Students Help Dickinson College Farm Become USDA Organic
On the heels of the announcement of its plans to raise cattle, the Dickinson College Farm (PA) has been certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Students were instrumental during the three-year process, which concluded recently in collaboration with the college's assistant professor of international business and management, who integrated the certification inspection into her first-year seminar course, "The Business of Organic Food." Managed through Pennsylvania Certified Organic, the certification is recognition that the college farm adheres to a USDA-approved approach of agricultural food production that involves building and enhancing the soil naturally, environmental protection and the avoidance of toxic or synthetic substances such as pesticides.
Duke U Preps New Student-Initiated Campus Farm
Duke University (NC) has erected a greenhouse as the first phase of a planned campus farm. An idea that grew from an undergraduate environmental studies class last spring, the pilot project will grow one acre per year until the donated 12-acre land from Duke Forest is filled. The aim of the farm is to provide campus dining halls with fresh seasonal food and allow students the opportunity for engagement with food studies.
Cornell U Journal of Architecture Revived with Sustainable Focus
The first publication of Cornell University's (NY) Journal of Architecture in eight years debuted this month after architecture students rallied around its revival. The theme of the current issue is "Re," which suggests a dialogue between ideas of reuse, renovation and re-imagining. The theme is a nod to what the students see as important in the contemporary architecture world, looking toward more sustainable practices and favoring imaginative solutions to age-old problems such as population density and small budgets.
Iowa State U Students Open Campus Food Pantry
Students at Iowa State University have launched a campus food pantry that evolved from a fall semester learning community project that looked at food assistance needs in their community. After volunteering at local food pantries to learn more about who is using them and who is not, the students found that college students are not using food assistance programs in noticeable numbers even at a time that the number of federal, need-based financial aid recipients at Iowa State rose from about 4,300 in the 2008-2009 school year to 5,300 in 2009-2010. Between 20 and 30 students have joined the new student organization that will oversee the SHOP (Students Helping Our Peers), which will be stocked with donations.
Students Initiate Compost Program at Auraria Higher Ed Center
Members of the student group Compost Auraria have recently expanded composting outreach efforts at the Auraria Higher Education Center in Colorado, home to the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and The University of Colorado at Denver. As part of the new student fee-funded campaign "Auraria Composts!" the group has placed composting bins in the food court of the center's Tivoli Student Union. In an effort to change the habits of their classmates, Compost Auraria members are standing near the bins to personally talk with students about how composting food waste, paper and napkins can create fertilizer, conserve irrigated water and prevent the erosion of soils.
Students Model 'Eco Look' in NY Times Trendspotting Feature
Members of Students for Sustainable Stanford model repurposed and vintage clothing in a recent New York Times design feature that looks at the trend of sustainable fashion on college campuses. Also featured in the slideshow are students from the University of Portland (OR), Cornell University (NY) and Sarah Lawrence College (NY), where a student designed a winter coat designed to be planted in the spring. Produced for a biomimicry project in an environmental studies class, seeds inlaid in the coat can be fertilized by the wool.
U California Davis Students Open Food Bank for Students in Need
University of California, Davis students in financial need will now be able to grab a free can of soup, a box of cereal, or other staple foods with the opening of its new food pantry. After a recent survey of the university's undergraduates found that 25 percent skipped meals "somewhat to often" to save money, student government leaders contacted campus organizations and local businesses to donate food for a campus food bank. The pantry has received enough donations to last about 10 weeks and hopes to receive enough contributions to stay open until the end of the school year.
Food Empowerment Org Launches Student Activist Training Program
The Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFed) has launched a national training program for students to create ethically-sourced, student-run local storefronts on college campuses. The organization aims to facilitate regional student networks to maximize its collective impact and empower a student-led food movement across the nation. The Berkeley Student Food Collective was the original catalyst for CoFed, which now encompasses six leadership teams starting student-run cafes on West Coast college campuses.
Indiana U Bloomington Students Create Sustainability Council
Indiana University Bloomington student groups have come together to enhance sustainability efforts on campus. Fourteen student organizations have formed the Student Sustainability Council to promote communication and collaboration among organizations interested in advancing environmentalism on campus. The first collaborative effort of the council is the establishment of a Green Initiative Fund. The group seeks to add a $5 donation option during the university’s online registration each semester to support sustainability initiatives on campus.
Laney College Holds Eco-Inspired Art Exhibit
As part of an Eco Art Matters class, Laney College (CA) students recently held an art exhibit titled “Save Our Earth Ship.” The artwork addresses environmental and social justice issues, including a multi-media sculpture comprised primarily of 2,500 cigarette butts collected from campus grounds and a super-sized plastic shopping bag created from 3,000 plastic bags.
