Portland State U Conducts Waste Audit to Boost Diversion Efforts
With the goal of providing recommendations for improving waste diversion and reduction efforts on campus, university staff sorted through 690 pounds of campus garbage to find out what portion of materials could have been diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting, or avoided altogether by using durable goods. Recommendations to lower the percentage of materials that could have been composted (35 percent) and recycled (13 percent) include increased collection and education, enhanced recycling infrastructure and signage, and replacing restroom paper towels with efficient air hand driers.
San Francisco State U to End Coal Investments
The foundation of San Francisco State University has agreed to not invest in companies "with significant production or use of coal and tar sands." The foundation will also seek to limit investments in fossil fuel companies.
Teens Turning Green Launches Freshman Awareness Campaign
The youth-led nonprofit's newest initiative, Freshman Green 15 (FG15), will launch on campuses nationwide in the fall for implementation during their orientation weeks. Student leaders at campuses including Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, University of Delaware, University of Southern Mississippi and the University of North Texas will help pilot the campaign, which is focused on raising awareness about conscious living, mindful consumption and the collective impact of individual actions.
'This American Life' Features Campus Fossil Fuel Divestment
In the six months since 350.org founder Bill McKibben's fossil fuel divestment campaign tour, "divestment campaigns have sprung up on over 300 campuses, five small schools have divested...but calling around to student organizers I found that at most schools they are still in the very early stages, way too early to show results." The episode highlights one student's experience with trying to get her campus to divest from fossil fuels.
U Calgary Researchers Study Climate Change in Cold Regions
Funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's new Climate Change and Atmospheric Research initiative, four researchers at the university will receive $418,100 over five years to explore the impact of climate change on the water cycle and ecosystems of cold regions. With the goal of gaining information and tools for water resources managers, the team will study the contributions of glacier meltwater to Alberta's rivers and how this runoff is likely to change in light of glacier retreat in the Canadian Rockies.
UC Santa Cruz, City Partner to Reduce Move Out Waste
The university and the City of Santa Cruz are working with local charity organizations to provide free pick-up of bulky Items, clothing, e-waste, books and furniture from off-campus student residences as they move out for the summer. The first 100 student houses to sign up receive free pizza coupons.
UC Santa Cruz Students Help City Meet Climate Action Goals
The Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service Bicycle Transit Planning Team has identified high priority resolutions to unsafe bicycling areas in the City of Santa Cruz including the addition of more lighting, improving streets as a bicycle boulevards and intersection improvements. The study aimed to help the City achieve its biking and carbon emission goals by 2020.
U Florida Debuts 251 kW Solar Installation
The new installation helps power a university apartment community of graduate students, faculty and staff while providing shade to the community's parking lot. The Gainesville Regional Utility will purchase the energy produced by this solar project.
U Mass Boston Awarded $200K for Biomimicry Work in Urban Systems
Anamarija Frankic, director of the Green Harbors Project at the university, has received a $100,000 grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation to establish LivingLabs in Dorchester, Mass. and another $100,000 from the Cape Cod Commission to continue the work of LivingLabs in Wellfleet, Mass. The recently completed pilot LivingLabs project on Nantucket Island included a cohort of 16 students that lived and worked on the island while developing and implementing holistic solutions to environmental issues at local levels.
U Oregon, Local Schools Team Up to Reduce Move Out Waste
Area high school students received an hourly credit to "buy" any items they were interested in for helping collect and remove the items left behind as University of Oregon students recently moved out of residence halls. Items not "bought" by the high school students were donated to the Springfield Public Schools Family Resource Centers.
USA Today: Students Increasingly Searching out Local Food Sources
With a steady increase in farmers markets across the nation - 4,685 in 2008 to 7,864 in 2012 - USA Today reports a trend among college students to find out how their food is is grown, raised and processed. "My students increasingly are really thinking about the environmental consequences of the food we eat," says Laurie Thorp, program director of Michigan State University's Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment, in the article. "They understand that climate change is real, and that agriculture contributes to that."
AASHE Names Wendy W. Scott, CAE as Interim Executive Director
With more than 30 years combined experience as an executive director and advisor to international, North American, and state-level associations, Wendy will be instrumental in moving AASHE forward to reaching goals related to member and partner services, leadership and governance, financial sustainability and organizational development.
