Frostburg State U Allocates Funding to 12 Sustainability Projects
Twelve projects, about half of which were student proposals, recently received grant funding from the university’s President’s Advisory Council on Sustainability. Funded projects include increasing sustainability awareness, performing environmental research, presenting research at academic conferences and making direct environmental impacts on campus. Funding preference was given to those projects that involve and benefit students, are linked to an academic class offering experiential learning, provide long-term campus benefits and address the university's Climate Action Plan.
Kentucky State U Director Earns Environmental Education Honor
Jennifer Hubbard-Sánchez, director of the center for environmental education at Kentucky State University in Frankfort and state specialist for sustainable programs, was selected from nominees across the U.S. as one of five Outstanding Educators by Project Learning Tree. Hubbard-Sánchez connects Kentuckians with a special interest in teaching about climate change. Project Learning Tree is the national environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.
Dalhousie U Releases Bike Safety Video
The university recently debuted a comedic bike safety video with 12 tips for safe cycling. Students and alumni appear in the film, which was co-funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
Higher Education Institutions Under Pressure to Disclose Investments
The Associated Press reports that Congress and campus activists have stepped up pressure on colleges and universities to reveal financial investments made through their endowments. While lawmakers are questioning whether to tax colleges on investment portfolios, activists, including alumni and students, are demanding to know if investments are held in certain industries. An inquiry by The Associated Press to 50 public and private universities asking them to disclose their investments revealed "most schools issue annual reports with broad information and few details about specific investments".
U British Columbia Bolsters City's Climate Action Potential
Student participants of the 2015 Greenest City Scholars cohort have worked with the city of Vancouver on specific sustainability projects including water and food challenges. The projects target the city's ability to be resilient in the face of climate challenges. Since 2010, the Greenest City Scholars Program has brought together a total of 79 graduate students from the University of British Columbia.
Bucknell U Buildings Earn LEED Gold
The university's South Campus Apartments and Student Commons building, now displaying the Gold designation, feature natural light and energy-efficient lighting technology, FSC-certified wood, efficient plumbing fixtures, wind power and native plant landscaping.
Universities Help Launch 'Intentional Endowments Network'
Nearly 20 universities recently announced the formal launch of the Intentional Endowments Network. To support the development of intentionally designed endowments, the network facilitates peer-to-peer connection and learning, thought leadership and collaborative action. This peer-learning network engages senior decision-makers and key stakeholders in dialogue around the full range of options related to sustainable investing.
MIT Initiates Crowdsourcing for Climate Mitigation Ideas
The university recently launched a crowdsourcing contest to identify projects that reduce campus emissions and highlight the potential for scaleable, educational solutions as a living laboratory. The challenge is part of a new series of contests launched by the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform of over 50,000 members. The series seeks high-impact proposals that tackle major climate change challenges.
EPA 2015 Food Recovery Challenge Announces Regional Winners
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the five universities winners of the 2015 Food Recovery Challenge as California State University, Northridge; Northern Arizona University; Rochester Institute of Technology; University of Arizona; and University of California, Davis. These institutions pledged to improve their sustainable food management practices and report their results.
Penn State Students Help Peers Make Healthy Food Choices
Thanks to a new blog, the RHEAL Deal (Residential Healthy Eating and Living Deal), university student nutrition assistants communicate weekly posts highlighting healthy items in the dining commons. The blog posts include information about the nutrients in the featured food, different ways it can be prepared and where it can be found in the dining commons. Food that meets the healthy qualifications of RHEAL are also marked by a carrot icon on the entrée card.
Penn State Grounds Become Bat Habitat
Biology and engineering students collaborated to research, design and build bat houses that will be placed at two campus locations that were identified as suitable bat habitats.
Morehead State U Obtains Bee Campus Honor
A Bee Campus USA certification now adorns the university after the campus developed a Pollinator Protection Plan for its 1,200-acre landscape that includes locally native and pollinator friendly plants.
U Missouri to House Two Beehives
With planning that began over one year ago, Sustain Mizzou wants to install the beehives to teach students about bee behavior and the importance of bees for food production.
Cornell U Constructs Two Photovoltaic Arrays
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Cornell University, along with Distributed Sun and Building Energy, announced that new rooftop solar arrays have been installed atop two university buildings to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build a clean energy future. The university received support for these solar projects under New York Governor Cuomo's $1 billion NY-Sun Initiative, administered by NYSERDA, which is designed to advance the scale-up of solar and move New York State closer to having a sustainable, self-sufficient solar industry.
Cranfield U Launches MS Course in the Circular Economy
The new master's level course is on the concept of the circular economy, a notion that attempts to increasingly decouple production from the consumption of finite resources, and emphasizes keeping products and materials at their highest value and utility at all times. The course will focus on how business can be restorative and regenerative.