Loyola U Chicago Students Work to Make Campus Food Sustainable
Loyola University Chicago’s (IL) Student Food Sustainability Advisory Council has begun working with food services provider Aramark to raise awareness about food systems, shrink the community’s ecological footprint and address the student body’s primary sustainability concerns. The council will gauge on-campus attitudes towards issues including local food, factory farming and balanced diets through surveys, research and education.
U Arizona Student Projects Promote Campus Sustainability
Students at the University of Arizona recently showcased nearly three dozen project ideas to enhance campus sustainability efforts. Proposed ideas included plans for renovating and retrofitting buildings, installing shower timers, promoting educational smart phone applications and reusable to-go containers.
U Washington Student Government Passes Sustainability Legislation
The University of Washington’s student government has passed a sustainability bill that aims to promote awareness among incoming students. The bill, “A Resolution in Support of Sustainability with First Year Programs,” will help implement educational efforts to new students about sustainability options on campus, including the availability of compost resources and a tour of the university farm. A long-term goal includes the possibility of a required sustainability class.
Arizona State U Students Receive Grant for Sustainable Fertilizer
Arizona State University graduate students have earned an Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative grant to further their development of a business that aims to produce a sustainable organic fertilizer from algae. Edson provides funds, office space and training to teams with up-and-coming innovative business plans. One student also received a National Water Research Institute fellowship for the development of a new bioreactor design to use in wastewater treatment. Both students are part of the university’s Center for Algae Technology and Innovation.
Purchase College SUNY Students Produce Video to Promote Recycling
Students at Purchase College State University of New York have produced a video to highlight campus recycling redemption machines. The university's Redemption Center has three automated recycling machines that accept every brand of redeemable plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers. Redemption receipts in the amount of five cents per container include coupons for discounts from area merchants. "These machines have become wildly popular on campus and are a major part of our efforts to assure that recyclables are directed to the recycling stream," the college's Office of Sustainability Director Joseph Tripodi tells AASHE Bulletin. Tripodi says that with the help of an ongoing marketing campaign to increase awareness and use of the machines, recent machine redemption counts have topped 14,000 containers per month.
U Utah Sustainable Campus Initiative Approves Campus Gardens
The University of Utah’s Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund has chosen nine student projects totaling $44,000 in allocated funding. As part of a planned Campus Organic Gardens project, three structures have been approved to house harvested materials, the building of bike trailers for transporting harvested food and the creation of signs to communicate the purpose, mission and promotion of the gardens. Other projects include "retrofitted bikes with carts to assist with tailgate recycling efforts, an undergraduate internship with Environmental Health and Safety that will help our campus become 'mercury-free' by replacing our mercury thermometers, and a feasibility study done by MBA students to determine if we can create a 'solar' parking pass by installing raised solar panels in campus parking lots," the university's Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund coordinator tells AASHE Bulletin.
Humboldt State U Students Launch Free E-Waste Collections
A group of environmental science students at Humboldt State University (CA) has teamed up with the university's Waste Reduction and Resource Awareness Program, Plant Operations and Environmental Health and Safety to launch e-waste collection drives on campus. The students plan to divert waste like cell phones, laptops, keyboards and alarm clocks from the landfills while raising awareness about the social and environmental impacts of e-waste. The collection drives are open to university students, faculty and staff.
SUNY College ESF Students Create Art from Recycled Materials
State University New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students recently held a recycled plastic art exhibition to increase waste awareness after a campus waste audit last spring revealed an unsettling amount of plastic waste. Works included a plastic hippopotamus and a biosphere made from a discarded television.
Syracuse U Students Host Denim Drive to Help Insulate Houses
Students at Syracuse University (NY) hosted a denim drive throughout the month of October as part of Cotton Incorporated’s campaign, “Cotton from Blue to Green.” The denim is converted to cotton fiber insulation for houses in communities that are in need. The university collected more than 1,000 jeans, enough to insulate two houses. Since the campaign's inception in 2006, about 540 homes have received insulation.
U California Berkeley Students Open Sustainable Food Storefront
The Berkeley Student Food Collective has opened a storefront on the University of California, Berkeley campus to provide local, healthy and sustainable foods to the campus community. Operating as a nonprofit collective, university student members will donate two hours of free labor a week with the aim to keep food prices low. Fruits and vegetables grown within 150 miles are available, along with local dairy products, organic juices and bulk bins with staples like rice and flour. The student group, which now has about 50 active members, incorporated as a California nonprofit and won a $91,000 grant from the university's The Green Initiative Fund, which commits a small part of student fees to sustainability projects. The group signed a lease on a former nail salon in August and since then have been working to convert the 600-square-foot space to a food market.
