REALTORS® support sustainable schoolyards

An invitation to all Spokane educators and families: If travel takes you to our nation’s capital this year, members of the Spokane Association of REALTORS® invite you to a wonderful interactive REALTOR®-sponsored learning experience on display now through Oct. 3 in Washington, D.C.

In recognition of the importance of environmental issues in our global community, the National Association of REALTORS® is a sponsor of the Sustainable Schoolyard display at the U.S. Botanic Garden’s “One Planet — Ours” exhibit, in collaboration with members of the Smart Growth Network. This outdoor learning environment demonstrates how schoolyards can be used for education as well as recreation.

“REALTORS® build communities, and supporting education is an important part of that,” says NAR President Dick Gaylord. “The Botanic Garden’s Sustainable Schoolyard illustrates outdoor classroom concepts, ecological teaching tools and creative play ideas that can be easily replicated in any schoolyard in America.”

The focus of the NAR-sponsored learning activity is “From Schoolyards to Livable, Active and Green Communities.” You may view an NBC video feature on the exhibit at http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=265906

The colorful display features a kid-friendly walkway surrounded by vegetable plants known as an “Edible Garden.” The exhibit features a solar-powered fountain in a pond that uses the sun’s energy to circulate the pond water, helping the fish breathe and making it difficult for mosquitoes to lay eggs. The Schoolhouse Rooftop is designed to channel rain water to a nearby barrel, where the water is stored for later use in the garden to give plants the moisture they need to grow. Read more here: www.usbg.gov/education/events/upload/award_6_sustainable_sy.pdf

Local school districts may be interested in ways in which a typical elementary school can use its schoolyard as an outdoor classroom that can serve virtually any subject and educate students in nutrition, healthy living and community building. Visitors can also learn about the principles of ecological design, interconnected natural systems, natural and recycled building materials, renewable energy systems and local wildlife habitats. The exhibit is open and free to the public through Oct. 13 at 100 Maryland Avenue, SW in Washington, D.C. View complete exhibit information here: www.usbg.gov/education/events/One-Planet-Ours.cfm

For more info on the sustainable schoolyard concept: http://www.sustainableschoolyard.org/sustainable-schoolyard-exhibit.html

The National Association of REALTORS®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.