Students Compete in DOE-Sponsored Cleantech Challenge
The U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored CU Cleantech New Venture Challenge has recognized five student groups from the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Denver, Iowa State University, University of Utah and Brigham Young University to compete in the regional semifinals. Student projects include a cooling system for data centers, a rooftop system that captures carbon dioxide, and a brewery byproduct that is converted to an algae-based nutraceutical. The first-place team will receive $100,000 and will go on to the national competition, June 11-12, in Washington, D.C.
U Colorado Boulder Debuts One Million Acts of Green
The university has announced the launch of One Million Acts of Green, a campus-wide sustainability-based social networking tool that will enable users to visualize the impact of their efforts to live green. For each of the first 1,000 people to sign up for One Million Act of Green, the Office of Campus Sustainability will put $10 toward campus sustainability projects.
U Vermont’s Eco-Reps Launch Follow the Leaf Campaign
The university’s Eco-Reps have launched a Follow the Leaf campaign in an effort to make it easier for students to make sustainable choices. As part of the launch, the Eco-Reps held an even that included green leaf eco-pledges and their own Eco-Option label.
Ohio State U Wins Environmental March Madness Championship
The university won the second annual Environmental March Madness Tournament, defeating other schools in the “Sustainable 16”. Organized by Enviance, an environmental software company, institutions competed against one another based on environmental curriculum and campus sustainability efforts. The university will be awarded $5,000 for its Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability (EEDS) program.
N Carolina State U Launches Sustainability Student Ambassadors
With support from the university’s Sustainability Office, North Carolina State Stewards will promote sustainable practices among their peers and the community through workshops, presentations and campus events. 2013-14 will be the first full academic year of the program, which was piloted this year.
Rhodes College Students' “Street Paper” to Support the Homeless
Two students seeking to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in the Memphis, TN area created The Bridge , a new street paper. Street vendors, who themselves are homeless, will be able to purchase copies of the publication for a quarter each and sell them for a dollar a piece. The vendors will be able to keep 100 percent of the profits.
Texas Tech U Student Senate Approves Steps for Sustainable Campus
The Student Senate has passed a resolution that supports all public relations efforts to promote sustainability on campus. The resolution states the senate supports reducing costs of beverages when students use their own containers, the placement of more recycling bins in residence halls, the use of recyclable containers for all to-go meals in dining facilities and the exploration of a more efficient watering system on campus.
U Wisconsin Green Bay Band Holds Sustainability Themed Concert
In an effort to create awareness for campus sustainability initiatives, the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble held a “Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle” themed concert. The band performed compositions from notable composers that aligned with the theme and the older songs were ‘reused’ and performed in new ways.
United Arab Emirates U Organizes First Green Week
(United Arab Emirates): The university’s first Green Week featured events linked together via specific themes aimed to raise awareness about environmental sustainability. The event aims to increase students' awareness regarding the preservation of the environment and applying green strategies in their daily lives.
Dickinson College Launches Student Sustainability Fellows Program
The Center for Sustainability Education has launched the Baird Fellows Program designed to bring together student leaders who have helped advance sustainability at the college. The intent is to create an interdisciplinary forum for discussion and collaboration. Senior participants will engage with guest speakers and the community throughout the semester, sharing ideas about how to create a more sustainable world.
Louisiana State U Kicks Off Campus Sustainability Campaign
Residential Life and Campus Sustainability have launched UNPLUG, a three-week campaign that aims to inform students about energy and water consumption, conservation, recycling and sustainability. Residential halls will also compete against one another to see who can save the most energy.
Department of Energy Announces Winners of Student Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the winners of the second annual Better Buildings Case Competition, which challenges university teams to develop and present real-world business and technical solutions to cut energy waste and improve the efficiency of commercial buildings across the country. The winners included the Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of Chicago, and Yale University.
Northwestern U Students Lead Charge to Divest from Coal
The university’s Associated Student Government has passed a resolution urging the administration to divest from the coal industry. Since passing the resolution, the student government and the Responsible Endowment Coalition has received more than 1,000 signatures from faculty, staff, alumni and students asking the university for three things: a full divestment from the coal industry, an increase in renewable energy and clean technology investments, and the full divestment from the fossil fuel industry in the near future.
Dalhousie U Art Installation Reflects Energy Use
(Canada): A student partnered with the Office of Sustainability and Facilities Management to create an art installation that taps into the building’s data systems. The project features 18 glowing cube-shaped lanterns that move and change colors to reflect the amount of energy and water being consumed within the building.
