About us. Who we are.

The GSA was inspired by ONE little boy wanted to celebrate Earth Day in his first grade class, and ONE mother wanted to make EVERY day Earth Day for him.

First envisioned on World Environment Day, June 5, 2007, the GSA was created in response to Mayor Bloomberg’s challenge to New York City institutions to reduce their carbon footprint 30% by 2030. On October 11, 2007, hosted by the Allen-Stevenson School, forty six schools gathered to explore Climate Change and What Schools Can So About It. The Green Schools Climate Commitment was first introduced and, with support from The Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Business Officers Association (NBOA), and other national, state and local resource partners, the GSA was launched.

The GSA is a program of GEO: Global Environmental Options, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in 1994 as an outgrowth of the “Greening of the White House” initiative, the first major gathering of the green building community around one project. The GSA has been incorporated by GSA’s legal council, Cravath, Swaine and Moore, and is in the process of applying for independent non-profit status.