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.
U Kentucky to Launch Car-Free Residential Campaign
During the 2014-2015 academic year, the bicycle library, providing free bicycle sharing and repair, will nearly double its capacity by launching a program aimed at encouraging students who live in residence halls to leave their motor vehicles behind.
U Toronto Begins Campaign to Eliminate Styrofoam
The university's Sustainability commission has recently been handing out free reusable containers, along with posting fliers, that attempt to reduce the amount of styrofoam containers coming from on-campus food trucks.
California State U Stanislaus to Install Photovoltaic Panels
With a desire to increase clean energy sources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and comply with state legislation, the new solar electric panels will produce approximately 34,800 kilowatt-hours to augment energy for the university's irrigation and storm pumps.
Cornell U Stops Sale of Apparel Linked to Labor Abuse
After an incident killing 1,120 Bangladeshi workers, the university now requires its apparel licensees to abide by the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a five year agreement between apparel companies and Bangladeshi unions that legally binds its signatories to create safe working environments.
Hampshire College to Source Nearly 100% Local Food
The recent $50,000 grant from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation will support the university's Local Food Challenge, which will draw from the campus farm, the on-campus food management company's 40 farm shares, and will work to create collaborations with food suppliers within a 150-mile radius.
Illinois Wesleyan U to Open Social Justice Center
The university's new Center for Human Rights and Social Justice will host programs and activities to enhance opportunities for collaboration and exchange of ideas that tie the theme to the academic mission of the institution.
Montana State U Increases Local Food Procurement
In an effort to expand the university's Montana-Made program, University Food Services has hired a full-time staff member to grow relationships with current and potential vendors, gather baseline data, and create viable goals.
North Carolina State U Begins Pizza Box Composting
The university's Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling implemented the Pizza Box Composting Project, which seeks to decrease compostable waste on campus and encourage students to pay more attention to the importance of composting.
Pomona College Offers Bicycle Repair Station
An action that supports and encourages emission-free transportation, the recently installed repair station offers the campus bicycling community the chance to hang their bike while using one of the attached tools for maintenance or repair.
Rutgers U Saves $41M in Operating Expenses
Over the last four years, initiatives in energy conservation programs, alternative energy usage, water conservation, solid waste recycling, green landscaping, and the use of more efficient campus vehicles have allowed the university to save $41 million in operating expenses.
Stanford U Implements Water Conservation Methods
The Stanford Community Farm, a one-acre field located on the outskirts of campus, has recently implemented moisture-trapping gardening techniques in order to mitigate water usage in response to the ongoing shortage of rainfall throughout California.
Swarthmore College Hires Sustainability Director
In her role as director of sustainability, Laura Cacho will help organize courses focused on sustainability, invite outside speakers to raise awareness about environmental issues, progress climate action goals, and help the various departments of the college become more sustainable.
Towson U Pilots Outdoor Solar Table
The newly installed solar charging stations are located in several areas around campus to create a convenient way for students to recharge their devices using clean, renewable energy.
Tufts U to Hold Student Solar Project Competition
The Tufts Energy Conference offers students the opportunity to submit a photovoltaic technology project that will operate without a connection to the university's electric grid. The winning proposal will be allocated $10,000 toward implementation on campus.
UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly Calls for Fossil Fuel Divestment
The Graduate Assembly of the University of California, Berkeley voted with a two-thirds majority in favor of a resolution that calls on the university and the UC system to divest their endowments from fossil fuel companies. The resolution also commits the Graduate Assembly to divest its own funds of $475,000 from the greenhouse gas-emitting fuels.
U Colorado Boulder Partners on Zero Waste Sports Practices
Sustainable Gamedays, sponsored by BASF, is a series of eight men and women's basketball games in which videos featuring facts about sustainability and organics recycling show on the arena screens, and demonstrates to game-goers how to use the many zero waste stations placed around the arena for recycling and composting.
UC Santa Cruz Pilots Water Conservation Campaign
Called the Cold Water Wash competition and using prizes as an incentive, residents in the university's College Eight dorm were asked to use cold water with the goal of reducing natural gas usage. Overall, the campaign ended up saving the equivalent energy of that used by over 10 homes for one year.
UC Santa Cruz to Develop Campus-as-Lab Academic Plan
The provost's sustainability intern is working with the university's Campus Natural Reserve staff to develop a curriculum of field activities that will be offered to undergraduate students accessing the on-campus outdoor classrooms and living laboratories.
U Maryland Certifies First Green Office
The university's Center for Young Children was certified Gold through the Green Office Program, which includes children charting lunch waste on certain days, composting, reusing art material, installation of power strips that eliminate phantom loads, and usage of indoor plants to improve air quality.
