Macalester College President Signs UN Sustainability Declaration
The “Commitment to Sustainable Practices of Higher Education Institutions on the Occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development” requires the college to share its education and operations sustainability goals with international frameworks like the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
Mills College Students Launch Bike Co-Op
A group of students have created the Spokes Folks Bike Co-Op, providing a community support system, bike-repair seminars and maintenance tools. The co-op aims to provide access to bicycles to those who do not own bikes.
Nat'l College Geothermal Energy Competition Finalists Announced
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the eight university teams that will compete in the 2012 National Geothermal Student Competition, which challenges teams to conduct cutting-edge research in geology, geoscience, chemical and bio-molecular energy, and engineering that could lead to breakthroughs in geothermal energy development. Student teams from Boise State University (Idaho), Colorado School of Mines, Cornell University Energy Institute and Cornell University Sustainable Design (New York), Idaho State University, Southern Methodist University, University of Idaho and University of Texas at Austin will analyze the economic feasibility of developing clean, renewable geothermal energy in Snake River Plain, Idaho.
Pennsylvania State U Building Awarded LEED Gold
The Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building includes a range of sustainability strategies including rainwater collection and a heat-recovery system. In collaboration with students, a "Sustainability Awareness" signage program has also been implemented in the building.
Police Clear 'Occupy the Farm' Protest at UC Berkeley
Police broke up an Occupy the Farm encampment on agricultural research land owned by the University of California, Berkeley, reports a recent SF Gate article. Loosely affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, the activists tilled two acres, planted vegetables, set up a drip system and pitched tents on the site in protest against planned commercial development and housing nearby. The group is asking the university to preserve the tract for agricultural study and urban farming.
San Diego State U Installs Solar Array Atop Student Center
With funding from a student-introduced referendum passed by the student body in spring 2008, the university has installed a 115-watt solar photovoltaic array atop its Aztec Recreation Center. The system will lower Associated Students costs and help keep student membership fees low. Visitors to the facility can view the solar production in real-time.
Simon Fraser U Earns Fair Trade Status
The university has received Fair Trade Campus status from Fairtrade Canada. The certification is a result of its support for ethical purchasing including coffee, tea and chocolate.
Thomas More College Turns Green Spaces into Art
The college's new Sculpting Spaces project encourages the campus community to transform the campus’ green spaces into outdoor studios, laboratory classrooms and student galleries. Students and faculty are working to create artistic spaces while learning about landscape design and sustainability practices.
U Calgary Launches Corporate Sustainability Center
The university has partnered with energy distributor Enbridge to open a new center in the Haskayne School of Business that will focus on aligning business and policy with environmental, social and economic considerations. Enbridge has committed $2.25 million over 10 years to the center for graduate student and faculty research, post-doctoral fellows and "research in action" seminars that will bring together researchers, practitioners and industry experts.
U Connecticut Unveils New Fuel Cell Power Plant
Funded by a federal stimulus grant from Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, the 400-kilowatt fuel cell will provide energy to university research labs and offices, including those working on advancing fuel cell and microgrid technology at the Center for Clean Energy Engineering.
U Louisville Students Install Recycled Solar Panels
Members of the university’s Renewable Energy and Efficiency Club are installing a small-scale solar energy project using recycled materials. Students purchased the solar cells from eBay and re-engineered the cell architecture to use a low-cost method. The panels will be used to power two fans that will ventilate a greenhouse.
Wake Forest U Barn Earns LEED Silver
The on-campus student social venue is first building on campus to feature solar electric PV cells. Surrounded by wildlife and accessible via walking path, the building also features energy-efficient fans to cool the space in the hottest months.
28 College Leaders Commit 5% of Earnings to Fight Global Poverty
Twenty-eight current and former college leaders have publicly come forward as charter members of the Presidents' Pledge Against Global Poverty. Reports a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, they are donating 5 percent of their total compensation this year to charities that fight global poverty. The pledge is designed to help reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include halving the number of people in the world who live in extreme poverty by 2015.