Dickinson College Presents Prize to Pulitzer Prize-Winning Elizabeth Kolbert
The college will present Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert with The Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism. The $100,000 prize was created to focus attention on the need to reduce the impact of human lives on the planet, particularly given the rising population predictions for this century. Kolbert's most recent book, The Sixth Extinction, won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2015.
Penn State Building Collects LEED Gold Designation
After a three-year effort, the university's Smeal College is now adorned with the USGBC LEED-EB (Existing Building) Gold certification. Since the building will need to be re-certified every five years to keep its designation, business building will act as a living laboratory for students to conduct research and participate in experiential learning.
Penn State to End Coal Shipments
In an effort to decrease greenhouse gases and increase the efficiency of energy use, the university will receive its last coal shipment March 2016. After 160 years of relying on coal for electricity and heat, the university is transitioning to natural gas, in part, to help the university comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's National Enforcement Initiatives.
Michigan State U Courses Conduct Waste Audits
Two of four of the university's Introduction to Sustainability courses provide students with the opportunity to partner with the university's Recycling Center team to conduct a hands-on waste audit of a campus building. The Recycling Center team will use the data to improve signage and outreach materials.
U California Santa Cruz Organizes Paper Recycle Day
The Records and Information Management, and Policy Coordination Office sponsored a Disposition Day event, offering secure shredding and recycling of confidential and restricted paper documents to university business offices. This year, 10 offices participated and 5,034 pounds of paper were securely recycled.
Portland CC Earns Bee Campus USA Status
The community college recently announced its acquisition of the Bee Campus USA certification. In keeping with certification, the campus implements an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan, staff are regularly trained on best IPM practices and chemical use, and the college is expected to use signage in appropriate places that explain the role of pollinators. There are currently plans to develop a Campus Pollinator Habitat Plan.
Umpqua CC to Install 36KW Photovoltaic Array
As part of an ongoing energy efficiency overhaul for the campus, the community college will be installing a 36-kilowatt solar energy system that will have the ability to be expanded up to 300-kilowatt capacity.
U California Santa Cruz Researcher Earns NSAC Recognition
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has given its Sustainability Champion award to the university's alumnus Mark Lipson, currently a researcher with UCSC’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. NSAC said the award was made to honor Lipson’s years of service to the organic and sustainable agriculture movement, and his “groundbreaking work on Capitol Hill shepherding historic changes, such as the much-celebrated five-fold increase in funding for organic research secured in the 2008 Farm Bill.”
U Alberta Installs Solar-Powered Street Fixture
As a solution to lighting a dark area on campus where connecting with grid power isn't feasible, the first solar-powered street lamp at the university was installed on the Augustana campus this past month.
SUNY Oneonta Creates Sustainability Living and Learning Community
Beginning in fall 2016, the college will offer two new living, learning communities for incoming freshman. The Sustainability Living Learning Community will focus on management of environmental and financial resources, and finding harmony with the natural environment. The Social Justice Living Learning Community will enable students to engage diverse perspectives and views, critically examine issues that cause oppression related to race, gender, age and other differences, and form connections to other community members interested in social justice issues.
Boston U Names Head of New Institute for Sustainable Energy
At the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Peter Fox-Penner and his team will focus on increasing energy research initiatives throughout the university, deepening connections among science, engineering and management scholars with policy makers and corporations, and advancing the curriculum at the university's schools and colleges. The institute’s three research focus areas are electric industry transformation, global climate change and smart, sustainable cities.
U Calgary Launches Institutional Sustainability Strategy
The university recently completed a comprehensive institutional sustainability strategy that, for the first time, incorporates an academic framework to advance education and research for sustainability. During the launch, the university also announced a new interdisciplinary sustainability certificate that will be offered to all undergraduate students. The strategy is the result of more than two years of broad consultation with students, faculty, staff and community partners.
MIT Students & Administrators Reach Climate Agreement
After months of dialog and negotiation, the student-led group Fossil Free MIT and MIT administrators have reached an agreement that has brought an end to the group’s sit-in, which began in October 2015. The agreement identifies four areas where campus stakeholders will work together: campus carbon neutrality, a climate action advisory committee, strategies and benchmarks for public engagement, and holding a forum about the ethics of the climate issue.
U California Santa Cruz Hosts Climate Science and Policy Conference
Climate scientists, policymakers and practitioners, including former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, recently participated in a national conference on climate science and climate change. Presented by the divisions of Social Sciences, and Physical and Biological Sciences, the theme of the third annual climate science & policy conference was Earth's Climate Future: Uncharted Territory. Three panels focused on public health, geoengineering and geopolitics.
