Sustainability Professionals Exchange 2024
Presented by AASHE, the Sustainability Professionals Exchange is a professional learning opportunity that provides space to explore challenges and opportunities for refining and progressing sustainability work on campus. The online event takes place across four half-days in January 2024 and is structured to enable participants to co-create the agenda.
STARS 3.0 Consultative Weighting Exercise
This survey is designed to give the broader AASHE community a voice in the process of weighting the categories and impact areas to be included in the next version (3.0) of the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The results will be shared with the STARS Steering Committee to inform the final point allocation process for the new version. AASHE is soliciting feedback through Nov. 12.
US EPA Environmental Education Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks grant applications to support environmental education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. Up to $3.6 million is available across each of the EPA’s 10 regions, divided into grants of $50,000–$100,000 each, for a total of 30–40 grants. Applications are due Nov. 8.
2024 Corporate Engagement Challenge
Intentional Endowment Network's Student Corporate Engagement Challenge invites students to pitch an investment in a publicly-traded company, and include in that recommendation a shareholder engagement strategy focused on addressing inequality and the climate crisis. The deadline to sign up is Dec. 22.
Winter ‘24 Institute on Teaching Social Action
This three-day virtual event (Jan. 3-5, 2023) will introduce faculty and staff to an experiential learning approach for incorporating social action campaigns into either a semester-long course or co-curricular workshop series. During three half-days (noon to 4:00 p.m. Eastern), participants will draft a syllabus and develop a teaching plan for supporting student campaigns. The deadline to apply is Dec. 15.
COP28 Second Nature Delegation
This December, Second Nature will be leading a higher education delegation to the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, happening Nov. 30 through Dec. 12. Second Nature invites those who plan to attend to fill out the form so that events, receptions and sessions can be planned.
ISO 50001 Energy Management Technical Assistance Cohorts
The U.S. Department of Energy’s 50001 Ready program is providing free technical assistance to cohorts of energy team members at colleges and universities aiming to implement energy management systems based on the ISO 50001 standard. The cohort program includes six to twelve months of support and resources developed by the Department of Energy.
Large-Scale Renewable Energy Siting and Planning Grant Funding
The Renewable Energy Siting Through Technical Engagement and Planning (R-STEP) program, offered by the U.S. Department of Energy, seeks to expand the decision-making capacity and expertise of state and local governments around large-scale renewable energy planning, siting and permitting. The R-STEP program is accepting applications for the creation of new, or the expansion of existing, state-based programs or initiatives that improve renewable energy siting processes at the state and local levels. The deadline to submit is Nov. 3.
Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) Program Grants
This U.S. Department of Commerce grant program provides funding to teams of applied researchers seeking to expand society's regional capacity to adapt to climate impacts. The application deadline is Feb. 5, 2024.
STEM Course & Program Grants
Higher education institutions are invited to apply for Course and Program Grants from VentureWell, which provide up to $30,000 to expand and strengthen STEM innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, with the end goal of accelerating sustainable and inclusive innovation. The application deadline is Nov. 8.
2023-24 Engaged Research Fund
Designed to support university graduate students and faculty scholars working to develop long-term, sustainable community partnerships as a central part of their research, the program awards $6,000 to graduate students and $9,000 to faculty scholars who are currently conducting or commencing research that incorporates community engagement and supports sustained community partners. The deadline to apply is Oct. 20.
Sustainability Student Leadership Symposium: Intersectional Environmentalism
The Sustainability Student Leadership Symposium, themed Intersectional Environmentalism: Bridging Perspectives for a Sustainable Future, happens on the opening day (Oct. 29) of AASHE 2023 on the Bentley University campus. As part of students’ registration, event organizers are offering a free transportation between the symposium and the AASHE conference. Through panels, workshops and keynote speeches, the event will explore the connections between social inequalities like race, gender, class and the environment.
C2C Fellows Sustainability Leadership Training
Undergraduate students and recent graduates are invited to attend the free C2C (Campus to Community) sustainability leadership training, offered through Bard College. Happening Dec. 2 virtually, the training is for sustainability changemakers.
AASHE Governance Call for Applications
AASHE seeks candidates to serve on its board of directors, STARS Steering Committee and Advisory Council that can lend their time, talent and expertise to advance all aspects of AASHE's mission. In particular, AASHE encourages applications from Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and those with expertise in racial equity and social justice. Interested candidates should submit an application by Nov. 3.
