LEEDing in Green Design

With thoughtful planning, design, and construction, the Nevin Welcome Center was built to minimize its environmental impact and was awarded the GOLD level of certification by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Around the Welcome Center and throughout our grounds, we employ green infrastructure—a practice of integrating natural systems into the built environment.

More about our green building and infrastructure

Featured Sustainability Efforts

Tour

Sustainable Landscapes Trail

Explore sustainability in practice in this narrated virtual tour of sites across Cornell Botanic Gardens and the Cornell campus.

Botanic Buzzline

This pollinator pathway was developed by four Cornell undergraduates to address pollinator decline in the Ithaca community.

Native Lawn Demonstration Area

Designed to replace conventional lawn with native low-growing grasses, which only require mowing once or twice per year.

Sustainability at Home

Throughout Cornell Botanic Gardens, we demonstrate sustainable landscape practices “from the ground up”—from amending your soil, to producing mulch, to choosing plants and conserving rainwater.

Tips from the Ground up

Sustainability at Cornell Botanic Gardens

Practice Integrated Pest Management

Minimize the use of chemical pesticides.

Energy and Resource Conservation

We make every effort to conserve energy, water, and other resources.

Plant Conservation

As a botanic garden, conserving plant diversity is key to our mission.

Collaboration

We exchange ideas with Cornell faculty, staff, and students to test and develop innovative sustainable practices and share them with our visitors and community.

Learn more