Turning off lights in an empty room, changing to compact fluorescent bulbs, and implementing recycling programs might be the low-hanging fruit of reducing a campus’s carbon footprint, but they are also very effective steps. Read on to learn ways some campuses are turning a deeper shade of green—by taking commonsense measures to a higher level.
Environmental living and learning community students encourage their classmates to switch to environmentally-friendly light bulbs.
Students at the University of Albany (N.Y.) are being challenged to calculate their carbon footprint and then make strides to reduce it. This fall will be the third year UAlbany is providing two living and learning communities—one for freshmen and one for upperclassmen—focusing on the environment. They emphasize energy in the fall and recycling and waste reduction in the spring.
Efforts include making residents aware of their energy use and how to reduce it. The 100 upperclassmen in the community reside in individually metered apartments. “We send them fake energy bills to give them an awareness of what they should be prepared to spend upon graduating,” says Mary Ellen Mallia, environmental sustainability director. Students who used the least amount of energy received a gift certificate to the local mall: $30 for first place, $20 for second, and $10 for third.
Students living in the community are expected to sign an agreement committing themselves to living a green lifestyle and pledge to participate in campus-wide programs. They can also opt to volunteer on councils that collaborate with faculty and staff to plan awareness events. Past initiatives include changing all washers to cold water, providing students with information about local food, and organizing a sustainability fair.
GRADUATION GOING GREEN
Solar panels that formerly sat atop the White House in Washington make an appropriate backdrop for 2009 graduates at Unity College, which has made commencement greener.
For an environmental school such as Unity College (Maine), commencement is an opportunity to “showcase a commitment to sustainability,” says Jesse Pyles, Unity’s sustainability coordinator. Boasting the greenest commencement in the school’s history, and possibly the United States, Unity marked this year by sending out e-invites, providing 75 percent of food from local farmers, giving only one program to each family, printing diplomas on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, and using graduation gowns made from recycled bottles.
“We’ve tried to make commencement just one snapshot of our efforts towards sustainability,” says Kate Grenier, alumni relations and events planner. Students graduating were also asked to sign a pledge committing themselves to live environmentally friendly lifestyles.
Because Unity has only 560 undergraduate students, they are able to test run sustainable practices larger universities might later adopt.
“We’re small and flexible and able to try new ideas to see how they work on our scale,” says Mark Tardif, associate director of college communications. “And then you put them out eventually on the larger scale. You have to be committed to what you want to achieve in being green, not just going through the motions.”
Other colleges and universities, such as Quinnipiac University (Conn.), are jumping on the green commencement bandwagon with some help from academic apparel manufacturer Oak Hall Cap & Gown. Oak Hall is now providing dozens of schools with completely biodegradable graduation gowns (with the exception of the zipper and button on the cap). Though gowns cost six percent more than previous ones, Quinnipiac is willing to pick up the extra cost, explains Maria Bimonk, director of shared services for the university. “It’s near and dear to the students. The most obvious thing [is that] it’s an all-around better product. They feel better, look better, and there are 23 less bottles per gown in the landfill. How could you not choose it? That’s 45,000 less bottles [for a Quinnipiac graduation].”
The university also provided bins to give students the choice to donate their gowns back to the university to be reused.
CENTRALIZING SUSTAINABILITY
UCSD’s Sustainability Resource Center teaches students how to care for their campus and world.
For a university as large as the University of California, San Diego, administrators and students felt a central location was needed for sustainability efforts. After two years of planning, the Sustainability Resource Center opened in the student center in fall 2009.
“The whole concept is that it’s a place where students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding community can come and brainstorm ideas about sustainability,” says Maggie Souder, campus sustainability coordinator. With 20,000 people passing through the student center, it is doing just that. The space allows staff members to empower students to set goals and give them the tools and resources to achieve them.
