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.

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?