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Become a Member
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Help us accelerate change and further our mission to advocate, educate and promote sustainable development in Massachusetts.
Join as a member today!
Organizations that share our goal of a more sustainable built environment should consider becoming a USGBC national member or partner of USGBC MA.
Learn more here
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Looking for Volunteers
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The Chapter is looking for volunteers interested in getting involved. Some of the areas we are looking for help in are:
Chapter Website, Newsletter &
Blogging,
Event production,
Membership growth, and
Graphic Design If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Grey Lee |
| Chapter Committees |
Make a Difference.
Network.
Build Your Resume.
Become involved with a Committee!
Education
Communications
Membership Advocacy
Fundraising
Special Events
Emerging Professionals (EPMA)
Green Schools Residential Green Building
Regional & Statewide Outreach
Central MA Group Cape & Islands Group Western MA Branch To find out more about the committees and how to get connected, go to our website or send an email to info@usgbcma.org
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Sponsoring Partnership
Benefits |
Is your company interested in being a Sponsoring Partner with the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter?
Click here to find out the benefits you'll receive as a Chapter partner.
Sponsoring Partners gain access & exposure to our membership and subscriber base.
You can show your stakeholders that you are directly involved with the heart of green building advocacy and professional development in Massachusetts!
Donations are tax deductible and a great way to support our green building education, advocacy and outreach programming efforts throughout the Commonwealth!
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| Our Chapter Sponsoring Partners |
Platinum:
National Grid
Gold:
Boston Properties
Silver:
Citizens Bank; Nitsch Engineering; AHA Consulting Engineers; Vidaris; P&G Gilette
Bronze:
NStar; Mark Richey Woodworking; Robinson & Cole; The Green Engineer, Inc.; Structure Tone; SMMA; New Buildings Institute; Sterritt Lumber; Re-Stream Inc.
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Upcoming Webinars
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Earn 1.5 GBCI credit hours
Southborough: 5/23/13 6:15-8pm - ND 201 Series: LEED for Neighborhood Development: Smart Growth and New Urbanism
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| Chapter Newsletter & Website |
Interested in writing an article for the Massachusetts Chapter newsletter?
Interested in contributing educational content or graphics for our website?
Please email Carrie at carrie@greenengineer.com |
| Join Our List |
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Greetings!
I am really amazed at our community of green building advocates. We continue to create more environmentally responsible buildings and communities in Massachusetts and beyond. Congratulations to Boston on passing the energy disclosure ordinance (see below)!
If you are working on a LEED project and might be interested in enrolling to participate as a LEEDv4 Pilot Project, and get extra support from the national office, please contact Chris Schaffner of the Green Engineer to learn more about the possibilities.
We have a couple of bits of news on our website - including a brief announcement about our staffing changes. Thanks are due to Zak Patten who has moved on from working for us as our Communications Associate. He just finished his Master's in Urban Planning from Northeastern and would be happy to hear from any of you on LinkedIn. Joining us for the summer is Ellen Agnew, a recent grad of Skidmore College, who will be expanding our communications and promotional capacity and working on a few multi-media projects.
Our calendar still has many ongoing programs for networking, professional development, and service work.
If you haven't quite already, please look us up on facebook, through LinkedIn and tweeting @usgbcma - These are all great ways to stay in tune with what we're up to, and we welcome ongoing interaction on those platforms.
Thank you for your feedback on my last newsletter and on our blog. I went to a conference earlier in the month, the VERGE Boston gathering, and heard from Col. Puck Mykleby, at one very interesting end of the military-industrial complex, looking at sustainability as a key dimension of a national "grand strategy" for the USA. Here's an older presentation, still on the same topic, also from Mykleby, with his co-author, Wayne Porter, at the Wilson Institute in DC.
Thank you again for your continued participation in our efforts to create a stronger and more effective community of practitioners so we can change the entire built environment to better environmental performance.
Grey Lee
Executive Director
USGBC MA Chapter
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| Green Schools Update | |
by Steve Muzzy
I've been at the Chapter for nearly three weeks and have been getting up to speed with operations and meeting members of the Chapter network. It is inspiring to learn about all the activities the Chapter is involved in to advance green building. As Grey mentioned last month as the Green Schools Program Manager I will be focusing on the following activities:
- Facilitating a Green School Buildings coalition
- Implementing LEED Study Groups
- Creating a LEED Project Assistance Matching Service
I will also be developing a Green Schools webpage on the Chapter website that will include resources to support green building retrofits and construction and highlight completed and current school projects. It will also provide data on the number of LEED projects at K-12 and higher education campuses across the State.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with questions or resources to share. Finally, I'd like to pass along some recent reports that may be of interest - highlighting how the education sector is supporting and advancing green building.
