Union College to Complete Rain Garden
(U.S.): Spearheaded by a student who spent a recent summer installing rainwater capture systems, the college's green fee selected the rain garden as one of 15 funded projects. The system will be designed to bio-filter roadway runoff water from a residence hall currently under construction.
U Southern California Student Petitions for Solar Energy
(U.S.): The university's Environmental Affairs Organization is aiming to bring solar panels to campus through their new initiative called the Go Solar Campaign. The organization, which cites other schools' solar success with smaller budgets, is drawing up a proposal for the administration that seeks to mitigate the financial burdens of solar power, such as a donor-based system or third-party power purchasing agreements.
U Wisconsin Oshkosh Implements Green Fund
(U.S.): After passing a student referendum in 2013, the university's sustainability fund committee, comprised of eight students, is now accepting proposals for projects that cost up to $60,000.
Wake Forest U Students Add Greenhouse to Campus Garden
(U.S.): Two students recently erected the hoop house to extend the growing season of vegetables in the Campus Garden, which supports local farmers, decreases the carbon footprint, and supports the community with localized food through Campus Kitchen program.
Weston College Offers Educational Eco House
(U.K.): The custom-made house is used to train construction workers in sustainable building techniques and features solar panels and a rainwater capture system for flushing toilets.
Amherst College Hires First Sustainability Director
Laura Draucker started work as the college’s first director of environmental sustainability this month, leading the recently founded Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES). Draucker wants to help establish the OES as an office that actively incorporates environmental sustainability into the daily lives of members of the college community. Prior to her acceptance of this position, she worked for five years at the World Resources Institute and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Auburn U SGA Passes Unisex Restroom Bill
Tabled at an earlier meeting, the bill, which calls for the implementation of unisex restrooms in future buildings, passed favorably through the Student Government Association recently and will benefit a variety of people including families and transgender people.
Bakersfield College Asks Campus to Help Reduce Water Consumption
With California's current water shortage situation, the college is calling on the campus community to report leaks and be more mindful of water use while it will be working on replacing 50-year-old water lines and installing more efficient sprinkler heads.
California Polytechnic State U Receives $2.5M Water Grant
The university's College of Engineering was awarded a $2.5-million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to promote graduate education for underrepresented minority students interested in water conservation and sustainability. The grant is dubbed MENTORES (Mentoring, Educating, Networking, and Thematic Opportunities for Research in Engineering and Science), and aims to encourage underrepresented minority students to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees by providing additional resources, such as tutoring, stipends and paid internships, as well as developing a pipeline with universities that have doctoral programs.
Clarkson U to Complete a 2MW Solar Install
In an effort to stabilize the rising cost of electricity, the university will purchase electricity back from the 2-megawatt system currently under construction consuming 12-acres of land. The project is projected to avoid 2,100 tons carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere annually.
Elizabethtown College Awarded $500K for 2MW Solar System
The college was recently awarded a $500,000 Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) grant to install a 2-megawatt ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system and create opportunities for students and faculty members to study various aspects of solar energy.
Georgia Tech Manages Invasive Species with Sheep
During the month of November, the university will be using sheep to control kudzu rather and chemical herbicides, which can produce toxic runoff and leave behind tender leading to a potential fire hazard. The university plans to bring the sheep back in spring for a second grazing period.
Hartwick College Becomes Fair Trade Certified
The new recognition comes after years of work by a community-based service learning class on Human Rights. The college now offers two Fair Trade products in all retail and food outlets, and all Aramark catering coffees and teas are certified products.
Huston-Tillotson U Charges with Solar
The new solar charging station was retrofitted from a 1950s gas pump with solar panels for the campus community to use clean energy to recharge portable electronic devices.
Indiana State U Celebrates First Campus Sustainability Day
The event, organized by a graduate student, included several environmentally engaging activities for the campus community: a sustainability careers workshop, the Second Nature broadcast, a sustainability campus tour, and a community garden open house.
Indiana U South Bend Incorporates Sustainability Studies Degree
The university is now offering a Bachelor of Art degree in Sustainability Studies, designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of sustainability, offer a wide variety of ways to practice sustainability, and give them hands-on experience that will prepare them for jobs in the emerging green economy. The curriculum includes internships, opportunities for research, and a seamless transition from the classroom to the workplace or graduate school.
Merced College Los Banos to Build Produce Forest
Two university professors received $50,000 from Wells Fargo to repurpose a biologically inactive one-acre plot adjacent to Los Banos Creek into a sustainable woodland ecosystem. The project will provide organic produce to students at the Los Banos campus and the surrounding community.
Texas State U Partners on Resource Efficiency
Under a recent memorandum with a private company, the partnership will collaborate to improve operation and management of social infrastructure such as water conservation and preservation.
Triple Pundit Covers AASHE 2014 Conference & Expo
The article recaps Annie Leonard's recent remarks at the conference in October held in Portland. Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace and co-author of the Story of Stuff, reminds stakeholders in higher education campus sustainability to commit to renewable energy, divest from fossil fuel investment, leverage purchasing, encourage student engagement and stay inspired.
U California Irvine to Add 3.2MW of Solar
Currently under construction, the 3.2-megawatt solar electric system atop three parking structures is part of a 25-year power purchase agreement allowing the university to pay a price below what would normally be paid to a utility. The project is expected to reduce campus carbon emissions by 1,500 metric tons per year.
U Maryland Establishes Sustainability Pledge
The university's new Small Footprint Pledge is a way for all students, faculty and staff to make a commitment to minimize their environmental impact by adopting new green living habits from a suggest list of items from the pledge action list. Participants are invited to adopt that action for a week, a semester or a whole year.
