Our Children’s Schools: The Leadership Face of the Future

In early 2007, the United Nations Foundation and the research group Sigma Xi released a report on climate change subtitled "Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable." Three words hung in the air: Mitigate. Adapt. Suffer.

The last of the three was untenable. The formation of the Green Schools Alliance (GSA), which today represents more than 3 million students in 47 countries, was the outcome of these three words. It was also the result of "radical confidence by many," a phrase that my husband Rob Watson, founder of the LEED green building certification program, likes to use when speaking about market transformation.

Having participated in the Greening of the White House initiative back in 1993, I learned some valuable lessons about what it takes to create meaningful change. First and foremost, success never rides on a cult of personality. Deep, meaningful change for good rarely has a “face.” No one person can create change alone.

When asked how the GSA was started, the most accurate description is: 

“The GSA started because ONE little boy wanted to celebrate Earth Day in his first grade class, and because ONE mother wanted to make EVERY day Earth Day for him. The GSA started with ONE school facility manager who thought that energy was the right way to challenge his community, and ONE Business Manager who understood the financial implications on institutions, ONE Music Director who began a Green Group, and ONE Science Director who joined him. The GSA started with ONE facility manager who reached out from another corner of the world to say that the rainforests where he played as a child were gone, and the animals with them, and galvanized the movement by asking, 'How can we join?'"

Together, through the GSA, our schools are leading a movement, spreading across the planet—a movement that recognizes and empowers schools, as the center of every community, sharing their sustainability progress, inspiring others, and leading the way through collective action.

Addressing climate and conservation challenges, GSA’s mission is to connect and empower schools worldwide to lead the transformation to global sustainability. We believe that schools are transformational hubs of their communities across the planet that build resilience, transform markets and policy, shift behavior, and prepare the next generation of innovators to become environmental stewards.

When the GSA was first launched, it was a dream. As the result of radical confidence, and the leadership of many, today the GSA provides tools for managing change. The GSA fosters collaboration among schools and school districts to set and meet climate and conservation goals, and to ensure a safe and sustainable tomorrow for current and future generations.

To learn more about the Green Schools Alliance's programs, click here.