The Sustainable Rebuilding of New Orleans - Global Green Update

New Orleans, LA - October 5, 2007 - Two years after Katrina, much remains to be done. All basic infrastructure in the city has been restored—including electrical, water, and sewage. The city has completed its master planning process that has been approved at the State and Federal level and a significant portion of federal funds have just been released to the city of New Orleans. Several new investment and infrastructure projects are now also in the final planning stages.

The city has expressed a great interest in embracing green building, but up to this point has lacked the capacity and funding to incorporate those elements. The city is currently advertising for an energy policy manager to help implement the comprehensive energy planning that is currently underway.

New Orleans is poised to begin rebuilding in earnest and it is crucial that this nascent effort be aided by qualified green building experts including Global Green USA, the American affiliate of Green Cross International.

The Need to Rebuild New Orleans Green
Thanks to the mobilization of resources, expertise and leadership spearheaded by Global Green USA and others, sustainable building has now become a core focus of the rebuilding of New Orleans

The hurricanes and the devastation left in their wake have served as a wake-up call to the region, the nation and the world. The citizens and policymakers are beginning to realize that the rebuilding efforts must include sensitivity to the environment. They are also recognizing it is an opportunity to do things differently, creating a new future based on green building and clean technologies.

However, a lack of technical expertise and local capacity presents a challenge for the green rebuilding effort, which includes environmental stewardship at its core. Global Green’s sustainable building initiatives will help create the local capacity and serve the most underserved in the region. Moreover, the concept and reality of green rebuilding has provided tremendous hope and inspiration to those with whom we have talked to and are working with.

The potential for positive impact for New Orleans and the Gulf coast is great given that Hurricane Katrina devastated the region with an approximate $70 to $130 billion in damage, the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. The necessity to include environmental sensitivity in the rebuilding is increasingly important as the country watches and learns form the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Dire climate change predictions rendered stark and visual reality through widespread destruction and suffering in what arguably is the first major American city devastated by climate change.  New Orleans' vulnerability is somewhat unique given its low elevation, but its fate could well follow for all of the Gulf Coast and the eastern seaboard.  

The opportunity to rebuild New Orleans as an international example of sustainability comes in the aftermath of what is increasingly being recognized as the tipping point for global awareness of climate change and its potentially devastating impacts. On this front, New Orleans is and will remain an international focal point.

Global Green USA and New Orleans - an Overview
Immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Global Green USA was on the ground in New Orleans, evaluating how we could respond to the disaster. Since then, Global Green has unveiled an aggressive plan to rebuild New Orleans green, including:

The Holy Cross Project
Global Green USA, with the support of Brad Pitt and lead funding from the Home Depot Foundation is making progress on the Holy Cross Project, the first sustainable low-income housing community in New Orleans’ ravaged Ninth Ward.

On August 21, 2007, we celebrated a milestone before the 2nd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by touring progress of the first affordable home under construction. We were excited to be joined by Brad Pitt, the Home Depot Foundation and local community leaders at this landmark event.

The house’s solar panels will generate enough electricity to power the home, which is expected to be LEED Platinum certified. It is being built with green products and energy efficient systems that will ultimately be included in the completed project of five single-family homes, an 18 multi-unit apartment complex and a Community Center/Sustainable Design and Climate Action Institute.

Green Schools Initiative
Thanks to a generous grant from Bush Clinton Katrina Fund, Global Green is moving forward with the Green Schools Initiative in New Orleans. This ambitious program will help benefit thousands of students and teachers by providing technical assistance and resources to local schools. The goal of the Green Schools Initiative is to create healthier classrooms and more energy efficient schools that in turn improve student performance and save money for school districts, while helping protect the environment and reducing global warming.

“Green Seed Schools”
Global Green USA recently announced the selection of the first two of its five "Green Seed Schools", A.P. Tureaud Elementary School, in the 7th Ward of New Orleans and the International School of Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish. Each school will first receive an energy and indoor air quality audit, which will then serve as a road map for targeted energy and air quality upgrades at the schools. Global Green USA will provide funding to enable the schools to implement many of the needed upgrades.

Showcase Green Schools
A second and more ambitious phase of the program will result in the creation of high performance showcase green schools including the major rehabilitation of two schools over the course of the next two years. Global Green will announce its showcase schools shortly.

“Across the U.S. in different cities, we have seen high performance schools create a better learning environment for students and reduce energy and water costs by 20% to 40%. Test scores improve by 20% to 22% in green schools, and can lead to fewer absences due to improved indoor air quality," 
Matt Petersen, President & CEO, Global Green USA

“We hope to not only make these schools selected for the Green Seed and the Showcase projects more energy efficient and healthy for students and teachers, but to encourage schools throughout the city -- and the state --to adopt green building principles," 
Beth Galante, Executive Director of Global Green USA (New Orleans)

Green Building Resource & Design Center Global Green has operated a green building resource center in downtown New Orleans since April 2006, and provides one-on-one and group green building consultations tailored to individuals at all levels - basic information for residents and neighborhood groups, monthly panel discussions, newsletters, convention presentations and informational booths- and technical information and training for contractors, architects, designers, government officials and developers.  

Global Green will move this resource center to the Holy Cross Project once construction is complete, utilizing the numerous demonstration tools and working high performance products to demystify green building, share comprehensive green product information, and empower the families in the 23 residences at the site, the Lower 9th Ward, the city and all who visit to incorporate sustainable building practices into their own homes and businesses.  

About Global Green USA
Global Green USA, the American affiliate of President Gorbachev's Green Cross International, was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Global Green has been a national leader in championing green building and green design as smart solutions to some of the world's most serious environmental problems. To learn more about our work please visit: www.globalgreen.org

Press Contacts

Ruben Aronin
Global Green USA
310.526.8907
raronin@globalgreen.org

Jeanne Nathan
Creative Industry USA
504.218.4807
nathan@creativeindustryusa.com