The sedGreen committee is an expanding group of faculty, students, and staff who work to advocate for green practices and policies in the School of Education, as well as all of Boston University. Initiated in November 2006, sedGreen successfully lobbied for recycling containers on each floor and large bins in the basement of SED. The overall SED community has responded well, many recognizing the need to build a new "green" mindset.

Recently, the Committee, in collaboration with the Science Education department, developed an extensive "Healthy Futures Initiative" proposal. Part of the plan awaits approval from the building's operations department. It calls for a series of solar panels on the third floor roof facing south and a nearby small wind turbine, both powering environmental education exhibits on the third floor as well as feeding the overall School of Education power grid.

sedGreen has meanwhile developed a stationery bike energy production exhibit on the third floor science education area of SED. Students, faculty, and visitors can now spend a few minutes pedaling a stationery bike, which feeds energy to a storage battery and then powers a computer on a stand adjacent to the bike.  The exhibit demonstrates that beside solar, wind, and other alternative power, there is also the often forgotten energy generated from human movement, usually with far less carbon dioxide emission than conventional power generation. Moreover, the exhibit shows a powerful link of how fostering our personal health also can mean promoting a health planet. The Committee is also working on an energy audit — an analysis of the amount of energy consumed in each SED office that will result in a report and list recommendations for SED employees to make their offices green.

For more information on sedGreen, contact Douglas Zook, professor of Science Education and Global Ecology or Don DeRosa, professor of education.

Read about how student Ali Thorell lives green in the Boston Globe.