Comprehensive Sustainability Report Available Here
Did you know Treehouse Learning is a member of of both the Louisville and Colorado Green Business programs? As early childhood educators, we seek to build sustainable and resilient communities and world. In fact, Maria Montessori’s concept of “Cosmic Education” is what we’re all about!
At Treehouse Learning, environmental literacy and ecological stewardship is integrated into our curriculum, business practices, and community relationships. Our building and program infrastructure and programs include solar-generated electricity, energy efficiency upgrades, water-conserving landscapes, pollinator-friendly habitat creation, emissions reduction and carbon sequestration through soil and tree planting, waste-diversion initiatives through purchasing, composting, recycling and ecobricking single-use plastic, food-to-table gardening program, in-house nutritional program, in-classroom composting and recycling, hosting community educational outreach, and direct classroom learning experiences for children.
Our innovative projects and sustainability initiatives all reflect our program values and are designed to reach across multiple impact areas simultaneously, in order to create enduring sustainable systems and business processes. As an early childhood education center, we are more than just a “green business” and we were literally and figuratively created as a “green business” before the concept even existed! Because we care for children, we also care for the planet. We have designed our sustainability practices around the foundation of integrating environmental stewardship and ecological literacy into all aspects of our business, including empowering our children to develop lifelong patterns of caring for our planet.
Inspired by our name and logo, the relationship between the indoors and outdoors has always been at the heart of Treehouse Learning’s vision, mission, and values. In fact, our sustainable business practices are simply an embodiment and extension of what we believe and do at Treehouse Learning every day through relationships, engagement and exploration in a prepared environment (we refer to the environment as the “third teacher”)!
2023 Calendar Year Sustainability & Resiliency Impact & Updates- Overview Summary
In 2023 Treehouse Learning made substantial progress on our targeted impact areas of: carbon emissions and sequestration, water conservation and sustainable landscaping, energy efficiencies, waste diversion/ zero-waste, social policy and leadership, and community education and engagement.
Each of our integrated projects from the past year benefits children, program, business, community and planet and touches multiple impact areas, as well as working towards our company goals as a Green Business.
The detailed and comprehensive report can be found here.
2023 Key Stats for Sustainability Projects:
- Water Use Reduction: 28,278 gallons of water saved per irrigation season
- Metric Tons of Carbon offset through outdoor environmental projects: 12.167 tons C02
- Energy efficiency upgrades through LED Lights: 13,383 kWH saved annually
- Solar energy production: 65,261 kWH of electricity produced onsite
- C02 Emissions saved through solar production: 441,467 lbs C02 since 2020
- New trees planted: 13
- New low-water, pollinator-friendly plant species introduced: 26
- Environmental educational outreach workshops for children: 16
- Single-use plastic sequestered in ecobricks: 60 lbs plastic
Objectives as a Colorado Green Business and Early Childhood Education Center:
- Improved business practices that reducing emissions, program expenses, and environmental harm
- Ensuring a resilient building, processes, and systems
- Creating sustainable, resilient infrastructure and key business practices
- Benefit our local community of Louisville/Lafayette, Lafayette, Colorado, our country, continent, the world, and humanity
- Integrate our program philosophy and pedagogy into sustainable business practices
- Support our mission to help children thrive, and ensuring that the planet, and everything an everyone in it, also thrives
- Directly support community-led climate action to build absorbent soil and landscapes that sequester carbon, create connected tree canopies, plant pollinator habitat, and steward wildlife
- Empower children with the knowledges, skills, experience, and desire to intentionally create a positive impact on our surroundings, both near and far, present and future, through ecological stewardship and environmental literacy
- Serve as a model and leader in sustainable business practices in the Early Childcare Industry, the cities of Louisville and Lafayette, the state of Colorado, and anyone anywhere else who seeks to emulate any of our practices on behalf of a net positive benefit for the world