Request for Input: Educating for Just Climate Action: Guidelines for Excellence
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is seeking feedback on a new set of guidelines focused on climate change education and climate justice. These guidelines are being designed to serve a broad range of individuals and organizations as a tool for working with communities to find just climate solutions. Comments are due by Oct. 27.
Wege Prize 2024
Wege Prize, organized by Kendall College of Art and Design’s Wege Center for Sustainable Design, is an annual competition that challenges college and university students around the world to collaborate across institutional, disciplinary and cultural boundaries to redesign the way economies work. Team applications are due Oct. 8.
Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week
Bard College invites faculty, staff and students to organize a class or an event focused on climate and justice on campuses and in communities for the Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week, happening April 1 - 8, 2024. Teaching guides for discussion are available.
Climate Wayfinding Facilitator Workshops
The All We Can Save Project is hosting facilitator training workshops for its Climate Wayfinding program, a program that fosters space for individual and collective navigation amidst the climate crisis. Cohorts of faculty and staff will come together to experience Climate Wayfinding as participants, then receive training to facilitate it on their campus. The residential programs are happening in Georgia in late May 2024, New York's Hudson Valley in early June 2024, and in Kingston, Ontario, in mid-June 2024, for faculty and staff at Canadian institutions. The deadline to apply is Nov. 10.
2023-2024 Better Buildings Webinar Series
The U.S. Department of Energy Better Buildings webinar series showcases the latest topics, technologies and trends to help organizations accelerate efforts to save money and reduce waste and carbon emissions.
Call for Papers: Libraries and Sustainable Development
The call for papers seeks abstracts that document and promote experiences from libraries and librarians on the action they are currently undertaking in order to promote sustainable development as a whole, and the SDGs in particular, within their organizations. Full papers are due Jan. 10, 2024, which will comprise a book titled Libraries and Sustainable Development: the Contribution of Libraries to Sustainability and the Implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The deadline to submit an abstract is Sept. 30.
Call for Proposals: COP 28 Greening Education Pavillon
The COP28 Greening Education Pavillon, hosted by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education in partnership with Greening Education Partnership with its secretariat at UNESCO, seeks proposals on climate change education. The open call for proposals on greening schools, curriculum, and teacher training and education systems’ capacities is open now through Sept. 8.
Call for Proposals: WOHESC 2024
Organizers of the 2024 Washington Oregon Cascadia Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) encourage conference sessions proposals through Oct. 13. Providing an opportunity for collective direction and solidarity in higher education in the Washington-Oregon region, the conference theme is Learning From Place: Solutions Beyond Boundaries.
2023 GameDay Football Challenge
The GameDay Football Challenge supports campuses to reduce the waste footprint of their home games and tailgating events by reducing single-use plastics, food waste recovery, use of reusable products, recycling and more. Participating institutions will track and report their recycling, food organics and trash for one home football game. The challenge is hosted by the National Wildlife Federation and the Campus Race to Zero Waste. The last day to register is Nov. 13.
Drawdown Ecochallenge
Drawdown Ecochallenge is a customizable and solutions-oriented engagement program in the month of October that focuses on reducing carbon in the atmosphere. Participants choose actions, complete those actions, and track and share their progress. Ecochallenge is offered in partnership by Ecochallenge.org and Project Drawdown.
Under-Resourced Institutions Energy Research Grant Info Sessions
Researchers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community colleges, Tribal colleges or universities, or Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions are invited to participate in a Second Nature listening session aimed at identifying barriers to applying for federal funding for energy research. Second Nature will select and fund a cohort of 12 research fellows and teams from those listening sessions. Cohort participants will receive funding of up to $10,000 each from the Energy Research Expansion Fund to facilitate their work. The listening sessions are Sept. 6 and 14 from 11:00 a.m. to noon Eastern.
Rethinking Econ101
This free course is for students in the U.S. to understand the economy and reimagine it for the benefit of people and the planet. It aims to offer a critical, pluralist and interdisciplinary introduction to the discipline of economics and to the U.S. economic system. It is a 10-session online course starting in the second week of September and will take place each week on Zoom for 90 minutes. The deadline to register is Sept. 10.
Call for Student Abstracts: HBCU Climate Change Conference
The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, in collaboration with The Bullard Center at Texas Southern University, invites student abstracts by Sept. 1. The purpose of the conference is to bring together HBCU faculty and students, researchers, climate professionals and coastal community residents impacted by toxic facilities and severe weather events related to climate change in order to bridge the gap between theory and the experiential realities of climate change.