Environment Agency Abu Dhabi Debuts Sustainable Campus Initiative
United Arab Emirates): The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi has launched a new Sustainable Campus Initiative program. Through the initiative, participating universities and colleges will be required to establish environmental clubs that are responsible for conducting green audits and providing students with the opportunity to promote sustainability in their community. Students in these clubs will present their local efforts in regional and international forums, and can actively volunteer to get hands-on experience in preserving the environment.
U Florida Launches Sustainability Campaign
The Office of Sustainability has launched Under One Umbrella, a campaign that focuses on sustainability-related activities on campus and in the community to encourage students, faculty and Gainesville residents to learn how the various components of sustainability interact.
Boston U Debuts Sustainable Art Project
The university has created a new project titled Alternative Visions/Sustainable Futures, a collaboration between the College of Fine Arts and sustainability@bu. Throughout the semester, the cross-disciplinary project will explore the creative ways that artists, scholars, and members of the community might build a sustainable future.
Bowie State U Partners with Toyota Green Initiative
The university has partnered with the Toyota Green Initiative, an environmental stewardship platform designed to empower Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) students and alumni on the benefits of adopting a sustainable lifestyle.
Cornell U Professor’s Sustainable Art Wins MoMA Competition
Using sustainable materials from an Ithaca skateboard company, a pavilion designed by Caroline O’Donnell, Assistant Professor of Architecture, was chosen from among five finalists in the Museum of Modern Art P.S.1's 14th annual Young Architects Program. The proposal was selected because of its identification and use of locally available resources to make an impactful and poetic architectural statement within MoMA P.S.1′s courtyard.
Harvard U Creates Lab Reuse List
The newly launched Harvard Labs Reuse List, intended as a university-wide resource, encourages and enables trade, reuse, and sharing of working laboratory equipment and supplies.
Cornell U Students Build Sustainable House in Nicaragua
(U.S.): Sustainable Design students have begun building an affordable and environmentally sustainable model house as part of the Sustainable Neighborhoods Nicaragua project. The house and its landscaping are the product of more than three semesters of research on designing sustainable and affordable housing for low-income Nicaraguan families.
Lindenwood U Students Create Sustainability Alliance Group
(U.S.): Students have founded Sustainability Alliance, a group dedicated to decreasing the school's ecological footprint and advocating for responsible consumption. The group has launched Foam Free Fridays to encourage students to use washable plates and eliminate the use of expanded polystyrene foam containers.
Miami U, Antioch College Create Ohio Agrarian Trade Partnership
(U.S.): Miami University’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability has partnered with Antioch College to develop cooperative education relationships in a project called the Ohio Agrarian Trade Partnership. The program will provide students from both institutions the opportunity to work with employers in the Ohio food and agricultural industry.
Green Mountain College Students Build Solar Garage
Twenty-one students in the college’s Renewable Energy and Ecological Design course have completed a solar-powered garage that demonstrates an integrative design to optimize the performance of electric vehicles in cold weather climates. The building is a mini power plant that consumes the power it produces while providing a platform for sustainable food production. Inside, the building has a large multifunctional solar wall that provides heat, light and shelving for food production.
U Michigan Starts Online Sustainability Ambassador Certification
The Planet Blue Ambassadors online certification program allows faculty, staff, and students to receive certificationas sustainability leaders on campus by completing five training modules directly connected to the university's sustainability goals in energy, food, waste, water and community. Each module includes an interactive game with suggestions to get involved, as well as information about the university’s goals and progress to date.
Northwestern U Helps Reduce Off-Campus Students Energy, Water Use
The Associated Student Government’s Sustainability Committee has created an initiative to provide free compact fluorescent light bulbs and water-efficient showerheads to all students living off campus. The committee currently has 700 light bulbs and 200 showerheads, and 300 students have signed up to receive the packages.
U Victoria Students Push for Socially Responsible Investing
Common Energy, a student organization, has begun advocating for more engagement between the university’s academic and social mission and the management of the university’s funds. The organization is asking for the adoption of principles of responsible investing and the formation of institutional structures that allow the university to exercise these principles.
U York Student Organization Launches Living Wage Campaign
(U.K.): City Councilors are urging the university to adopt a living wage for all university employees set at £7.20 per hour or higher. A living wage policy has been adopted by the Students’ Union, and a living wage campaign petition created by the university’s Labor Club has already reached over 1,000 signatures.
U New Hampshire Students Advocate to Divest from Fossil Fuels
The Student Environmental Action Coalition has delivered a petition signed by more than 1,000 students to urge the university’s president to divest endowment funding from fossil fuels. The coalition joins a growing movement on college campuses nationwide and through the climate change organization 350.org to demand divestiture of stocks in oil companies.
Northwestern U Students Push Plastic Water Bottle Ban
A student plastic reduction team has launched a campaign to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on campus. The initiative involves petitioning the student body and spreading an educational message about the harmful effects of plastic on the environment. The campaign has garnered the support of several student and environmental groups on campus.
