U Central Florida Students Propose Campus Solar Farm
Engineering students at the University of Central Florida have presented an idea for an on-campus solar farm that would help make the campus climate neutral by 2050. Presented at the Progress Energy Senior Design Symposium, the three-acre farm would eventually produce 15 percent of the campus' power requirements. Upcoming seniors will have the chance to work on the solar farm project this fall semester, but whether the project is realized depends on potential funding sources.
Youngstown State U Students Participate in Green Energy Challenge
A team of Youngstown State University (OH) students have completed an energy audit of a campus dormitory as part of the National Electrical Contractors Association Green Energy Challenge. The students will begin drafting potential solutions and will present their proposals with cost estimates and possible funding sources to a panel of contractors. The national competition challenges teams to identify residence halls on their campuses that need energy-efficiency improvements.
Cornell U Students Use Art to Promote Waste Reduction
Cornell University's (NY) Sustainability Hub has installed two new pairs of trash receptacles brightly decorated with local art near campus to help reduce litter and promote proper waste disposal practices. The student-run waste reduction project, Collegetown ART (Art, Recycling, and Trash cans), has raised about $6,485 through funds, grants and sponsorships, and plans to raise an additional $2,200 to decorate two more locations with trash receptacles. Local stores can help the urban art project through the sponsorship of a trash can.
Villanova U Students Expand Campus Biodiesel Production
After two years of producing biodiesel on campus, chemical engineering students at Villanova University (PA) have begun converting the glycerin byproduct into soap. The student group developed the idea of making soap as a sustainable way to dispose of the byproduct rather than putting the glycerin in the compost or paying to dispose of it. The bars of soap have been used as promotional items and have garnered interest from local businesses to sell in their shops.
Antioch U New England Student Video Wins Energy Video Contest
Antioch University New England (NH) environmental studies students have won the My Energy Video Challenge 2011. The nearly four-minute video explains the Antioch Commuter Transportation initiative as part of the university’s effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2020. The contest was sponsored by Clean Air-Cool Planet, a nonprofit organization working to solve climate change through civic engagement, education and policy.
Catholic U America Students Invent Solar-Powered Table
A solar-powered picnic table designed by students at the Catholic University of America (DC) has recently been installed on campus. The six students received scholarships from Washington Gas Power Solutions Inc. as winners of a campus contest for the table, which is capable of charging laptops and other electrical appliances.
Rochester Community Tech Students Raise Recycling Awareness
Students at Rochester Community and Technical College (MN) recently organized two campus-wide Waste Sort events to raise awareness and provide information on the school's waste and recycling streams. Olmsted County staff and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency partnered for the event, part of a statewide commitment to significantly increase recycling rates and reduce the state's generation of waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
Southern Methodist U Students Build 'Living Village'
Engineering students at Southern Methodist University (TX) have built a “Living Village” on campus to learn lessons in engineering, humanity and sustainability. They compacted plastic recyclables on campus to make “bricks” that were then used as the insulation for a hut that was sealed with mud and grass. Twenty engineering students will live in this mock refugee camp for 20 days, and the public will be invited to tour the village.
U California Santa Barbara Students Start Campus Food Bank
Spurred by tight student budgets, Associated Students (AS) leaders at the University of California, Santa Barbara are launching a campus food bank. The governing student body's president says that the effort is closely tied to the budgetary circumstances with the University of California and the state. Amid increased student fees and budget cuts, hundreds of students responded in a recent AS survey that they skipped meals on a daily basis to afford school expenses. Starting this month, undergraduate and graduate students will be able to pick up nonperishable food and other items at the University Center. The pantry has garnered donations through the placement of collection bins at high-traffic areas around campus and the university will apply to be a member of the Santa Barbara Food Bank, which gathers food from various grocery outlets around Santa Barbara.
College of Marin Begins Organic Farm Apprenticeship Program
The College of Marin's (CA) Indian Valley campus is collaborating with the Fresh Run Farm to offer an apprenticeship program for aspiring organic farmers. The program will provide classroom instruction as well as paid farming positions. There will be 1,800 hours of experiential training and 11 courses for students enrolled in the apprenticeship.
USA Today Features 'Eco Fashion' at Santa Clara U
USA Today recently spotlighted students in Santa Clara University's (CA) Green Club, who produced an Eco Fashion Show on campus. The featured creation was a "wearable dress" with a paper bag bodice and fanned newspaper tutu skirt.