California State U Students Announce Hunger Strike
Thirteen students at six campuses in the California State University system have vowed to fast until university leaders agree to a five-year tuition freeze, administrative pay cuts and more free speech rights on campus. The system has lost nearly $1 billion in state funding since 2008, reports the Los Angeles Times article, and tuition has increased six years in a row, including a 9 percent hike this fall.
Campus Conservation Nationals 2012 Announces Top Savers
Nearly a quarter-million students at 100 colleges and universities across the U.S. collectively saved 1,739,046 kilowatt-hours of energy and 1,554,814 gallons of water during this year's three-week competition. The top five schools with the greatest average percent reduction in electricity (ranging from 16 to 36 percent across all participating buildings) are Southern Connecticut State University, University of Kentucky, Western Technical College (Wisconsin), Hofstra University (New York) and Bowling Green State University (Ohio). The nationwide electricity and water reduction competition is organized by the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Center for Green Schools, Lucid Design Group, Alliance to Save Energy and the National Wildlife Federation.
Chatham U Hosts Teaching Art Exhibit on Local Ecological Disaster
Celebrating the diversity of life in freshwater streams while raising questions about how water and resources are currently managed, “Reflections: Homage to Dunkard Creek” is a collaborative installation art project created by 90 regional artists. The project commemorates the lives of the many species that died in a local creek in September 2009 from a fatal combination of mine wastes and low water, exacerbated by industry water withdrawals, which introduced an alien toxic algae.
Cornell U Partners to Create Solutions for Global Concerns
Cornell University and the global humanitarian organization CARE have launched CARE-Cornell, a partnership that will merge the university’s research with CARE's experience fighting poverty to create solutions for global concerns including world hunger and climate change. CARE-Cornell will provide financial support for international projects through the Impact through Innovation Fund, supplemented by competitive external grants. Five projects are currently under way in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Vietnam, Sierra Leone and Zambia.
Cornell U Students Create Low-Cost Light for Developing Countries
An idea that uses soda bottles to provide light to people in developing countries without electricity has won the $3,000 first-place prize at the university's Big Idea competition, open to all undergraduates. CapLight, created by Chris Dobyns '13 and Folajimi Fowose '13, replaces the cap of a standard soda bottle with an LED light assembly designed to provide low-cost, energy-efficient lighting. The prize money will be used to build more prototypes, which the students plan to distribute this summer.
Jamestown College Implements Campus-wide Recycling Program
After a successful pilot program, the college is taking its recycling program campus-wide with $3,000 worth of additional recycling bins for residence halls. Long term, the college aims to have small receptacles in each dorm room as well as larger receptacles in every building on campus.
New York Times Profiles Rise of 'Food Studies' Curriculum
Encompassing agriculture, business, health, economy, environment and international relations, the new academic field of food studies is "taking shape in an expanding number of colleges and universities," reports a recent New York Times article. Tailoring programs to their geographic areas and demographics, institutions are preparing students for new careers in food safety reform; local-food businesses and anti-obesity; equity and climate efforts; and broader contexts of traditional disciplines like culinary arts and farming.
Oberlin College Announces Plans for New 2.3 MW Solar Array
Construction of a 2.27-megawatt solar array consisting of 7,722 polycrystalline photovoltaic panels will begin soon and start producing energy in September. The array will also provide research opportunities for students and faculty in multiple disciplines. The college has entered into an agreement with Spear Point Energy to purchase the electricity that is produced.
Ohio State U Dining Commons Achieves LEED Silver
The university's Kennedy Commons features the original exterior from 1955, an effort to preserve the historic exterior of the building and minimize construction debris. Additional sustainable features include low VOC building materials and the reuse of existing furniture. Seventy-five percent of the construction waste was recycled.
Portland CC Develops Hybrid and Electric Car Curriculum
The college’s hybrid and electric car battery research will be developed into a curriculum to share with students, local technicians, fellow community colleges and businesses. The program, which is developing a 30-credit hybrid-training certificate, has partnered with two local repair shops to look at how they can provide better and more affordable repair work for hybrid and electric cars.
