Embassy Madrid kicks off Earth Day week by planting community garden

See the Efe video report.
Read a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama.
See our photos of the launch event.

The Embassy kicked off Earth Day week by inaugurating an Embassy organic garden that will become a vital, active part of our embassy community and outreach to the Spanish community.

Our garden will be living proof of that key environmental message “Waste not, want not” with a composting system to create our own soil from organic waste and shredded paper, as well as a rain catchment system to use run-off water from the roofs.

We are also starting a number of new green initiatives including embassy-wide recycling, a water reduction program in bathrooms, commuter “incentives” including showers for bicyclists and special carpooler parking, LES teleworking, and a green “Pledge” to reduce residential energy use.

Greening the Embassy can save money and resources, demonstrate USG environmental commitment, provide an opportunity to educate the Embassy community and our interlocutors, and showcase U.S. products and technologies. But the real key to these new initiatives is that they involve the Embassy community. They are not passive systems that simply happen: they are activities that require engagement by all of us who are part of the community. Embassy Madrid is committed to continuing to look at ways to work together to improve our environment.