getting Green is a monthly conversation on sustainability and green practices.

March 25, 2013
The director of facilities for Montcalm Community College, George Germain, talks about the building information modeling system and more.
 
LISTEN HERE

April 22, 2013
 We talk about Earth Day and LEED certification this morning.





 



 Schools of the Future Announces its First Round of Presenters:

Emile Lauzzana Energy Manager
Sara Salo Executive Director and Founder
Christine Smith Energy Manager
Elaine Sterrett Isley Program Manager
Susan Tate 8th Grade Teacher
Whitehall Schools

More to be announced soon!

Join us for our Schools of the Future: Making Connections Today Symposium on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 in Lansing.  It will be a fast-paced, powerful, idea-sharing day to plant seeds for now and well into the future.  This symposium is an effort of the U.S. Green Building Council's West Michigan and Detroit Regional Chapters. 

REGISTER TO ATTEND

ONLY 100 seats available!


Want to reach the Michigan K-12 audience? Sponsor Now!


 

The Green Apple Day of Service, which will take place on Saturday, September 28, 2013, gives parents, teachers, students, companies and local organizations the opportunity to transform all schools into healthy, safe and productive learning environments through local service projects. Be sure to check out project ideas, read last year's highlights and register your 2013 project today!

 


STAIR WEEK
Coming in September 2013

Take the Stairs

Stair week is planned for early September to raise awareness of the benefits of stair usage. Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) has released a stair-prompt signage design to promote active living in Western Michigan. Graphic images promoting healthy behavior have been shown to motivate stair users, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The message in the signage, "Get Healthy, Save the Earth, Take the Stairs!" points to a greener option, the stairs, over energy-consuming elevators.


MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
Thank you to our new and renewing members

Scott Diemer
Leif Haugen
Nancy Peterson Azon
Jerry Ruland Comfort Systems USA
Douglas Scott Rowe Incorporated
Scott Skoog Midwest Geothermal
Amy Sullivan The Christman Company
Scott Vyn Integrated Architecture
Andrea Winn Catalyst Partners


LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Start looking at your calendars to see if you will be able to attend this year's Greening the Heartland.  It will be in Chicago, September 9-10 at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza.  This year GTH is co-located with BuildingChicago September 10-11, 2013.  More details and registration can be found at
www.greeningtheheartland.org.  Since GTH is in Chicago this year let's have a great turn out from West Michigan!

Urgent Call to Action: Special-interests groups are mounting a duplicitous effort to ban the federal government from using LEED Groups. Seeking to unduly influence LEED and diminish the progress of green building, these groups are spending millions to lobby lawmakers to have LEED banned at the federal level. They are spreading misinformation about the LEED development process and saying that only ANSI-certified standards should be used by the federal government. Don't let special interests advance unprecedented greenwashing efforts that will cost taxpayers money and hurt the green building movement. Please use USGBCs talking points and urge your member companies to send this sample letter to their Senators as soon as possible.


Kris Ford

Kris Ford, Chair, USGBC West Michigan
Owens-Ames-Kimball Co.


Mission:

To transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated in a way that improves the quality of life in West Michigan.


USGBC West Michigan | PO Box 6332 | Grand Rapids, MI 49516 | (616) 301-6688