Syracuse U Students Kick Off Campus Sustainability Campaign
The Students in Free Enterprise group at Syracuse University (NY) launched its DOT ("Do One Thing") for Sustainability campaign with a tabling event to introduce the campaign to the campus community. A DOT is one small commitment to better the world in the area of environmental, economic or social sustainability like shutting off the lights when leaving an empty room. The idea is that connecting a billion DOTs will bring about a movement of change. The group hopes to collect around 20,000 DOTs from the campus community and create a successful model program that can be rolled out at other institutions.
McGill U Students Win Canadian Campus Sustainability Competition
A student team from McGill University (QC) has received $20,000 by taking first place in TD Friends of the Environment Foundation's Go Green Challenge. Along with the prize money, the winning students will receive a paid internship with the foundation this summer. This year's fourth annual competition focused on sustainability and environmental stewardship on campus. The winning team’s proposal, "Integrated Energy and Food Greenhouse," plans to redirect the waste heat from McGill’s Ferrier powerhouse, which is the greatest greenhouse gas producer on campus, to power a greenhouse that will produce local food and carbon neutral biodiesel. The foundation will also award $100,000 to the university for campus greening efforts.
Grist Covers Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive
The Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFed), a new national training program and research institute empowering students to create ethically-sourced, cooperatively-run sustainable food storefronts and cafés on college campuses, was recently featured in Grist Magazine. The article profiles a recent University of California, Davis graduate and regional CoFed organizer who sees campus co-ops as a way to radically reduce overhead and offer sustainable foods at affordable prices for students with a model that cuts out the middleman, uses volunteer or member labor, and hooks into university resources such as subsidized rent and student entrepreneurial funds. Co-ops also serve as working classrooms and events spaces, and can introduce concepts of food sovereignty and food access to an audience whose adult lives are still taking shape.
Cornell U Greek System Implements Sustainability Rating System
Cornell University's (NY) Greeks Go Green has launched LEAF, a new rating system that grades Greek chapters on their sustainability efforts. Through LEAF, chapters can receive up to 100 points for their sustainability practices. LEAF awards points in categories such as water conservation, energy conservation and green purchasing. Every 20 points represents a leaf, making the highest achievement earning five leaves. The system also recognizes environmental awareness education and sustainability-related service events, so chapters that do not have physical houses can still gain points.
Cornell U Students Improve Water Treatment in Honduras
The student engineering team AguaClara at Cornell University (NY) is working on adding three more water treatment plants to the five they have already built in Honduras. The six-year-old team researches and designs gravity-powered, non-electric water treatment plants for Honduran communities and works with the Honduran nonprofit Agua Para el Pueblo to help bring their designs to life. Based on home stays with Honduran families to learn how the existing plants were serving their communities, the team is now working on a stacked rapid sand filtration system, which would be a final cleaning step before the water is chlorinated and sent to taps. The new system does not require electricity.
Students Help Dickinson College Farm Become USDA Organic
On the heels of the announcement of its plans to raise cattle, the Dickinson College Farm (PA) has been certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Students were instrumental during the three-year process, which concluded recently in collaboration with the college's assistant professor of international business and management, who integrated the certification inspection into her first-year seminar course, "The Business of Organic Food." Managed through Pennsylvania Certified Organic, the certification is recognition that the college farm adheres to a USDA-approved approach of agricultural food production that involves building and enhancing the soil naturally, environmental protection and the avoidance of toxic or synthetic substances such as pesticides.
Duke U Preps New Student-Initiated Campus Farm
Duke University (NC) has erected a greenhouse as the first phase of a planned campus farm. An idea that grew from an undergraduate environmental studies class last spring, the pilot project will grow one acre per year until the donated 12-acre land from Duke Forest is filled. The aim of the farm is to provide campus dining halls with fresh seasonal food and allow students the opportunity for engagement with food studies.
Cornell U Journal of Architecture Revived with Sustainable Focus
The first publication of Cornell University's (NY) Journal of Architecture in eight years debuted this month after architecture students rallied around its revival. The theme of the current issue is "Re," which suggests a dialogue between ideas of reuse, renovation and re-imagining. The theme is a nod to what the students see as important in the contemporary architecture world, looking toward more sustainable practices and favoring imaginative solutions to age-old problems such as population density and small budgets.
Iowa State U Students Open Campus Food Pantry
Students at Iowa State University have launched a campus food pantry that evolved from a fall semester learning community project that looked at food assistance needs in their community. After volunteering at local food pantries to learn more about who is using them and who is not, the students found that college students are not using food assistance programs in noticeable numbers even at a time that the number of federal, need-based financial aid recipients at Iowa State rose from about 4,300 in the 2008-2009 school year to 5,300 in 2009-2010. Between 20 and 30 students have joined the new student organization that will oversee the SHOP (Students Helping Our Peers), which will be stocked with donations.