U Maryland Launches Center for Global Sustainability
The university recently announced the opening of its new Center for Global Sustainability housed within the School of Public Policy. The center will feature a multi-stakeholder approach to analysis and policy assessment. Work will be organized around four topical areas that draw from existing strengths at the university: climate mitigation policy; energy pathways; resilience and adaptation; and ecosystems and health. In celebration of the launch of the Center for Global Sustainability, Al Gore visited the campus on March 1 to pledge his support for the center’s mission of a multi-stakeholder approach to climate change policy.
U Minnesota Duluth and Lake Superior College Awarded Solar Assistance Grants
Technical assistance grants were recently awarded to the two schools to learn more about the feasibility and economic assessment of installing solar photovoltaics on their campus. In support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) offered no-cost technical assistance to universities seeking to deploy solar energy technology. The schools will receive initial assessment of solar photovoltaic feasibility, including cost-effectiveness of installations, recommended system sizes, estimated capital costs to implement solar and estimated life cycle cost savings. The results will help the campuses plan for future ways to be cost-effective and reduce carbon emissions.
Maharishi U Management Composts All Dining Hall Waste
Since late December, all of the food waste from the campus dining hall, including scraps from veggie prep, leftover food in serving trays at the end of a meal, and diners’ uneaten food, is being composted, amounting to about 720 pounds per day. The compost that is generated is then used on the campus, year-round student farm.
Stanford U Athletics Implements Energy & Water Saving Measures
The university's Athletics Department, which operates 70 buildings on campus, recently completed projects that significantly reduce energy consumption, waste and water including the installation of new HVAC equipment, additional composting and recycling bins, and hand watering turf versus automatic sprinkler use.
Portland State U Launches Seed Library
The Student Sustainability Center has launched a new seed library where any university student, staff or faculty member can take free seeds to plant and grow. Participants are invited to harvest seeds from the plants they grow and return some of these next generation seeds to the library for others to borrow and to keep the library going. The 2016 seed inventory includes 270 different seed varieties.
U Central Florida Holds Energy Competition
One of the largest campaigns hosted by the university's Sustainability Initiatives is underway for its ninth year, the Kill-A-Watt Energy Conservation Competition. This competition uses scholarship incentives (up to $750) to encourage university residents to lower their energy consumption over a two-and-a-half month timeline.
Six Universities to Host Climate Leadership Summits
National Campus Leadership Council recently announced the six sites to host a 2016 Climate Leadership Summit as Arizona State University (April 16), Cal Poly Pomona and Claremont McKenna College (April 22-23), Florida International University (April 30), Georgia State University (April 6), and University of Wisconsin-River Falls (April 9). In partnership with Defend Our Future, the regional summits provide a platform to address energy challenges and climate change.
Swarthmore College Approves Carbon Charge
The college's Board of Managers recently approved $300,000 in its 2016-17 annual budget for a new carbon charge that will provide funding for campus initiatives and projects that increase energy conservation and efficiency and promote renewable energy. In the short term, the charge will be levied against the budgets of all academic and operational departments and long term, the charge will be tied to actual emissions.
Stanford U Gets $400M Pledge from Nike Chairman
Philip Knight, the co-founder and chairman of Nike Inc., said recently that he had pledged to give Stanford University $400 million to recruit graduate students around the globe to address society’s most intractable problems, including poverty and climate change. Starting in 2018, the program will annually offer full tuition and board to 100 students, a third of them from the U.S. and two-thirds from abroad, who will gain admittance to one of Stanford’s seven graduate schools and commit to working on important issues in small, multidisciplinary teams.
Penn State Approves One-Acre Plot for Student Farm
In the works for nearly two years, the university recently set aside a one-acre plot for the Student Farm Club to grow food and operate a community-supported agriculture program for three years. The farm will operate as a laboratory where students will have the opportunity to study food production and marketing.
100 Geoscientists Urge AGU to Drop Exxon Sponsorship
Recently more than 100 geoscientists sent a letter to the president of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest association of Earth scientists, urging the association to end its sponsorship deal with ExxonMobil because of the companies role in providing misinformation about climate change and polarizing the American public. Geoscientists that have not yet signed the letter are invited to do so.
Lehigh U Restaurant Earns Green Certification
Sodexo-operated Rathbone Student Restaurant has officially been named a two-star certified green restaurant after meeting environmental standards of The Green Restaurant Association. The standards provide a way to measure a restaurant’s environmental accomplishments, while providing a path for next steps each restaurant can take towards increased environmental sustainability.
North Carolina State U Students Compete in 45-Hour Sustainability Challenge
The university's first Make-a-thon, a 45-hour challenge to create solutions to campus sustainability challenges, brought together 42 students on 11 teams to compete in one of three categories: energy, waste or water. Armed with actual campus utility, waste and recycling data, student teams researched, designed and prototyped sustainability innovations. Some projects may get funded through the university Sustainability Fund.
