About Urban Green Lab
Urban Green Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that exists to teach communities how to live sustainably in Nashville, TN and its surrounding counties. We organize teams, train them on making sustainable choices, and connect people with services and peers to walk with on their sustainable journey. We envision a Nashville where everyone has access to opportunities for learning about sustainable living.
Educating in places where culture begins
The Classrooms programs train educators and provide confidence, tools, and community to bring a sustainable lens into any classroom.
The Households division creates sustainable living education systems that inspire residents and families to be part of the solution.
The Workplaces branch educates and builds communities and cultures of sustainability in businesses throughout the Nashville area.
Special Initiatives
Our special initiatives are focus areas of sustainability education that Urban Green Lab has chosen to highlight and incorporate throughout the divisions.
The Nashville Environmental Justice Initiative is growing a movement of environmental justice learning that protects Nashville's marginalized communities.
The Nashville Food Waste Initiative develops tools and implements strategies for decreasing food waste and growing sustainable food consumption practices to serve as a model for other cities.
2023 annual report
For more information on our organization, programs, and impact, read our 2023 Annual Report.
EVENTS
Nashville Earth Day Restaurant Challenge
From April 12-20, select Nashville-area restaurants will showcase a prix fixe meal or menu special that incorporates elements of sustainability like organically produced, sustainably recovered, or locally sourced ingredients as part of the Nashville Earth Day Restaurant Challenge.
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2024 Earth Day Events in Nashville
If you’re looking for how to celebrate Earth Month or Earth Day in Nashville, Urban Green Lab has a roundup of different ways to celebrate the beauty of our planet and learn about solutions that make our planet, its people, and their prosperity a top priority.
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Earth Month Coffee Crawl
From April 1-22, Zero Waste Nashville and Urban Green Lab are showcasing sustainable coffee shops across Nashville through the first Earth Month Coffee Crawl! Grab some friends and try out new drinks across the city.
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Tips for Dining Deliberately
As we host the Nashville Earth Day Restaurant Challenge, here are a few tips for dining more deliberately at a restaurant or at home.
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2024 Earth Day Events in Nashville
If you’re looking for how to celebrate Earth Month or Earth Day in Nashville, Urban Green Lab has a roundup of different ways to celebrate the beauty of our planet and learn about solutions that make our planet, its people, and their prosperity a top priority.
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Urban Green Lab Publishes 2023 Annual Report
Urban Green Lab shares the 2023 Annual Report showcasing program achievements and stories from stakeholders
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NPL Becoming an “Urban Green Lab”
Once the NPL Sustainability Committee formed in 2021, we were fortunate to connect with Urban Green Lab (UGL). Through a series of Zoom meetings with the Sustainability Committee, Jackie Goodwin, UGL’s Sustainable Workplaces Manager, oriented our team to the sustainability landscape in Nashville and led us through an assessment so we could see what areas we needed to focus on. In addition, NPL is in the process of joining UGL’s Nashville Sustainability Roundtable, which is “dedicated to guiding workplaces to be more sustainable.
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Environmental experts concerned over construction waste in Nashville
Nashville is known for its constant construction and with that comes a lot of waste. Experts said it’s becoming a problem that is impacting everyone.
In many cases developers and builders are on a deadline. Their goal is to get done and get done as quickly as possible.
But the extra wood, metal and cardboard materials end up in dumpsters, which is impacting the environment which in turns impacts everyone.
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The Green Issue: Environmental Justice Initiative Educates About Environmental Racism
“The environmental sector suffers from an alarming amount of whiteness,” says Patrick King, the sustainability education manager of local nonprofit Urban Green Lab. “There’s a perception that it’s a space only for affluent white folks, when in reality, when you look at the numbers, the overwhelming majority of people who believe in climate change and believe that things have to be done around climate change are Black and brown.”
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