Eastern Washington U Celebrates Earth Day with Recycling Center Ribbon Cutting
The new 6,964 square foot facility supports the university's ongoing commitment to sustainability and was designed to efficiently process the 331 tons of material handled each year. A new materials compactor/baler and electronic truck scale was installed. The center is also the new home for EWU Surplus Sales, which promotes the re-use of items no longer needed by the university.
Skidmore College Cuts Ribbon at Historical Micro-Hydro Facility
The college's most recent renewable energy project is a historical micro-hydro facility built in the early 1800s along an existing fault line at Chittenden Falls, NY. This facility produces bout 18 percent of the college's electricity needs, and will serve as an academic classroom. Photo Credit: Patrick Cashin
Morehead State U Receives $18K Grant for Bicycle Safety
The university recently received an $18,921 grant from the Kentucky Bicycle and Bikeway Commission to inform and educate citizens of Morehead and the campus community about bicycle and pedestrian safety through the development of educational programs. The grant activities include the establishment of bike lanes. Editorial Photo Credit: Lilyana Vynogradova / Shutterstock.com
Morehead State U Earns Tree Campus USA Designation
The university was recently honored with 2014 Tree Campus USA recognition by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective urban forest management. The dedication celebration included a tree walk, tree planting, and a chalk it up event where students wrote and created art about what benefits trees provide.
Morehead State U Hosts Community Earth Day Festival
The university's Sustainability Committee hosted a Community Earth Day Festival at the city park that included local food and craft vendors. The purpose of the festival was to bring awareness to the community of environmental & sustainability issues in the community. Information on local watershed protection programs, bicycle safety, local food, and energy conservation were provided.
NY Recycling Association Announces College Grant Recipients
Three New York colleges will be receiving grants to fund innovative environmental projects as part of the recently completed spring round of the College Council Grant Program conducted by the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling (NYSAR3). The schools receiving grants are the University at Albany, Sullivan Community College, and Stony Brook University.
U California Irvine Student Uses Art to Inspire Climate Activism
In art student Kathleen Deck's "Conservation Through Creation” art installation, a section of lawn won’t be watered for a month. The idea is to return an artificial environment to its natural state, and start a discussion about how the changing climate can affect water use and the fragile environment that people have created. Deck is one of 37 UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellows.
Indiana U Campuses Work to Achieve Sustainability Goals
For the past six years, the university has worked to make sustainability a priority, launching a number of initiatives and setting it as a core value in its Bicentennial Strategic Plan. With more than 240 paid interns to date, the Sustainability Office has been the hub for a number of initiatives on the Bloomington campus.
Indiana U Participates in Campus Kitchen Project
In January 2014, students and staff at IUPUI participated in the Campus Kitchen Project's first-ever video competition and won $5,000 to start a food recovery and redistribution operation. Since then, they've coordinated with dining services, created partnerships with other community organizations, and recruited excited volunteers.
U Virginia Earns Green Ribbon for Sustainability Efforts
U.S. Department of Education recently awarded the university with the department’s Green Ribbon Schools Postsecondary Sustainability Award. The award recognizes institutions that reduce environmental impact and costs, improve the health and wellness of schools, students, and staff, and provide environmental education.
20+ Sustainability Networks Make Progress Toward Creating a Global Alliance
The overarching aim of the Global Alliance is to connect sustainability networks in the tertiary education sector and provide a collective voice to contribute to global developments such as the Paris COP21 taking place in December 2015. AASHE and others represented attendance from global and regional organizations from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America.
U Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Honors Certified Green Office Program Winners
On Earth Day, April 22, 2015, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) announced award winners for its 2014-15 Certified Green Office Program on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Twenty-four participating offices collected hardware for making commitments toward and achieving energy and resource reductions during the school year.
Emory U Program Creates Local Food Accessibility
The university's new Emory Local Roots program launched in 2014 is a student-run initiative that elevates the university community's awareness of the benefits of consuming locally produced foods and making such products easily available to students. Beginning fall semester, students will be able to purchase a range of local produce on campus.
Rice U Prepares for Seventh Year of Farm to Fork Dinner
The upcoming spring 2015’s Farm to Fork Dinner has an expected attendance of over 80 students and discussion leaders now in its seventh year. The university’s Real Food Revolution, an organization which seeks to increase awareness in regards to local foods, is hosting the dinner on April 25.