U Chicago Students Launch Composting Pilot
Two University of Chicago (IL) students have launched a composting program through the campus' Uncommon Fund, which provides funding for student ideas, projects and events. In partnership with the university’s Cobb Café, the students spearheaded the placement of compost bins next to trashcans and recycling containers inside the café. Collected food waste is brought to the Resource Center, a local nonprofit, to be converted into compost.
U Idaho Students Spearhead Tailgate Recycling Efforts
The University of Idaho's Sustainability Center has administered its second annual Tailgate Recycling Program, a student-run effort to reduce waste associated with tailgate activities. Student volunteers supplied fans with recycling bags and dispersed receptacles throughout the parking lot to collect aluminum, plastic, glass and paper recyclables. After three home games, 74 volunteers have collected almost 1,500 pounds of recyclables. The university works with Moscow Recycling to ensure that all materials are properly sorted and transported to a recycling center.
Vanderbilt U Students Conduct Biodiesel Training
Members of the Vanderbilt University (TN) student organization, the Alternative Energy Club, recently initiated a hands-on training and biodiesel fuel demonstration. Led by club members, small groups of volunteers made mini-batches of biodiesel starting with waste vegetable oil. The club merged with the Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative this fall, which has been making biodiesel on campus for several years.
California Lutheran U Builds Community Garden
California Lutheran University has started a community garden to help connect students to the local environment. Funded by the Facilities department, students, faculty and staff members transformed a dry, weedy patch of land with raised beds. A portion of the produce harvested will go to the university’s dining hall; the other portion sold on campus and local farmers markets, and donated to local food banks.
U Idaho Funds Student-Led Sustainability Projects
The University of Idaho Sustainability Center has awarded $12,578 to six student-led sustainability projects. The center's annual grant competition asks students to submit mini-grant proposals for projects that increase the sustainability of campus operations and culture. This year's funding will go toward the creation of native gardens, bioplastic degradation in compost research, water-saving measures and a conservation photography book that showcases the endangered Palouse prairie. All projects are scheduled for a May 2011 completion.
Keene State College Students Working Toward a Fair Trade Campus
Students in Keene State College's (NH) Measuring Fair Trade course are assisting the college to meet several criteria to become a certified fair trade campus. To become a certified campus under TransFair USA, an institution must carry fair trade products, have support from the administration and have at least one fair trade club or organization on campus to ensure student involvement. Currently, the college serves a variety of fair trade products and ingredients including coffee, sugar, bananas, tea and chocolate bars. Students are working to increase awareness and demand for fair trade products on campus with a campus-wide fair trade day with product demonstration and sales.
U North Carolina Greensboro Students Start Campus Garden
University of North Carolina Greensboro students have begun building raised beds for an organic garden in an effort to promote sustainable local food. The campus dining hall will plant an herb garden for use in its meals. The university hopes faculty members will incorporate the gardens into their curriculum.
Alfred State College Students Build Green Home on Campus
Students at Alfred State College (NY) are receiving hands-on learning about green construction and technology by helping to build a green home on its Applied Technology campus. Utilizing the skills they have developed in architecture, building trades and electrical construction courses, the students are using an integrated approach to energy efficiency in the design of the buildings, the building envelope and the mechanical space conditioning systems.
SUNY College of Enviro Science and Forestry Hosts Denim Drive
Students at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry hosted a denim drive throughout the month of October as part of Cotton Incorporated’s campaign, “Cotton From Blue to Green.” The campaign converts donated jeans into sustainable natural-fiber housing insulation to be used by Habitat for Humanity. It takes 500 pieces of denim to insulate a house. The student group Green Campus Initiative led the effort to bring the campaign to the university and oversaw the collection events and donation bin maintenance on campus.
Syracuse U Interior Design Class to Create Green Office
Six teams of Syracuse University (NY) interior design students are working to transform a basement into a green office for the university’s Sustainability Division. The third-year design students will infuse functionality and style to create a nontraditional office using sustainable materials and featuring green amenities. The office, known as the Sustainable Studio, will allow the division’s staff to build a presence within the College of Visual and Performing Arts while they implement the university’s climate action plan.