Appalachian State U Announces Sustainable Arts Grantees
Chosen by the university's Sustainability Council, the 2013 winning proposals from students, faculty and community members include a permanent campus labyrinth and meditation installation, photography contest in conjunction with a local farm tour, theater performance about environmental awareness, and an arts festival during local International Day of Peace activities.
Community Protests Closure of U Windsor Social Justice Center
A rally was held last week on campus to urge university administrators to reconsider their decision to close the Centre for Studies in Social Justice in July for financial reasons. Created in 2002, the center provides a forum for information and exchange of research on social justice issues including racism, poverty, gender inequality, sexuality, literacy, cultural challenges and the global economy.
Hartwick College Increases Recycling Efforts
Student leaders, staff, faculty and administrators are collaborating to raise awareness and improve recycling rates on campus with projects including the installation of clear, consistent recycling labeling; the addition of new recycling bins throughout campus; and Zero-Sort Recycling program outreach.
Kennesaw State U Launches Culinary Sustainability Degree
With this new bachelor's degree, students will examine food waste reduction, waste stream redesign and energy reduction through lighting and cooking equipment choices. The goal is to begin the new culinary program with 150 students this fall and grow to 400 students in four years.
Portland State U Studies Public Perception of e-Bikes
University researchers are loaning out locally made, GPS-equipped electric-assist bikes (e-bikes) to 120 people to learn about their actual experience using the bikes. The research will help determine whether e-bikes can increase cycling as a transportation option, particularly among women, older adults and people with physical limitations.
Second Nature Recognizes 10 Institutions for Climate Leadership
Presented annually to signatory institutions of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), the Climate Leadership Award celebrates schools that demonstrate innovative and advanced leadership in education for sustainability and climate mitigation and adaptation. This year's winning institutions include Missouri University of Science & Technology, Portland State University, SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Chatham University, Goddard College, Middlebury College, Oberlin College, Bellevue College, University of Hawaii Kauai Community College and Pratt Institute.
U California Santa Barbara Community Goes on 'Justice Fast'
A recent 24-hour fast involving students, faculty and staff sought to highlight campus-based, domestic and international social justice issues including suicide prevention, mental care, health care, immigration, gun violence, university divestment, environmentalism, sweat shop brutality and Black Student Union demands.
U California Santa Cruz Debuts Green Labs Program
After a successful pilot with two labs on campus, the university's Green Labs Team has established a framework to evaluate and improve all labs on campus in the areas of energy efficiency, waste reduction and green purchasing.
U California Santa Cruz Dorms Go Paper Towel-Free
In support of zero waste goals for 2020, paper towels will no longer be provided for drying hands in shared residential restrooms on campus. Thirty-four percent of the waste coming out of the residence halls is paper towels. Students will be asked to bring a supply of reusable cloth hand towels to school with them in the fall.
U Washington Approves Diversity Graduation Requirement
The student-led effort will require all undergraduates to complete three credits of coursework that focus on the sociocultural, political and economic diversity of human experience at local, regional or global scales.
Vassar College Students Keep Unwanted Items from Landfill
Hundreds of pounds of clothing, appliances and other household items left behind as students recently moved out of the dorms were collected, sorted and donated to local nonprofit agencies by the college's SWAPR (Students With a Purpose Recycling) team. Before SWAPR started 13 years ago, the college would deploy 20 extra dumpsters outside the dorms to handle the flood of discarded material at the end of every school year. This year, says a Vassar College Committee on Sustainability intern, they only needed three to four.
Black Hills State U Debuts New Sustainability Master's Degree
Offered entirely online, the Master of Science in Sustainability is designed to provide students with an understanding of environmental (natural) systems, economic and social systems, legal frameworks, and policy making to help organizations meet sustainability related challenges.
Montgomery County CC Adds Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
The campus partnered with ECOtality, which received a $114.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to install vehicle chargers in nine states and the District of Columbia, to add two 240-volt pedestal charging stations to campus.
Northern Arizona U Debuts Carbon Neutral Laundry Program
The Lighten Our Load initiative, a partnership between the university's Housing and Residence Life and Mac-Gray Campus Solutions, includes new water- and energy-efficient laundry machines in residence halls that are expected to offset nearly 800,000 pounds of carbon dioxide produced on campus.
