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
Explore sustainability in practice in this narrated virtual tour of sites across Cornell Botanic Gardens and the Cornell campus.
This pollinator pathway was developed by four Cornell undergraduates to address pollinator decline in the Ithaca community.
Designed to replace conventional lawn with native low-growing grasses, which only require mowing once or twice per year.
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.
Minimize the use of chemical pesticides.
We make every effort to conserve energy, water, and other resources.
As a botanic garden, conserving plant diversity is key to our mission.
We exchange ideas with Cornell faculty, staff, and students to test and develop innovative sustainable practices and share them with our visitors and community.