By Emily Andrews,
USGBC-Missouri Gateway Chapter Executive Director
The U.S. Green Building Council – Missouri Gateway Chapter is excited to host the 4th Annual Growing Green awards to celebrate and recognize people, organizations, institutions and companies that are transforming our built environment and our community into a healthier, more environmentally friendly and prosperous place to live, work and learn.
USGBC-Missouri Gateway is so proud to recognize local leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, and designers that advocate for high performance buildings, implement sustainably progressive communities, and demonstrate green as good business. Past nominees and winners share a passion for making the region more sustainable – one building at a time. 2012 Award categories have been modified in order to be inclusive of all individuals, groups and organizations that are committed to green buildings and green communities, which includes new and existing buildings, landscapes, objects and systems.
2012 Growing Green Award categories are:
Community Champion: demonstrating leadership in giving back to our community through commitment of time, energy and passion to the built environment.
Education: exemplifying leadership in education pertaining to the built environment. Education occurs in many facets: the classroom; the workplace; in local government; at home; and lots of places in between.
Emerging Leader: recent arrivals to the sustainability movement making great strides in advancing sustainable practices as they relate to our built environment. These individuals or organizations are likely to be our green leaders of tomorrow.
Innovation: exemplifying leadership in transforming the built environment through the pioneering of new technologies and thinking forward to the needs of tomorrow.
Operational Excellence: representing leadership in operating the buildings and landscapes in our community with environmental sensitivity, resource efficiency, and longevity.
Restoration: exemplify leadership in preservation, restoration and redevelopment of our built environment.
Nominations are due electronically by 5 pm on January 27, 2012. Winners will be announced at the Awards celebration and dinner on Thursday, March 29, 2012. This year’s keynote speaker is Mitchell Joachim, a leader in ecological design, architecture and urbanism. Joachim is a Partner at Planetary ONE, founding Co-President of Terreform ONE and an Associate Professor at NYU and EGS in Switzerland. Planetary ONE and Terraform ONE are organizations committed to green design and socio-ecological solutions for cities. Joachim has been featured on The Colbert Report and the Huffington Post. He was chosen by Wired magazine for “The 2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To” and honored by Rolling Stone magazine in “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”.
For more information or to download the 2012 nomination package, please visit online at http://www.usgbc-mogateway.org/green-awards/. Questions? E-mail GrowingGreenAwards@gmail.com or call USGBC-Missouri Gateway staff at (314) 577-0854.