RecycleMania Tournament Reveals 2012 Winners
American University (D.C.) earned the title of Grand Champion in the 12th Annual RecycleMania Tournament, which diverted a total of 92 million pounds of recyclables and organic materials from the landfill and prevented the release of nearly 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The university earned the title with an overall waste recycling percentage of 85 percent. With nearly 62 pounds of recyclables collected per person, Union College (New York) won the Per Capita Classic award and Valencia College (Florida) was recognized for Waste Minimization with the lowest overall amount of recyclables and trash per person (2.8 pounds). Florida State University students won the tournament's second annual video contest with the most "likes" on You Tube.
Rutgers U Launches 'Project Move Out' to Reduce Waste
Launching this month, Project Move Out will provide free pick-up of items like furniture, electronics and appliances as students leave campus for the summer. An effort to reduce landfill waste, the items will be taken to the appropriate recycling facility by university personnel.
Santa Clara U Athletics Center Introduces User-Powered Treadmills
The university has added two new treadmills that are "powered by sweat" for a total of 33 fitness machines that are self-generating and require no electricity. In total, the university reports that the 33 machines save enough electricity to power a personal computer for 10 years.
Second Nature Chooses 10 Climate Leaders
Second Nature and the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) have announced the 10 winners of the Third Annual Climate Leadership Awards, presented to ACUPCC signatory schools that demonstrate "unparalleled campus innovation and climate leadership that helps transition society to a clean, just and sustainable future." The winning academic institutions include Arizona State University, University of South Florida, Allegheny College (Pennsylvania), Luther College, (Iowa), Austin Community College District (Texas), Haywood Community College (North Carolina), Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Central Missouri, Pratt Institute and PALS (New York), and the University of California System.
Slippery Rock U Announces Latest Round of Green Grant Funds
Four new Green Fund grants totaling $39,590 will go toward the purchase of energy monitors for residence halls; the installation of an electric meter to measure the effectiveness of energy initiatives in campus buildings; and fund two projects titled “Harnessing Human Energy” and "2012 Campus Conversation on Climate Change and Regional Policy: An Exercise in Deliberative Democracy."
U Calif Riverside Students Win Int'l Enviro Design Competition
A team of students from the university’s Bourns College of Engineering recently won the 2012 Intel Environmental Innovation Award for their reusable storm drain oil filter design. Constructed out of 100 percent recycled materials, "Sustain-a-Drain" is placed into storm drains to filter the oil carried in stormwater run-off. The students plan to patent their design and permanently install filters on campus.
U Chicago Works to 'Green' Campus Fitness Center
In addition to user-powered fitness bikes and reuse/swap/donation options for its older fitness machines and athletic uniforms, the university's Ratner Athletics Center is working with Facilities Services to implement energy conservation lighting and recalibrate and balance its ventilation system.
U Colorado Boulder Names 2012 Campus Sustainability Award Winners
The university has announced the campus individuals and departments that are being recognized this year for their commitment to reducing the burden that the university places on the environment. In addition to several individuals, awardees include Boulder Food Rescue, Fair Food Task Force, National Snow and Ice Data Center and Program for Writing and Rhetoric.
U Kansas, Utah Research Reveals that Nature Boosts Creativity
New research conducted by faculty from the University of Kansas and the University of Utah concludes that people from all walks of life show "startling" cognitive improvement — for instance, a 50 percent boost in creativity — after living for a few days steeped in nature. Without distractions of 21st century life including social media, electronics and cell phones, people have resources left over to be creative, imaginative and to problem solve.
U Michigan Students Establish Campus Farm Pilot
Four School of Natural Resources and Environment graduate students have established a 250-square-foot pilot farm for testing crops that will then be donated. Future plans include a larger farm and a centralized sustainable food program at the university. The students are currently seeking additional funding to hire a farm manager.
U Pennsylvania Announces Green Fund Award Recipients
Ranging from a comprehensive recycling center within the School of Engineering and Applied Science to a behavior change project focusing on water conservation, the university's Green Campus Partnership has named five sustainability projects that will receive spring funding.
