Governors State U Opens Organic Community Garden
The newly opened 52-plot garden gives area residents a chance to use organic methods to grow the vegetables of their choice while building a sense of community with fellow gardeners. A subset of the garden area will be designated for a student food pantry and the on campus childcare facility.
Portland State U Bolsters Community Sustainability Goals
The university's Institute for Sustainable Solutions recently announced the Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative work with three Portland communities to match classes, researchers and interns with neighborhood partners to work on a range of sustainability-related issues, such as district-scale waste reduction, neighborhood livability, energy efficiency and transportation alternatives.
Iowa Lakes CC to Host Wind Company Test Facility
Windtest recently announced that it will house its North American headquarters at the community college's new Sustainable Energy Resource and Technology building. The German company will be a provider for wind energy services, including testing, measuring, and trouble shooting for developers and grid operators.
Indiana U Partners on Public Gardens
The university's Office of Sustainability recently partnered with a nature center and garden to offer gardening workdays to the public for free as part of its Campus Green Initiative, which fosters sustainability through interactive work spaces.
Purdue U Partners with Navy
(U.S.): Researchers at the university are in the early stages of collaborating with the Navy in an effort to help the armed forces shift to alternative sources of energy, specifically liquid transportation fuels.
U Winnipeg Selected for Climate Change Project
The university's Richardson College for the Environment has been selected by Natural Resources Canada to co-ordinate a $500,000, three-year project on climate change called the Prairies Regional Adaptation Collaborative. The collaborative project will focus on agriculture, energy, mining, forestry and water as they relate to climate change.
Georgetown U $5M National Energy Competition Goes Live
The Georgetown University Energy Prize will offer $5 million in 2017 to one eligible community develop and implement plans for replicable, scalable and continual reductions in the per-capita energy consumed from local natural gas and electric utilities.
North Carolina State U Launches Sustainable Business Initiative
The university's Poole College of Management launched the North Carolina Sustainability Connection, which will showcase the innovation and impact of sustainable businesses across North Carolina and to connect entrepreneurs, business people, communities and citizens.
U Utah Offers Community Solar Program
(U.S.): Called U Solar Program, the university is now sponsoring the community solar program, offering a 25 percent discount on installation of rooftop solar panels for students and other university associated residents.
Springfield College Students Clean Local Zoo
As part of a 735-acre city park, the zoo recently hosted students from the college's Project for Sustainability club to volunteer their time with clean-up to prepare it for its opening.
U Maryland Procures Solar Panels Jointly
Partnering with a local renewable energy-based nonprofit, seventeen university faculty and staff have recently signed up for a bulk purchase of photovoltaic panels.
U Maryland to Help Community Overcome Challenges
A new university program to begin in fall of 2014 called Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability will offer students the opportunity to engage with specific sustainability-related community challenges with coursework tailored to reflect those challenges.
Syracuse U Holds Green Chemistry Workshop for Teachers
The recent teacher workshop with labs and hands-on activities targeted 24 area high schools to inspire students to pursue scientific careers and to encourage teachers to purchase more environmentally benign chemicals.
U Maryland Partners for Expansion of Regional Public Transit
The university has partnered with local groups to create the Purple Line Corridor Coalition to tackle the economic and community development challenges and benefits of the first light rail line. The goal of the group is to guide expertise in active planning to ensure that the investment creates vibrant neighborhoods while preserving existing community assets.
Portland State U Tackles Urban Environmental Issues
(U.S.): Now in partnership with The Intertwine Alliance, the university has a paid student internship and a seat at the table with other organizations working together to secure funding, leverage existing investments and engage residents with the outdoors and nature. The Intertwine Alliance is a coalition of more than 100 organizations working to protect and improve the Portland region’s network of outdoor places and trails.
Portland State U Stages Climate Change Storytelling
In an attempt to reach people in a new way on the topic of climate change, the university, along with five community partners, put a human face on climate change by bringing average people to the stage to tell the story about how they became engaged on the topic.
Memorial U Educates Public on Local Food Options
(Canada): The event, Food for Thought, in partnership with the corner grocery store, explored connections between the community and university by focusing on educating shoppers toward sustainable and local food and the university-community connection.
Arizona State U Hosts Emirati Engineers for Solar Program
In an effort to help Dubai meet their 2030 energy strategy, the university will host 15 engineers for a 15-day workshop focused on enhancing their solar energy skills. Three engineers will be shortlisted to attend a six-month academic intensive.
U Utah Exhibits Environmental Art Installation
The soon-to-begin living art gallery about air pollution will feature three artists from Beijing, China who will install the pieces over a three week period encouraging visitors to engage in dialogue and contribute to the art stations.
Green Mountain College Announces Results of Alumni Survey
As a baseline for measuring future progress, preliminary data from 12 questions on a 2012 class survey indicate that 43 percent of graduates spend more than 10 hours per week deliberately enhancing the social fabric of their communities and 72 percent report that their lives reflect the college's environmental mission.
