Lincoln Children’s Museum is the oldest “Green” building in the downtown area

The Lincoln Children’s Museum (LCM) is much more than a popular tourist attraction… It’s actually a pioneer when it comes to preserving the environment.

Back in 2000, the LCM relocated to downtown.

But the location wasn’t the only thing they wanted to change.

They wanted to make their new home as environmentally friendly as possible, and started working toward becoming the very first "green" building in the area.

"We really understood that if we wanted to be here for families for the long term then we really needed to think about how we are going to keep the planet around long term and how we are going to be the most responsible people in our community," said Marissa Gill Keyzer, Director of Marketing at the LCM.

So what exactly is a "green" building?

In the case of the children’s museum, some of the features include: tinted windows, automated heating systems, motion sensors for lights and water and even installing LED lights to be as efficient as possible.

"We try to make little efforts whenever we can just to reduce our footprint so we will continue doing that long after earth day and all throughout the year and continuing on for as long as this building is here," said Keyzer.

The museum uses a lot of recycled materials for arts and crafts. They have bins filled with paper rolls, water bottles and plastics of all kinds that will be re–used.

The 23,000 square foot building is a hot spot for young children, so the staff say it only makes sense to try to teach them a few healthy habits too.

"We do a lot with recycling. We have grants with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality that do special events where we are teaching kids about recycling and re–using so we really take it to heart that it is so important," said Keyzer.

"If they develop that habit as a kid they are going to keep it all through their adulthood."

In addition to being proactive about recycling and saving energy whenever possible the museum also tries it’s best to re–use the old and resist buying new materials.

"We do a lot to re purpose materials so rather than buying new wood or new things when we are building new exhibits we do a lot of using what we already have around. We really try to recycle as much as possible," said Keyzer.

Even though earth day is only once a year, the museum wants to be a role model for the forward thinking businesses of the future..