Unity College Students Help Design Passive House Residence Hall
Unity College (ME) students and faculty recently gathered to provide design ideas and concerns for the college's upcoming project to build a residence hall to the Passive House standard. The Passive House standard in the U.S. is an extension of the PassivHaus Institute of Germany, utilizing insulation and tight air sealing to minimize heat loss. The college received a $389,000 grant from the Kendeda Fund to construct the cottage-style residence hall, which will use sunlight to generate energy with little or no active mechanical systems. The sunlight will be converted to usable heat. Students, who will also be involved in the construction and monitoring of the facility, participated in discussions about the potential size of the building, the orientation and interior set-up, and how the building will relate to the whole of the college.
Southern Illinois U Carbondale Students Install Green Roof
Southern Illinois University Carbondale students have installed a green roof with wildflowers and grasses on the College of Agricultural Sciences building. The project is both educational and economical, reducing energy costs by providing extra insulation and featuring an unplanted section for research purposes. The research will seek to establish tolerance thresholds for stress and to identify plant species suitable for green roof propagation. The project is funded by a $20,000 grant fed by the university’s current $10 per semester green student fee, as well as $10,000 contributions from the College of Agricultural Sciences dean and the Physical Plant budget.
U Minnesota Duluth Students Revive Neighboring Orchard
Students in the Students for Sustainable Agriculture group at the University of Minnesota, Duluth are helping the university revive a neighboring orchard and farm to provide produce for the campus. Students and faculty worked during the summer to clean up the orchard and ready the soil for vegetables. Raised bed gardens will be planted on a one-acre plot in the spring. A second acre of gardens will be planted in 2012 with plans for a well and fencing. Late last month, the students brought community members together to press the apples, forgotten since the 1970s, into cider. The university hopes to create a social enterprise garden where the produce sold will fund student internships. Some interns will grow food and others will work to market the food to local grocery stores.
Cal State U Long Beach Hosts Campus Green Competition
California State University at Long Beach will host the campus competition, "Do it in the Dark," to compare electricity and water consumption rates for each residence hall. The buildings will be divided into three competing groups. The group that reduces its consumption the most per week will win a pizza party. The university hopes that the competition, sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program, will be a successful outreach and educational tool.
Pepperdine U Students Start Community Garden
Pepperdine University’s (CA) Green Team, a student organization, has constructed a campus community garden. Twelve elevated, large box planters were filled with organic compost from a local distributor of bio-dynamic soil. Forty-eight separate plots within the planters will be rented out to individuals or organizations that want to support the Green Team while growing their own produce. Any funds raised from renting plots will go to upkeep and perpetuation of the garden.
Swarthmore College Students Convert Cooking Oil to Biodiesel Fuel
Swarthmore College (PA) students have launched a project to convert used cooking oil from the college's dining hall into biodiesel fuel that will be used in college facilities or vehicles. The first stage of the project consists of converting small batches of unused cooking oil into biodiesel in order to receive estimates on how much biodiesel fuel will be produced from the used cooking oil. The goal of the second stage is to find the exact measurements of how much biodiesel is produced and the amount of emissions created by the combustion of biodiesel.
Texas State U Students Initiate Sustainability Tour
Texas State University students organized a Sustainability Exploration event to promote environmental awareness both on and off campus. The tour highlighted sustainable projects on campus including the Bike Cave, compost bins, rainwater collection tanks and the recreation center's Calories for Kilowatts program. Participants also learned how to make a solar oven out of pizza boxes and met with community organizations like the Edible San Marcos Community Garden and the San Marcos Greenbelt Community Alliance.
U California Los Angeles Publishes Green Guide to Campus Living
The University of California, Los Angeles has published the “Green Guide to Sustainable Living at UCLA.” The booklet contains information about the environmental impacts of food, transportation, waste, electricity use and purchasing power tailored to student life at the university. All students moving into on-campus housing will find the Green Guide in their rooms. The guide, which also tells students how to get involved with sustainability efforts, will be offered at resource fairs and other events. Education for Sustainable Living Program students collaborated with UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services and the Office of Residential Life to publish the guide.
American U Installs Green Roofs with the Help of Volunteers
American University (DC) has installed two green roofs with the help of 50 students, faculty and local neighbors. The university partnered with local nonprofit DC Greenworks to oversee the collaborative learning experience. Volunteers helped with all aspects of the installation including the removal of existing roof pavers, the spread of the green roof growing medium and planting the green roof.
McMaster U Students Launch Campus Farmers Market
Students at McMaster University (ON) have launched a campus farmers market that runs every Thursday, offering fresh, local food to students, faculty and staff. The market has three area growers who supply produce, and the producers are invited to the market to share their food knowledge.