Middlebury College & Orion Magazine Partner for Conference
(U.S.): Growing the college's own environmental writing conference, the college and the magazine are collaborating for The Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers' Conference taking place at Middlebury College from June 9 through 15.
U Vermont Partners on Climate Education
The university's recent memorandum of understanding with the local power utility indicates that the university will have a presence in the power company's Energy Innovation Center and will work collaboratively to advance climate science and understanding of how weather affects energy use.
Portland State U Defends Nature to Washington D.C.
A coalition of partners led by the university conducted briefings about a new set of principles designed to guide more comprehensive assessments of ecosystem services, such as natural watershed management and the multiple benefits of healthy forests and wildlife habitats.
Skidmore College to Begin New Clean Tech Program
(U.S.): In a recent release, the university will soon offer the New York Executive Clean Energy Leadership Institute, which intends to teach business professionals about renewable energy and opportunities for new ventures.
Denison U Addresses Modern-Day Slavery
The goal of the initial Fair Food Festival was to increase awareness about modern day slavery as well as the role of corporate sustainability in creating better working conditions for farmworkers.
Clarkson U Hosts Community Farmers' Market
The university's recent decision to host the winter market allows campus and community members to procure locally grown and processed goods. The markets' new location is near the all-local dining concept, which will allow dining services to source food directly from the market.
Furman U Partners for Community Weatherization Program
(U.S.): The university's Community Conservation Corps program recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity to continue its efforts to reduce energy consumption and promote financial stability of homeowners through weatherization, energy conservation and education in the community.
U California Santa Barbara Opens First Farmers' Market
(U.S.): In an effort to promote eating local and providing a place for community to exist and grow, the Gaucho Certified Farmers' Market will allow any farmers within the three- county area to sell fresh produce to students and the community.
College of the Canyons Holds Inaugural Sustainability Event
(U.S.): Dedicated to promoting sustainability awareness and practices within the student body and community, the event, in concert with the Santa Clarita Environmental Consortium, will focus on environmental issues and is open to the public.
Indiana State U Builds Greenhouses
(U.S.): Drawing on its agricultural history, the university’s greenhouse project includes seven passive solar greenhouses which will aid in student and community learning. Made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, food grown in the structures will be sold at the farmers’ market and donated to local food banks and charities. Other schools involved include Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Ivy Tech Community College and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
U Idaho Professor Recognized by National Conservation Award
Professor Dennis Scarnecchia will be awarded the Fisheries Management Sections Award of Excellence from the American Fisheries Societies this month for his research and commitment to the sustainable management of fish resources. Professor Scarnecchia has worked for the conservation of some of the world’s oldest fish for over 20 years and includes study of the Missouri, Yellowstone and Columbia river systems. Most recently, Scarnecchia has served on the Independent Scientific Advisory Board, an independent scientific panel recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, which provides input to fish conservation, management and research in the Pacific Northwest.
Virginia Tech Offers Global Resilience Assistance
Birthed from the university’s most recent strategic plan calling for the expansion of interdisciplinary research and dissemination, the Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience will provide information to organizations around the globe looking at disaster response and recovery, critical infrastructure and urbanization.
Harvard Allston Farmers Market Hosts Composting Program
(U.S.): The first of its kind for the City of Boston, the university’s market will pilot a compostable food scraps drop-off location for city residents. Food scraps collected during the pilot program will be hauled off-site for composting.
Lehigh U Embarks on Community Native Planting Project
The latest project to come from the South Side Initiative, a group of university and surrounding community members that aims to foster democracy and improve quality of life, includes the transformation of a former railroad bed into a scenic meadow of native vegetation.
Wilfrid Laurier U Celebrates Aboriginal Day with Teaching Garden
The Mino-kummik Aboriginal Community Garden, named after the Ojibwa word for "good, bountiful earth," features a vegetable and fruit garden, aboriginal medicinal garden, ceremony space and rain-harvesting cistern for irrigation. A local nonprofit will hold workshops with local residents to illustrate sustainable practices of saving rainwater for later use.
Exeter U Students Propose Local Renewable Energy Solutions
(U.K.): After working on cost-effective renewable energy systems for the coastal Sidmouth area in Devon for the past year, four students recently presented their ideas to the Sid Valley Energy Action Group. Ideas included an anaerobic digestion feasibility study using geographic information systems.
UC Berkeley to Oversee Public Utility Green Job Training
(U.S.): Under a $500,000 contract that runs through spring 2014, the university's Donald Vial Center for Employment in the Green Economy will coordinate green training for future workers at state utilities with a focus on installing energy-efficient materials and technology.
U West Indies Introduces At-risk Youth to Alternative Energy
(Jamaica): A team from the university and Youth Crime Watch Jamaica have partnered to introduce at-risk youth to alternative energy by showing them how to turn waste vegetable oil into biodiesel. Through a $50,000 Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme grant, the project will train 30 youth in the conversion process and introduce ways to transfer the knowledge into entrepreneurial ventures.
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.
