Greening the Workplace

UNION GREEN

Workplace Guides

• CUPE's green workplace guide
  Canadian Union of Public Employees, 2007 
• Go Green At Work: A Handbook for Union Green Representatives
  Trades Union Congress, 2008 (UK) 
• Green Your Workplace
  UNISON (UK)
• Working Better Together: A Practical Guide for Union Leaders, Elected Officials and Mangers to Improve Services
  Working for America Institute/Harvard Kennedy School of Government - Will assist in bringing about green change.

Training

• Green Workplace Representative Certificate Program, National Labor College

COMPREHENSIVE

• EPA for State and Local Governments
  US EPA
• Best Practices: Mayor's Climate Protection Center
  US Conference of Mayors
• How to Go Green: At Work
  Planet Green

BUILDINGS

• U.S. Green Building Council
  Information about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and certification for green construction, including special information about schools and health care facilities.

OFFICES

• Green Office Guide: A Guide to Greening Your Bottom Line Through a Resource-Efficient Office Environment
  City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development

SCHOOLS

Design

• Green Schools (Design) Guide 
  New York City (Developed by members of AFSCME District Council 37)
• Green Schools, Green Rule
  AFSCME District Council 37 members design with the whole earth in mind
• Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Our Union's Roadmap to Green and Sustainable Schools
  American Federation of Teachers, 2009 
• Green Schools
  National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities 
• Green Existing Schools: Project Management Guide
  U.S. Green Building Council
• Green Existing Schools Implementation Workbook
  U.S. Green Building Council 
• Green Existing Schools Tool Kit 
  U.S. Green Building Council

Cleaning

• Green Clean Schools
  Healthy Schools Campaign. Includes The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools (free registration required) and Five Simple Steps to Green Cleaning in Schools
• Greener School Cleaners = Healthier Kids
  Environmental Working Group

School Buses (Reducing Pollution)

• Clean School Buses
  Environmental Defense Fund
• Clean School Bus USA
  U.S. EPA

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Green Campus Campaign
  U.S. Green Building Council 
• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
  Includes Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) and a resource center of free online publications on a variety of topics related to environmentally sustainable higher education facilities management. 
• The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges
  Includes individual profiles 
• The College Sustainability Report Card 
• Climate Neutral Campus Report
• New Energy for Campuses: Energy Savings Policies for Colleagues and Universities
  The Apollo Alliance
• University of Oshkosh, Wisconsin 
  Sustainability website -- AFSCME Local 579 President "Our facilities and custodial employees are involved in carrying out their daily work following many green practices...We do discuss (green) initiatives like this as part of our agenda during labor/managment meetings to understand how it will impact our members."

HEALTH CARE

• Healthy hospitals, healthy planet, healthy people: Addressing climate change in healthcare settings
  World Health Organization, 2009 
• Health Care Without Harm
  World Health Organization - Information on what health care facilities can do to improve the environment. 
• Green Guide for Health Care
  Guide to greening health care facilities. (free registration required) 
• Practice Greenhealth.org
  Greening health care facilities

PUBLIC HOUSING

• Green Resources for Public Housing Authorities
  Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
• Public Housing Environmental and Conservation Clearinghouse
  U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
• New York City Housing Authority's Green Agenda

CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

• Greening the Prison-Industrial Complex
  New York Times, 3/3/2009 
• Sustainable Prisons Project
  Evergreen State College and the Washington State Department of Corrections 
• Greening Correctional Facilities: Water Efficiency and Conservation
  Correctional News, Jan/Feb 2009 
• Green Corrections Project
  National Institute of Corrections. There is also a blog associated with this project

WATER AND WASTEWATER UTILITIES

• Sustainable Infrastructure for Water and Wastewater
  U.S. EPA
• Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Water and Wastewater Utilities
  U.S. EPA
• EPA's Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) program 
  This program provides resources for the water sector to develop and implement long-range plans that account for climate change impacts.

GREEN OPERATIONS

Green Meeting Planning

• Green Event Tool Kit - University of California

Green Cleaning

• U.S. EPA Design for the Environment 
• Green Seal 
• Green Cleaning Network 

Recycling

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
• Recycling 101
  Earth911.com

Energy Conservation

• Clean Cities: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy
• Advancing Green Energy: A Report of the Clean Energy State Grant Program
  National Governors Association Case studies include Promoting Energy Efficiency through Improved Building Data and Employee Education (Delaware) and Improving Compliance with Building Energy Codes - Inspector Training (North Carolina)

Alternative Energy

• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  U.S. Department of Energy
• DOE Green Energy Knowledge Base
  Keyword searchable database of US Department of energy articles and reports on green energy

Flexible Workplaces, Schedules, Commuting

• Telework
  • Telework.gov
    U.S. Office of Personnel Management - federal government telecommuting
  • Telework Programs: Implementing Commuter Benefits as One of the Nation’s Best Workplaces for Commuters
    U.S. EPA
  • How To Go Green: Work From Home
    Planet Green
• Compressed Work Weeks
  • Workplace Flexibility 2010
    Georgetown Law School
     
  • Handbook on Alternative Work Schedules
    U.S. Office of Personnel Management
• Commuting to Work
  • Best Workplaces for Commuters
    Guide to Green Commuting Benefit Programs (Also see green contract language)

Green Purchasing

• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
• Database of Environmental Information for Products and Services
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• NASPO Green Purchasing Guide
  National Association of State Procurement Officers
• Writing a Green Purchasing Policy
  University of Louisville. This PowerPoint presentation contains the University of Louisville's policy and links to the green purchasing policies of many other colleges and universities.
• Reponsible Purchasing Network
  A program of the Center for a New American Dream, RPN offers responsible purchasing guides on a wide variety of products that are free for members and available for purchase by nonmembers. A few of the guides are available to the general public with free registration.

Vehicle Selection and Use

• Clean Cities: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  U.S. Department of Energy