Students Initiate Compost Program at Auraria Higher Ed Center
Members of the student group Compost Auraria have recently expanded composting outreach efforts at the Auraria Higher Education Center in Colorado, home to the Community College of Denver, Metropolitan State College of Denver and The University of Colorado at Denver. As part of the new student fee-funded campaign "Auraria Composts!" the group has placed composting bins in the food court of the center's Tivoli Student Union. In an effort to change the habits of their classmates, Compost Auraria members are standing near the bins to personally talk with students about how composting food waste, paper and napkins can create fertilizer, conserve irrigated water and prevent the erosion of soils.
Students Model 'Eco Look' in NY Times Trendspotting Feature
Members of Students for Sustainable Stanford model repurposed and vintage clothing in a recent New York Times design feature that looks at the trend of sustainable fashion on college campuses. Also featured in the slideshow are students from the University of Portland (OR), Cornell University (NY) and Sarah Lawrence College (NY), where a student designed a winter coat designed to be planted in the spring. Produced for a biomimicry project in an environmental studies class, seeds inlaid in the coat can be fertilized by the wool.
U California Davis Students Open Food Bank for Students in Need
University of California, Davis students in financial need will now be able to grab a free can of soup, a box of cereal, or other staple foods with the opening of its new food pantry. After a recent survey of the university's undergraduates found that 25 percent skipped meals "somewhat to often" to save money, student government leaders contacted campus organizations and local businesses to donate food for a campus food bank. The pantry has received enough donations to last about 10 weeks and hopes to receive enough contributions to stay open until the end of the school year.
Food Empowerment Org Launches Student Activist Training Program
The Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFed) has launched a national training program for students to create ethically-sourced, student-run local storefronts on college campuses. The organization aims to facilitate regional student networks to maximize its collective impact and empower a student-led food movement across the nation. The Berkeley Student Food Collective was the original catalyst for CoFed, which now encompasses six leadership teams starting student-run cafes on West Coast college campuses.
Indiana U Bloomington Students Create Sustainability Council
Indiana University Bloomington student groups have come together to enhance sustainability efforts on campus. Fourteen student organizations have formed the Student Sustainability Council to promote communication and collaboration among organizations interested in advancing environmentalism on campus. The first collaborative effort of the council is the establishment of a Green Initiative Fund. The group seeks to add a $5 donation option during the university’s online registration each semester to support sustainability initiatives on campus.
Laney College Holds Eco-Inspired Art Exhibit
As part of an Eco Art Matters class, Laney College (CA) students recently held an art exhibit titled “Save Our Earth Ship.” The artwork addresses environmental and social justice issues, including a multi-media sculpture comprised primarily of 2,500 cigarette butts collected from campus grounds and a super-sized plastic shopping bag created from 3,000 plastic bags.
Loyola U Chicago Students Work to Make Campus Food Sustainable
Loyola University Chicago’s (IL) Student Food Sustainability Advisory Council has begun working with food services provider Aramark to raise awareness about food systems, shrink the community’s ecological footprint and address the student body’s primary sustainability concerns. The council will gauge on-campus attitudes towards issues including local food, factory farming and balanced diets through surveys, research and education.
U Arizona Student Projects Promote Campus Sustainability
Students at the University of Arizona recently showcased nearly three dozen project ideas to enhance campus sustainability efforts. Proposed ideas included plans for renovating and retrofitting buildings, installing shower timers, promoting educational smart phone applications and reusable to-go containers.
U Washington Student Government Passes Sustainability Legislation
The University of Washington’s student government has passed a sustainability bill that aims to promote awareness among incoming students. The bill, “A Resolution in Support of Sustainability with First Year Programs,” will help implement educational efforts to new students about sustainability options on campus, including the availability of compost resources and a tour of the university farm. A long-term goal includes the possibility of a required sustainability class.
Arizona State U Students Receive Grant for Sustainable Fertilizer
Arizona State University graduate students have earned an Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative grant to further their development of a business that aims to produce a sustainable organic fertilizer from algae. Edson provides funds, office space and training to teams with up-and-coming innovative business plans. One student also received a National Water Research Institute fellowship for the development of a new bioreactor design to use in wastewater treatment. Both students are part of the university’s Center for Algae Technology and Innovation.
Purchase College SUNY Students Produce Video to Promote Recycling
Students at Purchase College State University of New York have produced a video to highlight campus recycling redemption machines. The university's Redemption Center has three automated recycling machines that accept every brand of redeemable plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers. Redemption receipts in the amount of five cents per container include coupons for discounts from area merchants. "These machines have become wildly popular on campus and are a major part of our efforts to assure that recyclables are directed to the recycling stream," the college's Office of Sustainability Director Joseph Tripodi tells AASHE Bulletin. Tripodi says that with the help of an ongoing marketing campaign to increase awareness and use of the machines, recent machine redemption counts have topped 14,000 containers per month.