Oklahoma State U Student Spearheads Tornado Relief Efforts
Entrepreneurship graduate student Jonathon Button is donating a percentage of the sales of bracelets from his website, Life Out of the Box, to the United Way May Tornado Relief Fund. Button moved to Nicaragua a year ago to create his business, which sells products that help fund school supplies for children in need.
Towson U 'Trash-to-Treasure' Event Raises $3K for Sustainability
Staff, faculty, and community members bought items left behind during the student move-out at bargain prices, raising $3,007 for campus sustainability initiatives in areas including environmental education, recycling and renewable energy. Items left after the sale were donated to local charities and electronics were recycled through National Reclamation.
U California Davis Opens Net Zero Winery
The one-story, 8,500 square-foot building will eventually house equipment and systems for capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide from wine fermentation, and for filtering and recirculating water for wine, beer and food processing. Made possible by a $3 million pledge from the late Jess Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, of Jackson Family Wines, the winery is expected to be certified Net Zero Energy under the Living Building Challenge.
U Iowa College of Public Health Earns LEED Platinum
Sustainability features include reflective roofing, natural lighting, storm drainage that uses vegetation and landscaping rather than curbs and gutters, low maintenance and zero irrigation landscape design, waste reduction and recycling practices, occupancy sensors in offices and other common areas to provide lighting as needed, proximity to public transportation routes, and water use reduction through low-flow plumbing.
U Iowa Study: Social Responsibility Leads to Economic Stability
Firms that make greater investments in corporate social responsibility initiatives see less risk in their stock prices during economic downturns, according to a new study by the university's assistant professor of finance. The research looked at the stock prices of 3,005 firms from 34 countries between 2004 and 2010, factoring in the social and environmental risk factors of each company including labor relations, health and safety, recruitment and retention strategies, progressive workplace practices, and environmental and climate risk.
Western Washington U Brings Local Food to Campus
After a successful pilot period, the university's Viking Supported Agriculture Program is now available to all students, faculty and staff on campus. The joint collaboration between the university's Office of Sustainability, Students for Sustainable Foods and Growing Washington will offer locally grown produce on a weekly basis to subscribers.
Appalachian State U Kicks Off Sustainability Awards Program
With nine recipients in the inaugural year, the university's new awards program recognizes individuals and groups that have made outstanding efforts to initiate or support sustainability efforts on campus or in the community. Recipients were noted for leadership, waste reduction and recycling, water quality work, research advancements, and activism.
Denison U 'Operation Move Out' Donates Unwanted Student Items
As students recently moved out of the dorms, several local agencies like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and New Beginnings Shelter and Services were invited to the residence halls to look for donated usable items like couches, TVs, coffee makers and refrigerators.
Middlebury Students Collect 1,150 Signatures for 'Real Food'
Middlebury College student group EatReal, which promotes conscientious consumption among the student body, recently collected 1,150 student signatures in support of allocating more of the college’s total budget to Dining Services to increase the purchasing of local foods as part of Real Food Week ’13. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about local food issues through food-related events and educational experiences.
Saint Mary's College Debuts Windmill at Legacy Garden
Spearheaded by the college's Green Living/Learning Community, the windmill charges a 12-volt car battery in a waterproof case that powers lights for about 18 hours, and automatically shuts off when the power drops too low. Student Charles Ahrens Feldman, part of the Green Living/Learning Community, chipped in $400 of his own money for the windmill project and was later repaid by the college through a Syufy Grant.
Stanford U Students Campaign for Fossil Fuel Divestment
The group aims to convince university officials to freeze all new fossil fuel investments and to fully divest from fossil fuel companies within the next five years. The group's online petition to rally support from the campus community and make students more aware of the divestment movement recently reached 1,045 signatures.
U Buffalo Wins National Sustainability Awards Contest
The university's Campus Dining and Shops was recently recognized in the "Outreach and Education" category of the National College and University Food Service Association’s Sustainability Awards contest. The university earned the honor for its participation in the New York State “Pride of New York” program, which promotes and supports the sale of agricultural products produced and processed within the state.
UC Berkeley Graduate Student Awarded Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship
Architecture graduate student Antony Kim and his faculty mentor are one of 10 teams selected worldwide for the new Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship. Focused on finding self-sustaining sources of lighting in low-income housing developments, their project will look at incorporating natural and LED lighting that is more affordable for developers and aesthetically pleasing for occupants.