SUNY ESF Launches Eco-Rep Program
The university has launched a new Eco-Representative Program that uses peer-to-peer interaction to raise awareness about sustainability issues among students living in a campus residence hall. The Office of Energy and Sustainability provided a budget of $1,000 for the Eco-Reps to fund the program throughout the academic year.
U Memphis Students Hold Living Wage Teach-In
The Progressive Student Alliance, a campus group dedicated to organizing against racism, sexism and economic oppressions, held a “teach-in” to emphasize the importance of campus workers getting paid a living wage.
Concordia College Hosts 100-Mile Thanksgiving
The college hosted the annual event in partnership with local farmers and several student groups in an effort to raise community awareness about the benefits of choosing local foods.
U Washington Launches New Sustainability Awareness Tool
The Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability office has launched ‘Sustainability Snapshots,” its newest awareness tool. The new website aims to catalog the various sustainability projects and initiatives happening on campus in one location, including facts about the project’s impact.
Davis & Elkins College Students Design, Build Micro-Farm
(U.S.): Students from an Introduction to Sustainability Studies class helped build the Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneur (SAGE) Initiative classroom garden. Participating students will use the garden to grow produce that will be sold to local food suppliers. The aim of the SAGE initiative is to encourage students to replicate the techniques learned in class to be implemented elsewhere.
Green Campus Movement Launches at U Cape Town
(South Africa): The 49M Green Campus Movement has launched a “Youth & the Green Economy” series at the university. The online community will provide information on campus events and competitions, the appointment of campus ambassadors, entry for national awards, and social media initiatives.
Maharishi U Mgmt New Student Group to Focus on Sustainability
(U.S.): Students have organized a local chapter of Net Impact, a global nonprofit that supports a new generation of leaders intent on transforming the world. The chapter is currently working on several sustainability projects including a vermiculture project that will help improve the university's composting system.
Swarthmore College Alumni Join Divestment Movement
(U.S.): About 100 alumni have signed the college’s Alumni Petition for Fossil Fuel Divestment. Started by the Swarthmore Mountain Justice student organization, the petition aims to demonstrate to the administration that a range of Swarthmore community members, not just students, support fossil fuel divestment.
U Leicester Students Participate in Living Wage Campaign
(U.K.): Organized by the university’s Labor Society, students have launched a campaign demanding that all staff be paid the new living wage of £7.45. A Freedom of Information Act request has shown that hundreds of university employees earn wages below the current minimum wage.
U South Carolina Hosts No Impact Week
(U.S.): Over 500 students, faculty, and staff have signed up to participate in a week long challenge to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Participants will take on new challenges throughout the week with the end goal of producing zero trash, using sustainable transportation, and minimizing energy and water consumption. The challenges are based on the ideas in the book ”No Impact Man.”
OneEnergy Renewables Announces 2013 Energy Scholars Class
OneEnergy Renewables, a developer of large-scale clean energy projects, has announced its 2013 OneEnergy Scholars class. The award recipients include six graduate students that demonstrated outstanding leadership and vision in the field of renewable energy from Cornell University, George Washington University, MIT, the University of Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University.
San Jose State U Launches New Campus Sustainability Website
The university launched a new website to promote and inform students about the sustainability efforts made on campus and ways in which they can reduce their ecological footprints. The website provides links for visitors that highlight campus accomplishments and list current and future projects.
U Vermont Student Group Calls on Trustees to Divest Fossil Fuels
The Student Climate Culture club has launched a campaign encouraging the university to bring an end to investment in fossil fuel companies. The student group has teamed up with Greenpeace, 350.org, and other environmental organizations to make a case for divestment. The group will present its arguments at an upcoming Board of Trustees meeting.
Dartmouth College Students Create Paper to Examine Social Issues
A group of students seeking to raise awareness about overlooked social justice issues created The Dartmouth Radical , a new campus paper. The eight-page publication will run poems, satire pieces and news stories from a progressive perspective. The Council on Student Organizations approved The Radical as an official student group and granted it college funding.
U Maryland Students Help Bring Solar Lighting to Sierra Leone
In a partnership with the Madieu Williams Foundation and the Maryland Sustainable Engineering student group, about 40 university students helped to design and install a 1.5-kilowatt solar array that would provide lighting to an elementary school in Sierra Leone. The team also installed a battery array that can last several days without any power input from the panels.
U Massachusetts Medical School Creates Sustainability Pledge
(U.S.): The university’s Sustainability Committee has asked students, faculty and staff to sign a pledge in an effort to encourage the campus community to think about the environmental impact of everyday decisions. Every month, one person who takes the pledge will be selected to receive a gift.