U Utah Sustainable Campus Initiative Approves Campus Gardens
The University of Utah’s Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund has chosen nine student projects totaling $44,000 in allocated funding. As part of a planned Campus Organic Gardens project, three structures have been approved to house harvested materials, the building of bike trailers for transporting harvested food and the creation of signs to communicate the purpose, mission and promotion of the gardens. Other projects include "retrofitted bikes with carts to assist with tailgate recycling efforts, an undergraduate internship with Environmental Health and Safety that will help our campus become 'mercury-free' by replacing our mercury thermometers, and a feasibility study done by MBA students to determine if we can create a 'solar' parking pass by installing raised solar panels in campus parking lots," the university's Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund coordinator tells AASHE Bulletin.
Humboldt State U Students Launch Free E-Waste Collections
A group of environmental science students at Humboldt State University (CA) has teamed up with the university's Waste Reduction and Resource Awareness Program, Plant Operations and Environmental Health and Safety to launch e-waste collection drives on campus. The students plan to divert waste like cell phones, laptops, keyboards and alarm clocks from the landfills while raising awareness about the social and environmental impacts of e-waste. The collection drives are open to university students, faculty and staff.
SUNY College ESF Students Create Art from Recycled Materials
State University New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry students recently held a recycled plastic art exhibition to increase waste awareness after a campus waste audit last spring revealed an unsettling amount of plastic waste. Works included a plastic hippopotamus and a biosphere made from a discarded television.
Syracuse U Students Host Denim Drive to Help Insulate Houses
Students at Syracuse University (NY) hosted a denim drive throughout the month of October as part of Cotton Incorporated’s campaign, “Cotton from Blue to Green.” The denim is converted to cotton fiber insulation for houses in communities that are in need. The university collected more than 1,000 jeans, enough to insulate two houses. Since the campaign's inception in 2006, about 540 homes have received insulation.
U California Berkeley Students Open Sustainable Food Storefront
The Berkeley Student Food Collective has opened a storefront on the University of California, Berkeley campus to provide local, healthy and sustainable foods to the campus community. Operating as a nonprofit collective, university student members will donate two hours of free labor a week with the aim to keep food prices low. Fruits and vegetables grown within 150 miles are available, along with local dairy products, organic juices and bulk bins with staples like rice and flour. The student group, which now has about 50 active members, incorporated as a California nonprofit and won a $91,000 grant from the university's The Green Initiative Fund, which commits a small part of student fees to sustainability projects. The group signed a lease on a former nail salon in August and since then have been working to convert the 600-square-foot space to a food market.
U Chicago Students Launch Composting Pilot
Two University of Chicago (IL) students have launched a composting program through the campus' Uncommon Fund, which provides funding for student ideas, projects and events. In partnership with the university’s Cobb Café, the students spearheaded the placement of compost bins next to trashcans and recycling containers inside the café. Collected food waste is brought to the Resource Center, a local nonprofit, to be converted into compost.
U Idaho Students Spearhead Tailgate Recycling Efforts
The University of Idaho's Sustainability Center has administered its second annual Tailgate Recycling Program, a student-run effort to reduce waste associated with tailgate activities. Student volunteers supplied fans with recycling bags and dispersed receptacles throughout the parking lot to collect aluminum, plastic, glass and paper recyclables. After three home games, 74 volunteers have collected almost 1,500 pounds of recyclables. The university works with Moscow Recycling to ensure that all materials are properly sorted and transported to a recycling center.
Vanderbilt U Students Conduct Biodiesel Training
Members of the Vanderbilt University (TN) student organization, the Alternative Energy Club, recently initiated a hands-on training and biodiesel fuel demonstration. Led by club members, small groups of volunteers made mini-batches of biodiesel starting with waste vegetable oil. The club merged with the Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative this fall, which has been making biodiesel on campus for several years.
California Lutheran U Builds Community Garden
California Lutheran University has started a community garden to help connect students to the local environment. Funded by the Facilities department, students, faculty and staff members transformed a dry, weedy patch of land with raised beds. A portion of the produce harvested will go to the university’s dining hall; the other portion sold on campus and local farmers markets, and donated to local food banks.