Read more...
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| Green Apple Day of Service | |
The USGBC's Center for Green Schools is once again promoting Green Apple Day of Service to advance healthy, sustainable schools!
The inaugural Green Apple Day of Service held on September 29, 2012 had more than 1,250 service projects in 49 countries. The second Green Apple Day of Service will be held September 28, 2013 - advocates around the world, including students, teachers, parents, business owners and more will come together in support of healthy, sustainable schools by participating in local service projects.
The Green Schools Committee of USGBC MA Chapter is aiming to have more than 50 projects registered across the state in 2013. Mygreenapple.org has put together a terrific list of resources to describe and support organizing a day of service - and we have pulled the following list of resources to help you help us spread the word:
A one-page information sheet describing the Green Apple Day of Service.
Free 20-minute-or-less webcasts that will introduce you to project ideas, volunteer recruitment tips, fundraising ideas and more.
The Project Captain Toolkit covers how to get a Day of Service project started, establishing project goals, getting volunteers and organizing your project.
If you have questions or if your company is looking to partner with a local school to execute a project, please let us know - we are happy to help!
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| SUCCESS: Boston Building Energy and Disclosure Ordinance Passes, Becomes Law | |
We are proud to announce that the USGBC MA Chapter was part of a broad coalition that successfully advocated and ensured the passage of the ordinance on May 8th, 2013. You can read more about it here. Congratulations are due to Brian Swett and the Environmental & Energy Services department in Boston for making it all come together.
Mayor Menino's Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance was approved by the Boston City Council in a 9-4 vote. The Ordinance requires large commercial and residential buildings to report and disclose their energy and water usage, and greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage investment in energy efficiency and further the City's climate action goals.
The resource consumption database for buildings will help the City craft more programs to support better energy efficiency. The Chapter will be sure to participate in rolling out education and outreach programs to help more owners and users of buildings embrace carbon mitigation and other environmentally responsible strategies.
The next big question is: could this reporting process and database become a State-wide phenomenon?
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The USGBC Annual Chapters Report is out!
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If you really want to geek out about the USGBC!
Each year, the national organization collects information from the many chapters across the country to get a sense of how much advocacy, education, and professional development work is happening.
Caution: this is a 379-page pdf but it's worth scrolling through if you're interested in knowing more about how we compare to our peers and how similar our efforts are across the country. Quite inspirational to think about how many volunteer hours are being contributed to this cause, and how we are succeeding at making more and more components of the built environment better for the, well, the environment! |
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Margulies Perruzzi Architects Completes Office Design for Nitsch Engineering
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Boston, MA Margulies Perruzzi Architects (MPA), has  completed the 18,000 s/f office design for Nitsch Engineering (a Chapter Sponsor!) at Two Center Plaza. MPA provided site selection and interior design services for the project, which is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification. A Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) founded in 1989, Nitsch had outgrown its previous space at 186 Lincoln St. and preferred an open, single-floor layout to allow for greater collaboration and communication among its 80 employees. Completed in December 2012, MPA worked with Nitsch to design a space that enhances teamwork, allows for easy team realignments, and serves as a welcoming environment for clients, partners, and staff alike.
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Are you into Neighborhood Development or Urban Planning for Sustainability?
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The EcoDistricts Summit is coming to Massachusetts November 12-14, 2013!
For the past three years, the Oregon-based organization has hosted their summit in Portland. This year they are branching out. EcoDistricts Summit is the premier conference dedicated to the global movement to promote sustainable neighborhood development
Our Chapter is part of the Hosting Committee organizing this conference to bring together leaders who are shaping and building the cities and urban neighborhoods of the future. |
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Come to NEBFM June 12-13 2013 in Boston
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The Northeast Building & Facilities Show and Exhibition at the Boston Convention Center
Erik Ruoff of the Green Engineer (a Chapter Sponsor) will be presenting on LEED for Existing Buildings at 9am on June 12th during the conference portion of the show.
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| Follow Us | | |
Facebook- USGBC Massachusetts Chapter
LinkedIn- USGBC Massachusetts Chapter
Twitter- @usgbcma
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SGBC Massachusetts Chapter is a non-profit organization serving the sustainable design community throughout the Commonwealth by providing a wide range of green building education, networking and advocacy services.