Call for Participation: Intersectional Climate Action Leaders Working Group
BIPOC faculty, staff and community partners working in climate action or resilience at HBCUs and MSIs are invited to become a part of Second Nature's Intersectional Climate Action Leaders Working Group. This working group brings together BIPOC higher education leaders to advance relationships within the field, accelerate institutional resilience, encourage climate action planning, and build capacity within and beyond HBCUs and MSIs in Second Nature's Climate Leadership Network.
National Environmental Youth Advisory Council
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting applications for youth between the ages of 16 and 29 to fill 16 vacancies on the newly created National Environmental Youth Advisory Council (NEYAC). The NEYAC will provide independent advice and recommendations on how to increase EPA’s efforts to address a range of environmental issues. Applications are due by Aug. 22.
Ground Up Advocacy Bootcamp
Re:wild Your Campus organizers invite interested students and stakeholders to join the Ground Up Advocacy Bootcamp, a virtual training intensive designed for those looking to dive deep into advocacy and organizing around toxic chemicals, rewilding spaces, the intersection of human and environmental health, and how these issues relate to racial and social justice. The training is scheduled for July 17-18 from 6 - 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The course is free for students and has a suggested donation of $50 for other interested parties.
Youth Art Challenge: From Waste to Art
The Global RCE (Regional Centre of Expertise) Service Centre at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, in partnership with UNESCO, is accepting submissions for the RCE Youth Art Challenge: From Waste to Art. Open to anyone aged 35 or younger, this is an opportunity to create artwork to inspire others around the world to use resources more efficiently, reduce waste and ultimately shift to sustainable consumption and production. The deadline to apply is Aug. 15.
Funding Opportunity: Decarbonization Research & Development for Engineering & Sciences
Offered through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, this funding opportunity up to $17.7 million will support novel, early-stage research and development for new academic curricula related to geosciences and supporting interdisciplinary training in humanities-driven science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.
AASHE 2023 Conference & Expo: Call for Proposals & Registration
Registration is now open, and the call for conference proposals is currently underway, for the AASHE 2023 Conference & Expo, happening Oct. 29 - 31, in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference will debut a new program, tailored to provide higher education sustainability change-makers with an immersive learning experience that provides new ways of thinking and strategies to transform their institutions more effectively. This immersive learning experience will provide participants with innovative strategies for effective institutional transformation. Early bird registration is extended through July 14.
Plastic Free Ecochallenge
Plastic Free Ecochallenge is a one-month challenge in July to refuse and reduce single-use plastics, created and developed in partnership with Ecochallenge.org and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
Renew America's Nonprofits Grant Program
Second Nature is gathering information about U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit higher education institutions as potential recipients of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Renew America's Nonprofits program. Eligible institutions that would like to implement energy-efficiency projects will be considered for inclusion in Second Nature's portfolio and will be eligible to receive up to $200,000 per project for installation costs. The deadline to apply is June 29.
‘Climate x' Leadership Training Program 2023
Designed as a train-the-trainer program for students, this leadership program aims to highlight the synergy between climate actions and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Students participate in training in July, and from August to November, they organize local training events, culminating in an event during the 2023 Global Youth Climate Week (Nov. 20 - 24). The deadline to apply is June 30.
Call for Case Studies: Recycling and Waste Reduction Strategies
The Campus Race to Zero Waste organizers invite case study submissions about how higher education institutions are promoting and improving recycling and waste reduction. All colleges and universities are welcome to submit a case study, regardless of participation in the 2023 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition. Submissions are due June 27.
Call for Images: Sustainability Staff
AASHE invites photograph submissions of sustainability staff to be considered for inclusion in AASHE’s 2023 Salaries and Status of Sustainability Professionals in Higher Education report, which is due for release this summer. The deadline to submit photographs is June 15.
Open for Public Comment: Climate Literacy Guidelines
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is requesting suggestions on structure, topics and content to help update a key national climate literacy guide used by educators, policymakers and scientists across the U.S. and internationally. The public comment period is open through May 31.
World Environment Day Beat Plastic Pollution Campaign
Hosted by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), the #beatplasticpollution program provides an opportunity to support institutions and governments to invest in and implement solutions to end plastic pollution. Universities and colleges are encouraged to host an event or action on June 5 (World Environment Day). The UNEP provides assets to assist with showcasing best practices and solutions.