U Idaho Funds Student-Led Sustainability Projects
The University of Idaho Sustainability Center has awarded $12,578 to six student-led sustainability projects. The center's annual grant competition asks students to submit mini-grant proposals for projects that increase the sustainability of campus operations and culture. This year's funding will go toward the creation of native gardens, bioplastic degradation in compost research, water-saving measures and a conservation photography book that showcases the endangered Palouse prairie. All projects are scheduled for a May 2011 completion.
Keene State College Students Working Toward a Fair Trade Campus
Students in Keene State College's (NH) Measuring Fair Trade course are assisting the college to meet several criteria to become a certified fair trade campus. To become a certified campus under TransFair USA, an institution must carry fair trade products, have support from the administration and have at least one fair trade club or organization on campus to ensure student involvement. Currently, the college serves a variety of fair trade products and ingredients including coffee, sugar, bananas, tea and chocolate bars. Students are working to increase awareness and demand for fair trade products on campus with a campus-wide fair trade day with product demonstration and sales.
U North Carolina Greensboro Students Start Campus Garden
University of North Carolina Greensboro students have begun building raised beds for an organic garden in an effort to promote sustainable local food. The campus dining hall will plant an herb garden for use in its meals. The university hopes faculty members will incorporate the gardens into their curriculum.
Alfred State College Students Build Green Home on Campus
Students at Alfred State College (NY) are receiving hands-on learning about green construction and technology by helping to build a green home on its Applied Technology campus. Utilizing the skills they have developed in architecture, building trades and electrical construction courses, the students are using an integrated approach to energy efficiency in the design of the buildings, the building envelope and the mechanical space conditioning systems.
SUNY College of Enviro Science and Forestry Hosts Denim Drive
Students at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry hosted a denim drive throughout the month of October as part of Cotton Incorporated’s campaign, “Cotton From Blue to Green.” The campaign converts donated jeans into sustainable natural-fiber housing insulation to be used by Habitat for Humanity. It takes 500 pieces of denim to insulate a house. The student group Green Campus Initiative led the effort to bring the campaign to the university and oversaw the collection events and donation bin maintenance on campus.
Syracuse U Interior Design Class to Create Green Office
Six teams of Syracuse University (NY) interior design students are working to transform a basement into a green office for the university’s Sustainability Division. The third-year design students will infuse functionality and style to create a nontraditional office using sustainable materials and featuring green amenities. The office, known as the Sustainable Studio, will allow the division’s staff to build a presence within the College of Visual and Performing Arts while they implement the university’s climate action plan.
Unity College Students Help Design Passive House Residence Hall
Unity College (ME) students and faculty recently gathered to provide design ideas and concerns for the college's upcoming project to build a residence hall to the Passive House standard. The Passive House standard in the U.S. is an extension of the PassivHaus Institute of Germany, utilizing insulation and tight air sealing to minimize heat loss. The college received a $389,000 grant from the Kendeda Fund to construct the cottage-style residence hall, which will use sunlight to generate energy with little or no active mechanical systems. The sunlight will be converted to usable heat. Students, who will also be involved in the construction and monitoring of the facility, participated in discussions about the potential size of the building, the orientation and interior set-up, and how the building will relate to the whole of the college.
Southern Illinois U Carbondale Students Install Green Roof
Southern Illinois University Carbondale students have installed a green roof with wildflowers and grasses on the College of Agricultural Sciences building. The project is both educational and economical, reducing energy costs by providing extra insulation and featuring an unplanted section for research purposes. The research will seek to establish tolerance thresholds for stress and to identify plant species suitable for green roof propagation. The project is funded by a $20,000 grant fed by the university’s current $10 per semester green student fee, as well as $10,000 contributions from the College of Agricultural Sciences dean and the Physical Plant budget.
U Minnesota Duluth Students Revive Neighboring Orchard
Students in the Students for Sustainable Agriculture group at the University of Minnesota, Duluth are helping the university revive a neighboring orchard and farm to provide produce for the campus. Students and faculty worked during the summer to clean up the orchard and ready the soil for vegetables. Raised bed gardens will be planted on a one-acre plot in the spring. A second acre of gardens will be planted in 2012 with plans for a well and fencing. Late last month, the students brought community members together to press the apples, forgotten since the 1970s, into cider. The university hopes to create a social enterprise garden where the produce sold will fund student internships. Some interns will grow food and others will work to market the food to local grocery stores.
Cal State U Long Beach Hosts Campus Green Competition
California State University at Long Beach will host the campus competition, "Do it in the Dark," to compare electricity and water consumption rates for each residence hall. The buildings will be divided into three competing groups. The group that reduces its consumption the most per week will win a pizza party. The university hopes that the competition, sponsored by the Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program, will be a successful outreach and educational tool.