U South Florida Named Tree Campus USA
The Arbor Day Foundation has designated the university as a National Tree Campus USA. Over 1,000 trees donated by a local tree nursery and by the foundation were planted around campus in honor of its designation and Earth Day.
Virginia Commonwealth U Debuts 2 Campus Gardens
A new vegetated rooftop garden serves as a living classroom to educate the campus community about the stormwater reduction capacity of roofs, as well as the cooling effects for mitigating urban heat islands. A new community garden on campus includes plots owned by students, faculty, staff and community members, an open teaching area, and two plots run and managed by volunteers who will donate the harvest to local food banks.
Austin CC Programming Targets Women for Green Energy Jobs
In an effort to double the percentage of women preparing for green energy careers, the community college recently held an information session about ways to increase diversity in clean energy as part of its Environmental Awareness Month. The college offers continuing education certificates in solar thermal and electric systems, solar photovoltaic installation, weatherization technology and wind power delivery systems.
Coastal Carolina U Hosts Farmers Market
The one-day market, featuring local producers, was held to promote the quality and value in local, fresh produce and products to the campus community and public.
Delta College Unveils Interpretive Stormwater Management Signage
With a grant from Bay Area Community Foundation, the signs provide an introduction to the campus' redesigned watercourse, natural filtration system and habitat restoration efforts. Students and visitors can now learn about the project materials and methods selected to reduce environmental impact and support the local economy.
DePaul U to Launch Urban Agriculture Minor
Starting in the fall, the university's new urban agriculture minor will allow students to study issues of social and environmental justice, food security, sustainability and ecology through hands-on engagement. The university's new Urban Farming Organization has also begun constructing a campus urban farm that will complement the curriculum and educate the public about how to establish and enjoy sustainable food production systems.
Duke U Adds Diesel-Electric Buses to Campus Fleet
The university has added five new hybrid diesel-electric buses to its free Bull City Connector fleet. The $3 million addition, funded by the Federal Transit Administration and North Carolina Department of Transportation, is expected to save the university about 27 percent on daily fuel usage compared to traditional diesel buses.
EPA Announces Green Power Challenge Winners
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized a Champion Green Power Conference as well as the largest single green power users in its sixth College and University Green Power Challenge for 2011-2012. At more than 228 million kilowatt-hours, the Pac-12 conference topped the list with the largest total purchase among all conferences.
Fordham U Students Launch Campus Garden
Student group Fordham Urban Sustainability and Ecosystems and the United Student Government have created an agricultural garden and living classroom on campus. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of healthy eating habits and to educate the campus community about the production of sustainable food. In alliance with a local farm, the two groups have also initiated a Community Supported Agriculture program.
Gustavus Adolphus College Installs Solar Panels
Purchased through an anonymous donation, the college has installed solar panels on four buildings to heat the water system in various parts of campus. In addition to conserving energy on campus, the panels will help provide research opportunities for students. Student researchers can receive access to a power grid to observe installations or get virtual access for projects in the teaching lab.
Harvard U Pilots New 'Upcycling' Program at Law School
Through a partnership with TerraCycle, members of the law school community can now drop off hard-to-recycle or previously non-recyclable items like plastic packaging or writing instruments in bins located across campus, where they will be turned into new products ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. The university aims to take the initiative university-wide.
Harvard U Students Launch Climate Awareness Blog
Titled "There's a Hole in my Ozone and Other Awkward Problems," the blog is a source of "factual but unintimidating environmental information" designed to show students that little things can make a difference toward a greener life. The blog was created by two Harvard Resource Efficiency Program Representatives.
League of American Bicyclists Names New Bike Friendly Campuses
Nine new institutions have been recognized for their efforts to help bicycling thrive on campus including president-led bicycling classes and rides at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a new Cycle Learning Center at Boise State University (Idaho). To date, the program has grown to 35 campuses in 21 states.
Medical U South Carolina Reports Significant Energy Savings
Through an Energy Savings Performance Contract with Ameresco, the university has announced savings of almost $2.5 million in annual energy costs. Energy-efficient retrofits completed under the contract include lighting system upgrades and the installation of more efficient water fixtures, fume hoods and mechanical upgrades and controls.
