About Rachel Gutter
Rachel Gutter is the executive director of the USGBC’s Center for Green Schools and served as gb&d’s guest editor for this issue.
One book everyone should read: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
Social media, helping or hurting? Hurting—get off Facebook and go live your life.
Print news outlet you hope will never die: School newsletters.
An article you recently shared: “School Design May Affect a Child’s Grades,” from Wired.com.
Building you would save if the world was going to end: The National Building Museum—it’s gorgeous, has a rich history, and would memorialize other buildings lost, not to mention it’s the perfect place for an Armageddon ball.
The boldest idea in sustainable design: Buildings that improve the physical health of occupants and the ecological health of the land they occupy.
What you’d tell the green movement if it was your child: Stop talking to each other and start talking to everyone else.
Industry jargon you would banish: “Low-hanging fruit”—ick.
The first step to becoming a steward of the environment: Wake up.
The perfect city would have: 360 degrees of sky from every rooftop and a view to the ocean.
Your topic if you were asked to give a TED Talk: Delivering on the Promise: Green Schools within this Generation.
Blog that you follow religiously: I listen to people’s stream of consciousness enough in my day job, so I have no need for blogs.
Twitter feed you tell everyone about: @mygreenschools.
Trend you hope will never go out of fashion: Leg warmers and thumbholes.
Favorite mode of transportation: My ice skates—too bad I don’t live on a canal in Ottawa.
Favorite place you’ve traveled: I’ve been to 45 out of 50 states and 23 countries—I can’t possibly choose!
Most impactful experience in nature: A glorious week practicing yoga on an open-air deck overlooking a Hindu temple and rice fields in Bali.
The thought or idea that centers you: Be the change.
Cause you’d support if you had a billion dollars: A revolving loan fund for green school retrofits that could make a dent in the $X billion it will take us to modernize schools in the US.
Your elevator pitch to President Obama: The need for a national green schools corps—placing full-time sustainability officers in school districts, AmeriCorps style.
The question green building professionals should always be asking themselves: Am I doing less bad or more good?