U Minnesota Morris Announces Fellows Program
The university's new Sustainability Leadership for the Future (SLF) program includes faculty, staff and student fellows that will be developing a sustainability leadership strategic plan and shaping the campus’ institutional approach to sustainability leadership by identifying and supporting promising curricular and program developments, create guidebooks and workshops, and develop infrastructure, practices and policies that promote coordination across offices.
U South Alabama Breaks Ground on Community Garden
Through a student initiative focused on recycling, the new community garden will help reduce the amount of food waste in the community, provide fresh, locally grown food, and raise community awareness about the values of sustainable living.
U Tennessee Spurs Plastic Water Bottle Reduction Initiative
The new Take Back the Tap campaign is part of a national initiative aimed at reducing the consumption of single-use plastic water bottles on college campuses. Food and Water Watch, an organization that primarily provides resources for campus coordinators as they work to debunk myths about tap and bottled water, is currently working with over 60 colleges across the United States to encourage students to make a habit of choosing tap water over bottled water.
Arizona State U Student Government Passes Diversity Act
In an effort to change the culture on the subject of diversity, the Tempe Undergraduate Student Government passed the Diversity On Campus Act, which calls for the formation of a volunteer committee that will try to expand the curriculum of university 101 classes to include the subject of diversity.
Carnegie Mellon U Students to Urge for Fossil Fuel Divestment
Inspired by the AASHE 2014 Conference & Expo, student attendees from the university's environmental organization Sustainable Earth are launching the divestment initiative, which will call for the university to freeze any investments into fossil fuel companies and to completely divest from the industry within five years.
Dickinson College Student Creates Solar Structure
Found in a warehouse with surplus desks and chairs by an environmental studies and economics double major, the four solar panels were constructed into a functioning solar array at one of the busiest thoroughfares on campus. Known as the Solar Outdoor Laboratory, the system, now an extension of the college's living laboratory, channels the electricity onto the grid.
EPA Announces Winning Environmental Problem Solving Teams
In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced up to $15,000 for each of 42 student teams to pursue projects that deliver sustainable, alternative approaches to address environmental challenges as part of EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) program.
Harvard U Unveils Sustainability Plan
The university's new five-year, living Sustainability Plan details a strategy to build on existing greenhouse gas reduction goals and sets priorities in five core areas: energy and emissions, campus operations, nature and ecosystems, health and well-being, and culture and learning.
Indiana U Bloomington Installs Residential Rain Garden
Due to the increase of impervious surface area on campus causing 150 million more gallons of runoff, the university Office of Sustainability and the Campus Division recently partnered to construct the rain garden that was designed to mitigate stormwater runoff issues by incorporating 1,250 plants chosen for their capability to retain and filter water.
Miami U Raises Awareness for Fair Trade
After visiting coffee and chocolate plantations in Central America, students are beginning a campaign for fair trade certification beginning with securing speakers on the topic and procurement of fair trade-certified products.
Michigan Technological U Receives $100K for Student Activities
The General Motors Foundation recently awarded Michigan Technological University a $100,000 grant through its University/Organization Partner Program that will support the university's Advanced Hybrid Electric Vehicle and Advanced Motorsports Enterprises, Environmental Engineering senior design programs, student groups and diversity initiatives.
Northern Kentucky U Student Creates Chemical Recycling Machine
After realizing that the university's chemical plan only covered a portion of the chemicals used in labs, the 2014 graduate student created a machine that separates the different liquids present in the leftover solution with high rates of purity allowing them to be reused again.
Northwestern U Partners to Bring Bike Sharing to Campus
After discussing the idea of bike sharing for two years, the university's Office of Sustainability is partnering with Divvy, Chicago’s bike-sharing system, to offer discounts to members of the university community in early 2015.
Princeton U Seeks to Expand Socioeconomic Diversity
One of the university's two new initiatives is an expansion of its partnership with Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA), a national program dedicated to developing the academic and leadership potential of talented high school students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The other program, Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), helps admitted students from low-income families and less advantaged backgrounds make the transition to the rigor of Princeton education through a seven-week summer program.
Syracuse U Contest Promotes Sustainable Practices
In order to continue momentum from Campus Sustainability Day, the Sustainability Club invited all students, faculty and staff to take and upload photos showing themselves engaged in sustainable activities across campus and the winner will be chosen during November at a campus lecture.
Syracuse U Students Organize Diversity & Transparency Protest
The purpose of the recently held Diversity and Transparency Rally, organized by more than 50 student organizations, was to inform the campus community about issues such as a decrease of diversity and affordability resources, and the university's recent decision to decline divestiture from fossil fuel companies.
Transylvania U Joins Farm to Campus Program
The university joins eight other colleges and universities participating in the program that encourages universities to buy as much local food as possible and to sign contracts with multiple growers, reducing the miles traveled between farm and consumers and supporting the local economy.
U California Los Angeles Joins Billion Dollar Green Challenge
Joining the challenge created by Sustainable Endowments Institute and mitigating climate change through campus sustainability projects, the $15 million fund encourages changes and adaptations to the campus that replenish the initial loan amount through a return on the project investment.
U California Santa Barbara Connects 424kW Photovoltaic Array
Funded by students, who voted for the $3.4 million Student Affairs Renewable Energy Initiative to pass in 2011, the newly installed 424-kilowatt, solar electric system will help the university reach the University of California system-wide Carbon Neutrality Initiative, which seeks carbon neutrality by 2025.
U Maryland Student Coalesces Big Ten Sustainability Organization
Following the university's admission into the athletic conference in July, the director of the Student Government Association’s sustainability committee began contacting 160 different sustainability organizations at all 14 Big Ten schools, 11 of which have appointed representatives to participate. Several Big Ten university sustainability committees are proposing athletic program resolutions that include a carbon emission tax and zero waste athletic stadiums.
