U Louisville Offers Car Sharing Service to Public
In an effort to increase awareness of the university's car sharing program, it recently offered the service to the local community hoping to transition students and community members away from car use and toward publicly-owned transportation alternatives.
U Massachusetts Adopts Recycling at Medical School
The university's Hahnemann Campus combined multiple medical supply rooms to reduce waste from expired materials and implemented a process change that allows for the removal of "blue wrap" before surgery, which thwarts contamination, so that it may be recycled.
Western Carolina U Students Pay Into Sustainability Fund
Beginning in fall 2014, all full-time students will pay an additional $5 in student fees during the fall and spring semester to support sustainability-related project proposals from students, staff and faculty. The fee is expected to generate approximately $77,000 per year.
Antioch U New England to Create New Climate Resilience Center
(U.S.): In response to the President's Climate Data Initiative, the university's new Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience will apply data on climate change risks and impacts in ways that can facilitate more informed decisions. The center will build upon the decade of research in the areas of climate adaptation research and modeling, community engagement, and sustainable development and climate change.
Calicut U Institutes Green Campus Awards
(India): The university's new award program will select the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable campus among its 421 campuses, and will be based upon initiatives implemented on the campus including water conservation, number of students engaged in environmental activities, campus greening activities, and environment-related academic activities.
Dickinson College Hosts First Student Sustainability Conference
(U.S.): The statewide event was student-organized and student-focused with round table discussions about the Keystone XL pipeline, obstacles to achieving sustainability initiatives, fossil fuel divestiture, and interdisciplinary collaboration as a part of sustainability practices.
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.
Scotland Colleges and Universities Sign Carbon Commitment
(U.K.): All universities and colleges across Scotland have committed to addressing climate change and carbon challenges by signing the Universities and Colleges Climate Commitment for Scotland (UCCCfS), which offers a framework for institutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Three Universities Sign Billion Dollar Green Challenge
(U.S.): The University of Wyoming, the University of Saskatchewan, and Sewanee: The University of the South have recently committed to creating a self-managed revolving fund that finances energy efficiency improvements that achieve reductions in operating expenses and greenhouse gas emissions while creating regenerating funds for future projects.
U Birmingham Announces Living Wage Adjustment
(U.K.): Following months of protests and strikes on campus, including student sit-ins, university officials recently announced the wage increase for the university's lowest paid workers for the next two academic years beginning in August 2014.
U Edinburgh Joins Electronics Watch
(U.K.): The university will now encourage electronics suppliers to disclose factory locations so that labor conditions can be monitored by thematic research, factory surveys and investigative reports.
U Maryland Holds Diversity Open Mic Night
(U.S.): On behalf of a month dedicated to honoring diversity, the Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community organized the open mic night to give students a creative platform to share about their identity in hopes of transcending stereotypes.
Utah State U Hires Bicycle Education Coordinator
(U.S.): The university's new position, held by Wayne Elder, a member of the League of American Bicyclists, will encourage more bicycle use on and off campus and promote bicycle safety through education.
U Washington Lab Receives Green Lab Certification
(U.S.): The university-developed certification recently delivered a bronze achievement to an on-campus lab for its efforts to reduce energy consumption, divert waste from the landfill, and signage that educates technicians about lab sustainability.
Western Washington U Prohibits Sale of Bottled Water
(U.S.): In an effort to positively effect social justice and the environment, the university recently approved the move, which will begin in April, after a student-lead campaign was able to get an advisory note on the issue and a campus committee to implement the policy.
Berry College Attains Tree Campus USA Status
The college was honored by Arbor Day with the new recognition after following the guidelines set forth including the creation of a comprehensive tree management plan for its 27,000 trees.
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.