Central Carolina CC New Farm Manager Driven by Sustainability Goals
As a certified permaculture designer, James Fry has a passion for deliberate ecological design, which integrates human needs with natural systems and cycles. He uses permaculture planning for long-term productivity and functionality with relatively little human intervention, helping reduce dependence on purchased products and making basic human needs more readily available.
Arizona State University Students “Ditch the Dumpster” on Earth Day
Ditch the Dumpster targets diversion and donations to local non-profits. Students can clean out their residence halls and deliver most items to Big Brothers Big Sisters collection boxes. Larger, unwanted items are brought to locations across all four university campuses.
Maharishi U Management Environmental Law Class To Be Taught By Leading Experts
"Making Peace with the Earth," a course on global environmental law and food policy will feature top experts, including Ved Nanda, JD, the director of International Legal Studies at the University of Denver and a leading international law scholar and global activist. Guests include Bill Goldstein, A. Thimmaiah, Vandana Shiva, John Ikerd, John Fagan and more.
U Kentucky Adopts New Sustainability Policy for Campus Landscapes
The university will use the principles and resources developed by the Sustainable SITES Initiative™ as guidelines for integrating the institution’s commitment to sustainability with projects that impact campus landscapes. Contribution to air quality, water filtration and management, wildlife habitats, energy, and human health all define sustainable landscapes through the SITES program.
Maharishi U Management Students Recycle Abandoned Bikes
Over 50 abandoned bikes were recently gathered up by students, with plans to fix them and make them available to students for a very low cost. Leading the repair initiative is work/study student Flo Bannout. If no one reported a missing bike, then Ms. Bannout began fixing it for eventual redistribution to students who need bikes.
Delta College Health Professions Building Earns LEED Gold Certification
Sustainable design and construction strategies that contributed to the project's LEED Gold Certification included recycling 95 percent of the demolition materials, using low-emitting materials and certified wood, ensuring that more than 20 percent of the materials were harvested and manufactured within 500 miles, and incorporating stepped dimming lighting into all the classrooms.
Harvard U Releases University-Wide Sustainability Report
The Harvard Sustainability Report updates the community progress in meeting the goals and priorities that were laid out in the earlier Harvard Sustainability Plan (released in 2014), including acting on climate change, green buildings, sustainable transportation, and human health and well-being.
Emory U Program Partners with Farmworkers to Give Healthcare
A service-learning project that includes more than 200 students, faculty members, and community volunteers, the annual South Georgia Farmworker Health Project clinics use teams of students and faculty from different Emory School of Medicine programs to treat people who have never seen a doctor before, women in labor, and workers with acute illnesses and chronic conditions.
Five Universities Team Up for Conservation Event
The University of Kansas, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, University of Toledo, Pennsylvania State, and the University of Texas at Austin will participate in the second Campus Lights Out event on April 24, 2015. Campus Lights Out is a joint conservation endeavor, combining the efforts of each university’s conservation program in order to save energy and resources.
EPA Visits Emory U Water Reclamation Facility
Gina McCarthy, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, visited the facility in February, and was particularly interested in the facility's application for agricultural water needs, and Emory’s agreement with the county, which stands to benefit from the increase in available potable water and from the significant reduction in wastewater flowing to its treatment facilities.
Emory U Initiates Global Response to Climate Change
Climate@Emory is an initiative of more than 50 faculty and staff from 20 departments across the university. Its goal is to harness Emory's strengths to help it play a leading role in the global response to climate change. Since its launch last fall, the initiative has worked to support, connect and expand Emory's climate-related scholarship, teaching and community engagement.
Manhattan College Students Find Green Solutions for Earth Day
Students enrolled in the college's newly launched Environmental Science program will take a new approach to their studies by learning how to convert discarded eggshells into biodiesel fuel, among other eco-friendly skills, with a series of events for Earth Day.
U Maryland Diverts 89 Percent of Waste from Landfills
The university's Facilities Management Solid Waste and Recycling Unit recently confirmed the university has achieved an 89 percent institutional diversion rate in 2014. The rate increased by more than 10 percent from 2013. The institutional diversion rate reflects all materials the university diverted from landfills, including construction and demolition waste.
Harvard U Offers a Guided Meditation Hotline
The university's new hotline is one of several ways the university supports its mindfulness meditation program, which is just one of many programs designed to promote employee health and well-being, one of the pillars of the school’s sustainability plan.
Michigan State U to Stop Burning Coal
In a move that will reduce emissions at its T.B. Simon Power Plant and significantly advance its Energy Transition Plan, the university is taking steps to stop burning coal by the end of 2016, with a majority of coal purchasing and burning ending in 2015.
