{"id":97566,"date":"2021-04-13T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-470055"},"modified":"2023-07-26T16:07:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T20:07:03","slug":"green-hearts-not-green-thumbs-malene-mcelroy-nasa-marshall-sustainability-coordinator-promotes-environmental-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/green-hearts-not-green-thumbs-malene-mcelroy-nasa-marshall-sustainability-coordinator-promotes-environmental-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Hearts, Not Green Thumbs: Malene McElroy, NASA Marshall Sustainability Coordinator, Promotes Environmental Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With spring in the air and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earthday.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Earth Day<\/a> fast approaching, Malene McElroy, sustainability coordinator in the Environmental Engineering & Occupational Health Office at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, says it doesn\u2019t take a green thumb to promote environmental awareness in the workplace and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou just need a green heart,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1567\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Malene McElroy, Marshall\u2019s sustainability coordinator and Environmental Management System coordinator. \" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg 4288w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=300,229 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=768,587 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=1024,783 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=1536,1175 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=2048,1567 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=400,306 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=600,459 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=900,688 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=1200,918 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?resize=2000,1530 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Malene McElroy, Marshall\u2019s sustainability coordinator and Environmental Management System coordinator.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\"><strong><em>NASA\/Emmett Given<\/em><\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>This Earth Day, McElroy is challenging colleagues to answer the call, \u201cRestore Our Earth: What Can YOU Do?\u201d \u2013 and NASA is gearing up to do more than ever before. In February, NASA named Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-announces-new-role-of-senior-climate-advisor\" rel=\"noopener\">the new post of acting senior climate advisor<\/a> and will work closely with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Management and Budget. In March the agency officially joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-joins-white-house-national-climate-task-force\" rel=\"noopener\">the newly formed White House National Climate Task Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As spring blooms and COVID-19 quarantine restrictions tentatively begin to ease, McElroy and her \u201cgreen team\u201d \u2013 environmental engineers, scientists, and other specialists from across Marshall \u2013 are encouraging team members and their families to spend more time outside, while continuing to practice social distancing and other safety tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEarth Day offers a perfect opportunity to briefly step away from our technology-driven lives and reconnect with our favorite green places, to reflect on the world we share and what we need to do to better care for it, and for one another, in light of our changing climate,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a pivotal moment for NASA, for the nation, and for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As sustainability coordinator, McElroy works closely with Bill Marks, Marshall\u2019s acting sustainability officer, and Rhonda Truitt, Marshall\u2019s energy and water conservation manager, to implement federal guidelines on cost-saving energy and water conservation efforts. She also serves as coordinator for Marshall\u2019s Environmental Management System, working to boost the center\u2019s environmental program by educating the workforce on environmental requirements and emerging sustainability opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marks and McElroy work closely with Denise Thaller, director of NASA\u2019s Environmental Management Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, with their U.S. Army counterparts and civilian contractors across Redstone Arsenal and at NASA\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under McElroy\u2019s leadership, the green team produces a quarterly newsletter to keep the Marshall workforce updated on new federal regulations and NASA green campaigns, and to promote water, power, and fuel conservation in creative and engaging ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s been a dramatic, positive culture shift in our approach to environmental management over the past 20 years,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom turning off lights and computers in our offices and practicing more thoughtful water conservation tactics, to adopting new, fuel-efficient vehicles and more environmentally friendly building materials and manufacturing techniques, we\u2019ve made a lot of progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that was the easy part, she said. \u201cNow it\u2019s time to tackle the big projects, reducing our carbon footprint and eliminating hazardous and solid wastes altogether, if we can, fundamentally changing the way we live and work on the planet in order to sustain it for generations to come,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally hailing from the San Jose, California, area, McElroy earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2000 and a master\u2019s degree in environmental engineering from Rice University in Houston in 2002. Before she joined NASA full-time in 2013, she was a CH2M HILL contractor supporting Marshall\u2019s Environmental Engineering and Occupational Health Office for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She spent much of her early career at Marshall refining her expertise in stormwater and wastewater management \u2013 which involved a lot of splashing through streams and marshes, scrutinizing the health of nearby plant and aquatic animal life. Over the years, she enthusiastically pursued a broader green reach: helping launch Marshall\u2019s single-stream recycling program, reviewing facility designs and leading building inspections, and managing the center\u2019s chemical bar-coding program to safeguard chemical supplies for research and testing purposes. She even led site cleanup actions at Michoud from 2016-2019, shuttling back and forth to Louisiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a city girl, at heart, but I never minded getting my hands dirty,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve always enjoyed having a chance to positively affect the environment, to restore or maintain natural places and improve a piece of the physical world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From 2013-2016, she took that role a step further, teaching environmental regulations at the University of North Alabama in Florence. There, she acquainted engineering and industrial hygienist students with U.S. environmental laws, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sdwa\" rel=\"noopener\">Safe Drinking Water Act<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/laws-regulations\/summary-clean-water-act\" rel=\"noopener\">Clean Water Act<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/laws-regulations\/summary-clean-air-act\" rel=\"noopener\">Clean Air Act<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTeaching was a great experience \u2013 not just reviewing the law, but actively discussing it with students, debating how laws are passed and applied in real life,\u201d she said. She wouldn\u2019t mind returning to teaching when she retires from federal service, she said \u2013 wading back into the learning stream, still doing her part to make the world better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McElroy and her husband, Sam, who founded and runs a Huntsville-area engineering firm, live in Harvest, Alabama, with their three daughters. They\u2019re active in their church and do regular volunteer work in the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With spring in the air and Earth Day fast approaching, Malene McElroy, sustainability coordinator in the Environmental Engineering & Occupational Health Office at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, says it doesn\u2019t take a green thumb to promote environmental awareness in the workplace and at home. \u201cYou just need a green heart,\u201d she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":106114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11357,2864,2884],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Green Hearts, Not Green Thumbs: Malene McElroy, NASA Marshall Sustainability Coordinator, Promotes Environmental Action","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/green-hearts-not-green-thumbs-malene-mcelroy-nasa-marshall-sustainability-coordinator-promotes-environmental-action\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/green-hearts-not-green-thumbs-malene-mcelroy-nasa-marshall-sustainability-coordinator-promotes-environmental-action\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg"},"articleSection":"Earth","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lee Mohon"}],"creator":["Lee Mohon"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["People of NASA","Women at NASA","Earth Day","Marshall Space Flight Center"],"dateCreated":"2021-04-13T16:00:00Z","datePublished":"2021-04-13T16:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-07-26T20:07:03Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"Green Hearts, Not Green Thumbs: Malene McElroy, NASA Marshall Sustainability Coordinator, Promotes Environmental Action\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/marshall\/green-hearts-not-green-thumbs-malene-mcelroy-nasa-marshall-sustainability-coordinator-promotes-environmental-action\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2021-04-13T16:00:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Earth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"People of NASA,Women at NASA,Earth Day,Marshall Space Flight Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Lee Mohon\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"3 years","featured_image":{"id":106114,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/dsc_2195-100.jpg","title":"dsc_2195-100","alt":"Malene McElroy, Marshall\u2019s sustainability coordinator and Environmental Management System coordinator.","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317488,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97566\/revisions\/317488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97566"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=97566"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=97566"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=97566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}