The Green Schools Conference & Expo is the sole national event to unite all the players involved in making green schools a reality, while the IMPACT conference is the largest green building conference and expo in the Midwest — and attracts building professionals, sustainability leaders and change makers from across the region.

Zaria Forman documents climate change with powerful pastel drawings. She travels to remote regions of the world to collect images and inspiration for her work, which is exhibited in venues around the world. She has flown with NASA on several Operation IceBridge missions over Antarctica, Greenland and Arctic Canada, inspiring her art.

“Zaria brings a unique expertise in science, sustainability and art to this year’s IMPACT and Green Schools Conference & Expo,” said Sheri Brezinka, regional director at USGBC. “She offers an up-close perspective of the environment in remote places and will underscore the importance of addressing the impacts of climate change, which can be seen in all corners of the world, through the practice of green building.”

Forman’s work has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN and PBS. She has delivered a TEDTalk and has spoken at Amazon, Google and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, exhibited in Banksy’s Dismaland and was the artist-in-residence aboard the National Geographic Explorer in Antarctica. Her works have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, National Geographic, Huffington Post and the Smithsonian Magazine.

“I make drawings of remote landscapes at the forefront of climate change. By sharing the beauty and sublimity of these remote places, I hope to energize viewers to help preserve them,” said Forman. “I am honored, and very much looking forward to sharing my work with a community that is helping to shape and inspire future generations to protect this earth that sustains us all.”

The IMPACT conference unites hundreds of industry leaders, experts and professionals to inspire, connect and advance sustainable building across the Midwest. Industry professionals attending IMPACT have a unique opportunity to enhance their understanding of the K-12 schools sector by also attending GSCE. GSCE is produced in partnership with the Green Schools National Network. As the largest gathering of green schools advocates in the country, GSCE offers an opportunity for attendees to learn creative strategies to support healthy, sustainable schools. The co-location of the two conferences will bring together experts from diverse industries within the green building world for a unique opportunity of collaboration and networking. The GSCE and IMPACT programs are now available online.

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Organized by a diverse group of higher education institutions and the Boston-based nonprofit Second Nature — an organization that works to proactively build a sustainable and positive global future through initiating bold commitments, scaling successful actions, and accelerating innovative solutions among leadership networks in higher education — the letter urges newly elected officials to support participation in the Paris Climate Agreement, climate research and investment in the low carbon economy.

“The upcoming transition of federal leadership presents a unique opportunity to address head-on the challenges of climate change by accelerating the new energy economy and creating strong, resilient communities,” the letter stated. “We are committed to developing and deploying innovative climate solutions that provide a prosperous future for all Americans.”

Institutions involved include New York University, Wheaton College, Central Community College and University of California, Berkeley. All expressed their alignment with the business and investment communities in supporting the science-based targets outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement. Many of the institutions have been tackling climate action on their own campuses for years, voluntarily setting carbon neutrality goals and publicly reporting progress through a program called the Climate Leadership Commitments, according to a statement from Second Nature.

“Climate change cannot be reversed by a single institution nor a single country,” said Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of the State University of New York system, in the statement. “A collective intervention in the multitude of factors that impact climate change is necessary for success.”

Zimpher added that all of higher education must be a driving force in the continued examination of climate change and the development of opportunities to assure a cleaner more secure planet for future generations.

Second Nature also instituted the Climate Leadership Commitments program that includes a Carbon Commitment (focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions), a Resilience Commitment (focused on climate adaptation and building community capacity) and a Climate Commitment that integrates both. The Climate Leadership Network comprises more than 600 colleges and universities in every state and the District of Columbia that have committed to take action on climate issues and prepare students through research and education to solve the challenges of the 21st century.

A full list of the schools supporting the open letter can be found at: secondnature.org/higher-education-climate-action-letter

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