The Top 10 Green Schools in the U.S.: 2005

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4. Blue Ribbon for Secure, Salmon-Safe Surroundings

Raising salmon hatchlings for release in the campus stream is one way Sakai Intermediate's students find their place in the world. From the moment the five-year old school rolls its fifth and sixth graders to campus in buses retrofitted with particulate collectors to capture asthma-inducing small particles from exhaust, the building and teaching staff demonstrate that "the medium is the message." Students gather data on the local birds, test groundwater and study nearby wetlands, which were protected by the architects who used a swale and limited impervious surfaces to prevent silting up the stream. Recycled materials with low-VOC finishes and oversize ducts that reduce mold-growth keep the indoor air fresh without relying on energy-intensive air-conditioning system. Finally, to preserve the area's natural resources, an integrated pest management program eliminated the use of pesticides, helping the school remain "salmon-friendly."

5. Five-star Primer on Elementary Excellence

Going beyond the ABCs of learning to advance the state of sustainable design, the new 800-student Third Creek Elementary School in the growing community of Statesville, North Carolina, strives on two fronts: It lets its students loose to learn from the natural world and heightens the green-ness of its interior space. Moseley Architects of Virginia and North Carolina, acting with Bryna Dunn, director of environmental research and planning, earned a LEED gold certification for this three-year old K-5 school. Builders enhanced the greening with a reflective metal roof, waterless urinals, automatic shut-off faucets, extra insulation and low-E glazing. Native and adaptive plants were set in a pesticide-free, water-efficient landscape that requires no irrigation system. Healthy school lunches are complemented by an exterior where corn grows in the fields and butterflies drop by for a visit.

6. Double Gold Star for Cityside Global Village Venture

Hands at work and minds in thought mix in the multi-faceted ll0-year-old Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. Here, students alternate shop learning with classroom ABCs and incorporate the hands-on studies into the efficient use and re-cycling of materials. Eschewing the sight blight and cookie-cutter architecture of conventional class buildings, the independent school dug deep to fit new needs on a tight site in an eco-minded environment. Solar panels atop green roofs that insulate and reduce runoff add to the energy efficiency, while the school has commissioned windmills to provide power and heighten the use of natural energy. Green cleaners are essential to its ecological interior and recycling was de rigueur in the design by Dwight Long for Pfau Architecture of San Francisco. Large windows and airy interior walkways create what the San Francisco Chronicle called an "intricate collision of classrooms and clearings [that] makes everything come alive." Even school lunches live, it seems, with a vegetarian option, and Lick-Wilmerding was the nation's first high school to have a compost program for lunch remains. An underground energy-saving shop space insulated by the earth and sustainable materials like natural linoleum flooring and recycled carpet tiles fulfills headmaster Al Adams' aspirations to continue the progressive school's vintage green tradition on its city block.