I got the chance this morning to visit the Gwinnett Environmental Center in Buford.  It is a really cool place to visit.  It offers a variety of opportunities for recreation as well as education… and it is a really nice setting.

The basic function of the center is water education.

• Blue Planet theater… two multi-media screens and a waterfall screen.  The waterfall screen also turns into a rock screen.
• The Water Room… My son’s favorite.  It offers kids (like me!) the opportunity to play with various water tools while learning about the power of water, as well as how water is treated and how to save water.
• There is a history of water in Gwinnett County and the Southeast, relating how culture reflected the waters.

The actual building in which the center is housed is also pretty impressive from a green perspective.

• It is the first Gold Certified Green Building in Gwinnett County.
• It has the largest sloped vegetative roof in the US.  The 40,000 sedum seedlings which helps to reduce the heat island effect, keep the interior cooler in summer and reduce stormwater runoff.
• It uses non-potable water for cooling.  It is pretty cool…
• Pervious (porous) pavement is used to allow water to soak through instead of run off of the paved portions of the parking lot and trails.
• Renewable and recycled materials were used throughout.

There are field study programs for school aged children as well. On the recreational front, the center has several miles of trails in and around it.  They range from easy to strenuous and vary in length from one tenth to 2.4 miles and some are paved.  There are eleven different trails. Visit the website for the Gwinnett Environmental & Heritage Center website.

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