Emory U Seeks to Map Sustainability Community
Emory's students, faculty and staff who are actively involved in sustainability are contributing to a mapping project to visualize the university's sustainability community in an effort to understand who is actively engaged in sustainability on campus, the type of work they do, and to what extent these individuals and groups collaborate.
Emory U Enhances Student Experience Through Water Reclamation Facility
The university's water reclamation plant is the newest facility being used to enhance student learning and the student experience as interdisciplinary interest surges around the center, allowing faculty members to integrate its resources into undergraduate and graduate classes and research.
Local Food Connects U Kentucky Campus to the Commonwealth
University Dining partners with local farmers and producers to deliver that fresh, home-grown experience to a campus with more than 30,000 students and 14,000 employees. As the university and Aramark forged a 15-year, $245 million partnership last year to transform dining services, the opportunity to support Kentucky farmers and processors expanded.
MIT Hosts Fossil Fuel Divestment Debate [Video]
The MIT Climate Change Conversation explored whether MIT should divest its endowment as part of its response to climate change. Six prominent voices in the dialogue on climate change and energy were staged as two teams that present PRO-divestment and AGAINST-divestment arguments in a classic debate format moderated by Tony Cortese, principal of Intentional Endowments Network.
Furman U Celebrates STARS Rating With Gold Star Cake
On confirmation of an AASHE STARS gold rating, Furman celebrated with a dessert event on March 24th. Part of Earth Week programming, student assessment fellows offered remarks and presented a gold, star-shaped cake to President Elizabeth Davis. The event was was part of a campus-wide campaign to thank data contributors and educate campus about STARS-related successes and opportunities.
Rochester Institute of Tech Reduces Waste & Helps Hungry
The university's new program is an effort to alleviate student hunger and food insecurity and maximize sustainably efforts on campus. RIT FoodShare is about sharing what we have with those around us, building community, and enhancing sustainability. It aims to make the most of our pooled resources so that nothing goes to waste and students do not go hungry.
U Calgary Partners on Wastewater Research Facility
For the first time, university researchers are working with municipal operators to advance wastewater treatment technologies and knowledge that will lead to cleaner water, a better protected ecosystem and improved public health. The $38.5 million wastewater facility is a fully-integrated university research facility located within an operating industrial wastewater treatment plant.
U California Santa Barbara Goes Lights Out
Spurred on by the slogan "Gauchos Do It in the Dark," the residents of eight dorms at the Santa Barbara campus cut their electricity use by nearly 8 percent during a Feb. 16-March 8 competition, inching ahead of other University of California undergraduate campuses.
Central New Mexico CC Produces Film About Mt. Trashmore & RecycleMania
The college's Media Production team produced a short film highlighting “Mount Trashmore,” the key event during RecycleMania. The event served as an educational activity for students participating in Campus as a Living Lab and Service Learning projects while also emphasizing the college's relationships with community partners.
U Illinois Secures Deal on Recycled Paper
Offices on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus can now buy a ream of 30% recycled paper for less cost than a ream of virgin paper. University Housing, a participant in the new campus Certified Green Office program, is the first customer lining up to take advantage of the newly priced environmental paper option.
Paul Smith's College Students Communicate About Climate Change
A climate communication class recently organized a science, art and music festival, where students developed creative, place-based presentations on climate change in the Adirondacks for influential members of the region who can pass the information along to their constituents.
Stanford U Transitions to Efficient Heat Recovery System
The Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI) system helps the university transition from a 100 percent fossil-fuel-based CHP plant to grid-sourced electricity and a more efficient electric heat recovery system. This system is anticipated to reduce campus emissions approximately 80 percent from current levels and save 15 percent of campus potable water.
Syracuse U Prohibits Direct Fossil Fuel Investment
Syracuse University recently announced that it is formalizing its commitment to prohibit direct investment of endowment funds in coal mining and other fossil fuel companies. The university will also continue to seek additional investments through its endowment in companies that are developing new technology related to solar energy, biofuels and advanced recycling.
U California Merced Develops System to Report Water Leaks
New software developed at UC Merced allows anyone on campus with a smart phone to report water leaks to Facilities in a couple of easy steps. Facilities and Operations in mid-March installed quick-response-code stickers that contain two different QR codes, one for leaky sinks and the other for leaky toilets, individually programmed for each specific restroom.