U Illinois Debuts Sustainable Student-Run Farm
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has debuted the new Sustainable Student Farm. The three-acre farm is part of an initiative to have locally grown produce make up 30 percent of all food eaten on campus by the year 2015. All fruits and vegetables harvested will either be sent to the university’s dining services department or sold on Thursdays on campus during lunch hours. Students and volunteers work and manage the farm.
California State U San Bernardino Hands Out Sustainable Fortunes
California State University, San Bernardino sweetened its sustainability messaging by passing out fortune cookies during its recent Welcome Week. The cookies were filled with green campus information inside, an idea initiated by the university's Green Campus interns. The team is currently gearing up for more student-involved green activities.
Clemson U Starts Healthy Campus Initiative
From a campus bike share program to recyclable cafeteria to-go containers, Clemson University (SC) will kick off the school year with the Healthy Campus project. Targeting environmentally conscious students and those who struggle to remain active and healthy, the initiative takes a personal approach to sustainability. In an effort to keep fitness levels up, the university is working with engineers to make the campus more pedestrian friendly to encourage walking. Clemson Housing is also working with Students for Environmental Action to start a new on-campus live-in, learn-in community. The university's EcoPlex will serve as the pilot building for the learn-in community, featuring energy-efficient heating and cooling, reduced water use and on-site recycling.
American U Launches Green Eagles Program
The American University (DC) has launched Green Eagles, a student sustainability educators program. Green Eagles are paid, part-time student workers hired to implement sustainable practices on campus and to conduct outreach to the university community as a whole, with an emphasis on the residence halls where they reside. Green Eagles will have the opportunity to learn about waste, recycling, composting, energy and carbon neutrality.
Bucknell U Students Initiate Green Roof Learning Laboratory
Bucknell University (PA) has installed about 150 trays of soil and sedum on a 600-square-foot portion of a campus roof. The variety of hardy, flowering plans will serve as a testing ground as well as a living, learning laboratory for students interested in green building. The project was initiated by environmental studies students as part of the Campus Greening Initiative’s Sustainable Energy and Ecological Design Project Program. The green roof will help insulate the building and reduce stormwater runoff.
Central Michigan U Starts Campus Grow Project
Central Michigan University has launched the Campus Grow Project. With a focus on organic community gardening and composting, the project offers sustainable alternatives to the industrial food system through access to healthy local food and educational gardening opportunities. Students can grow and harvest food in two organic gardens on the university’s campus, where food scraps from the university’s residential restaurants are used to create nutrient-rich soil. Plots are also available to faculty and community members.
U Chicago Utilizes Dorm Open Space
The University of Chicago (IL) has announced plans to create student-maintained gardens with available land space outside dormitories. The "Uncommon Garden Project" will encourage dorm residents to plant, cultivate and harvest their own fruits, vegetables and herbs just outside their kitchens. With support from the Uncommon Fund, start-up costs will be provided along with the education needed to maintain the gardens. A Web page found on the Geophysical Science department website will feature updates, photos and garden announcements.
California State U Long Beach Students Ramp Up Green Program
Interns with California State University Long Beach’s student-led Green Campus Program are working to ensure that campus classrooms are as energy efficient as possible. One project features the use of data loggers that record the activity of occupancy sensors through on/off changes of lights. The students will watch for irregular patterns in lighting usage that indicate when automatic light sensors are not working properly and inform the university's Facilities Management Department. The Green Campus Program was implemented last spring at the university, with plans to promote energy efficiency to students, make operational change recommendations and encourage the implementation of energy efficiency lessons into university curriculum. A main goal of the program, which is currently in place on 19 California campuses, is to build pathways for students to green careers through trainings, internships, volunteer opportunities and project-based learning.
Lake Forest College Students Start Campus Garden
Lake Forest College (IL) students have created a campus garden, funded by the Andrew Mellon Grant for environmental studies. The garden features four different garden styles, including three bio-intensive beds, two tilled fields, three raised seeder beds and a no-dig garden. Crops include carrots, potatoes, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, kale, chard, tomatoes and herbs. The students are working to direct the harvest to the school cafeteria.
Pennsylvania State U Launches Eco-Rep Program
Pennsylvania State University has announced plans to start an Eco-Rep Program in the fall. Students who are Eco-Reps will live in residential halls and promote environmentally responsible behaviors. Eco-Reps are expected to focus on the reduction of electricity use during the fall semester and recycling in the spring. The university is looking to fill 28 spots open to incoming freshman.
