The First Facility Management Blog

Fifty-eight trees recently planted in two schoolyards in Bacon County, GA will improve the appearance and safety of those properties. Through its Making the Shade partnership, the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) is partnered with Milliken & Company, the City of Alma, and Bacon County Board of Education to implement the program in that county.

(left to right): Jamie Calloway, Milliken & Company, Alma Plant with student volunteers from Bacon County High and Middle School and Vance Burkett, Milliken & Company, Alma Plant

GFC announced its first three Making the Shade partnerships, including Milliken, in 2007 on Georgia Arbor Day. Today, nearly 500 trees have been planted, with the program expanded to benefit more than 9,000 students at 14 schools in 13 counties throughout Georgia.

“We are very grateful to our partners who helped achieve healthier and more attractive school playgrounds by planting 13 species including oak varieties, maple, poplar and cypress trees,” said Daniel Westcot, Georgia Forestry Commission community forester.

The 58 trees were recently added to the Bacon County Elementary and Bacon County Primary School campuses, which had offered very limited shade areas for faculty and students. Adding shade trees to the landscapes will reduce the effects of high temperatures and related health and safety concerns, while those shading HVAC equipment will improve energy efficiency.

“As a major employer in the community, Milliken is pleased to have worked with our local schools and the state to implement the Making the Shade program,” said Vance Burkett, Bacon County Board of Education member and Milliken associate.

Milliken supports Making the Shade as part of its Trees For All initiative, reflecting concerns for healthy environments—indoors and out. Milliken demonstrates its commitment to improve Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) with its adhesive free TractionBack® modular installation system, which eliminates offgassing. Outdoors, the company nurtures millions of trees and is certified carbon negative through reduced emissions and carbon sequestration in its forests, without purchased credits.

The Georgia Forestry Commission research indicates compelling reasons to add shade trees to the landscape:

• Traditional elementary school campus design often eliminates the health benefits provided by shade trees.
• Children are more susceptible to ground level ozone because they often play outside on hot, muggy days.
• Children’s skin damage can occur in as little as 15 minutes of overexposure to the suns ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
• Elevated playground temperatures reduce air quality and increase risks for children with asthma and other lung related issues.
• Elevated surface temperatures of school yards and playground equipment can cause serious and painful burns to students.

To see other companies involved in planting trees, visit the Arbor Day Foundation.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has recognized six of its more than 70 local chapters with its Annual Chapter Awards of Excellence. The awards, given at USGBC’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, held last month in Boston, MA are given to chapters that excel in providing local green building outreach and education and in fostering best practices among the green building community. The four award categories include: community, education, advocacy & influence, and organizational excellence. The awards were presented to large and small chapters in each category and are sponsored each year by USGBC member company Milliken & Company.

“Our chapters are central to USGBC’s ability to achieving the vision of buildings and communities that regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation,” said Heather Tomlinson, vice president of community. “Chapter volunteers dedicate countless hours toward greening buildings in their local communities and their accomplishments deserve to be recognized as outstanding examples of leadership.”

The community award recognizes a large and small chapter for its efforts in building and developing the green building community through building relationships with other organizations that result in a greater connection and meaningful dialogue among the groups and the community as a whole. The winner of the award of excellence in the community large chapter category was the Northern California Chapter for its hard work in actively engaging the larger green building community. The winner of the award of excellence in the community small chapter category was the Charlotte Region Chapter for their continued efforts to be the center for information exchange, which has enabled them to expand the chapter’s reach and influence throughout the community and region.

The education category recognizes a large and small chapter that has made a significant contribution to green building market transformation through its education programs. The winner of the award of excellence in the education large chapter category is the Delaware Valley Green Building Council for their coordination of training for the City of Philadelphia on high performance buildings and the LEED green building rating system. In the award of excellence in the education small chapter category, the Charlotte Region Chapter received recognition for its work in engaging the local community through varied educational offerings, reaching a diverse group of constituents.

The advocacy & influence award recognizes chapters that have developed and implemented a successful green building advocacy campaign. The winner of the award of excellence in the advocacy & influence category for a large chapter was the New Jersey Chapter. The chapter was recognized for their successful effort to educate leaders of municipalities, businesses, counties, while becoming the “go to” organization for information related to local green building. The winner of the advocacy & influence award for a small chapter was the Charlotte Region Chapter. The chapter developed an extremely active advocacy committee that has achieved substantial progress in educating fellow professionals, the public at large, and local and state government officials.

The organizational excellence award recognizes a small and large chapter that has demonstrated excellence in organizational practices, including areas such as board leadership, communications and planning, and/or innovations in organizational excellence as defined by USGBC’s Strategic Plan. The winner of the organization excellence award in the large chapter category was the Chicago Chapter, which engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process that resulted in the adoption of a new strategic plan by the chapter’s board. The winner of the organization excellence award in the small chapter category was the South Carolina Chapter. The chapter distinguished itself in initiating and developing a chapter-branch model that has enabled them to effectively address growth of membership and geographic chapter expansion.

Winning chapters received recognition on Member Day at Greenbuild and on the USGBC Web site, as well as a financial award. The awards review panels for each category were comprised of a cross section of USGBC leadership including chapter leaders and staff, national staff, and members of USGBC’s Board of Directors and Chapter Steering Committee.