Ten Schools Selected to Compete in Energy Dept Wind Competition
The Collegiate Wind Competition, which aims to cultivate wind-specific interests and skills, will feature 10 teams of students who will design and construct lightweight, portable wind turbines intended to power small electronic devices. During the competition event, teams will present on current market drivers and deployment opportunities for the wind industry, pitch their business plans, and put their turbines to the test in an on-site wind tunnel. The 10 selected schools are Boise State University, California Maritime Academy, Colorado School of Mines, James Madison University, Kansas State University, Northern Arizona University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Kansas and University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
U California Irvine Honored with EPA Climate Leadership Award
The university was recently honored with the Organizational Leadership Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including setting a goal of 40 percent reduction by 2020 from 2011 levels, and the Smart Lab Initiative, a program to safely reduce energy consumption in laboratories, which has dropped consumption by 60 percent.
Wesleyan U Links Tuition to Inflation
In an effort to keep tuition affordable for students and make strides to decrease or eliminate heavy debt burden, the university recently announced it will increase tuition in concert with inflation.
Central College to Develop Strategic Sustainability Vision
The college's soon to be developed plan for undergraduate sustainability education will include support for course development, student research opportunities, faculty workshops, and the integration of carbon reduction activities that stimulate citizenship skills.
George Washington U to Audit Recycle Bins
Attempting to bolsters its efforts to reduce waste by 50 percent over the next three years, the university's Sustainability Office will sift through select recycling bins across campus to identify commonly tossed items that cause contamination of the recyclables.
Hampshire College to Establish New Food and Agriculture Center
Part of the college's Sustainability Initiative, the upcoming Center for New England Food and Agriculture will establish relationships with community and academic partners while gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges of local sourcing, and will include a pilot apprenticeship program, an internship program with local and international opportunities, and a collaborative research program with multi-institutional teams.
Humboldt State U Produces Virtual Residential Room
The new website encourages healthy and sustainable living habits through its interactive website that allows users to get more information about green cleaning, ridesharing, buying reused items, indoor air quality, energy efficiency and waste reduction.
Lehigh U Hosts Regional Campus Sustainability Conference
Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC), a consortium of six private colleges and universities, recently offered a regional Campus Sustainability Conference with focused workshops on divestment, climate change, green theatre, strategies for sustaining sustainability and environmental leadership.
Pomona College Constructs Bioswales
In an effort to reduce rain run-off and replenish the underground aquifer, the specially designed catch areas contain water to allow for a slow release into the environment.
Portland State U Institutionalizes Composting
After a 2013 campus waste audit revealed that 36 percent of the material sent to the landfill could be composted, the university recently signed a new custodial contract that allows the campus community access to food scrap collection bins in departmental common areas.
Prescott College Commits to Fossil Fuel Divestment
The resolution establishes an investment filter to remove the largest 200 fossil fuel corporations listed by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, over the next 3 years, with a goal of reducing risk while increasing financial and social return on investment. The college also included a clause to engage in advocacy encouraging current investment managers to develop fossil free investment fund products that would also serve their other clients.
Princeton U to Adopt Single-Stream Recycling
After a single-stream pilot study revealed a significant increase in recycling rates, the university recently made the decision to convert campus to the new method by the end of 2014.
Solano CC Introduces 2.8MW of Solar Energy
The Solano Community College District recently commissioned three systems totaling 2.8 mega-watts, which is estimated to contribute approximately half of the energy that the three-school district currently uses.
UC Riverside Renovation Receives LEED Silver
Meeting the new University of California policy that all new construction or major renovations earn a LEED Silver certification or higher, the building features light-colored roof to reflect heat, low-wattage fluorescent lighting, drought-resistant landscaping, low volatile organic compounds in paints, adhesives and cleaning supplies, and during construction, a waste diversion rate of 95 percent.
UC Santa Cruz Students Study On Campus Water Use Impact
As a result of the Marine Conservation class' recent research of on-campus water usage and the local watershed, a behavior change experiment was implemented to test the hypothesis that direct approaches to behavior change would have a more positive result on reducing water consumption.
