DK GreenRoots

In Sayerville, NJ, the doors of the Center for Lifelong Learning recently opened. It's a school that can serve up to 175 students with autism and related disorders, providing education and training for many life skills which are taken for granted by neurotypicals.

Here's the kicker.

The facility, designed by USA Architects, is one of the first public school buildings in the state to be built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, and could become the first to be certified LEED Platinum. This is due largely to its all-natural building materials and its use of green power.

About 94 percent of the materials used to build the facility are recyclable, and all the materials were purchased within a 500-mile radius, many of which were harvested specifically for the project, according to MRESC Superintendent Mark Finkelstein. There are also geothermal wells under the building that catch nearly 75 percent of the rainfall to be recycled and reused.

In terms of subject matter that personally drives me, environmental issues and autism are at the top of my list and I'm personally invested in each. Both fall squarely under the classification of crisis in virtually every sense of the word. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you probably need no convincing of the very real environmental crisis at hand. As for autism, latest figures show 1 in 91 to 1 in 100 American children ages 3-17 have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, the collective cost is $60 billion per year, the estimated collective cost ten years from now is $200 - $400 billion, and the current yearly cost for each directly affected family is $6,200.

This is why I am heartened by the school's dual-solution approach, which has the opportunity to be felt for multiple generations. It serves numerous school districts in and around Jersey's Middlesex County, providing standard educational fare along with life-skills that are commonly taken for granted. There is a nature trail, an aquatic center for water therapy, a greenhouse for vegetables and herbs and needed therapies on-site.

Meanwhile, another set of valuable lessons are built in, both literally and figuratively, as the center was recently named to the EPA's first ever Green Power Partnership list of top 20 green schools for K-12, noting 100% usage of green power.

“Our green powered schools are giving kids a brighter future in more ways than one. They’re leading the way in protecting our health and environment, and moving the country into the clean energy economy of the 21st century,” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement. “This is a great lesson on how we reduce harmful pollution in our skies and get America running on clean energy.”

That which a child is exposed to on a daily basis becomes their norm, for better or worse. This is an opportunity for the former.