Dear readers,
This is my last issue as the Bulletin editor before I move into a communications/marketing role at AASHE. I am passing the baton to my colleague, Ian McHugh, who has worked with me on the Bulletin for more than two years.
I want to say thank you to all of you who help AASHE provide an illuminating birds-eye view of higher education sustainability each week. We hear time and time again that the Bulletin and its weekly snapshots of what higher education sustainability champions are able to achieve is a source of optimism amid what can be a challenging undertaking.
In the spirit of innovating the Bulletin with the ever-changing field of higher education sustainability, AASHE is debuting a new "Health & Wellness" category this week with a guest Connecting the Dots column by NIRSA representative Alex Accetta. Take a look and let us know what you think!
It has been a pleasure,
Margo
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Connecting the Dots...By Alex Accetta ...why is campus recreation a great place to serve as the nexus for applying sustainable and healthy practices?
Campus recreation has one of the largest carbon footprints on campus, uses a disproportionate amount of energy, manages large financial operations and, most importantly, interacts with more of the campus population than nearly any other entity. And our profession is committed to moving forward sustainably. Read more | |
Education & Research
Curriculum
Co-Curricular Education & Student Organizing
Campus Operations
Buildings
Dining Services
Energy
Grounds
Purchasing
Transportation
Waste
Planning, Administration & Engagement
Coordination & Planning
Funding
Health & Wellness
Public Engagement
New Resources
Opportunities
Jobs & Internships
| 36. | Assistant Director, Campus Sustainability, Michigan State U |
| 37. | Professor, Global Environment and Law, U California Santa Barbara |
| 38. | Assistant Professor, Environmental Policy, Virginia Tech |
| 39. | Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, College of Wooster |
| 40. | Assistant Professor, Planning and Sustainability, Miami U |
| 41. | LEED Research Position, U California Berkeley |
Events
Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums Highlights
Education & Research
Curriculum
The university is holding a three-day institute this fall that will explore corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Students who attend the institute and complete a capstone project in their workplace will receive the certificate. The certificate is being offered by the university’s School of Business and Economics and Sustainability Academy in partnership with New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility.
See also: AASHE Resource: Certificate/Diploma Programs in Sustainability
Co-Curricular Education & Student Organizing
Four students and alumni have teamed with a construction company to help build the new University Center. Each intern has a focus project including work on the interior LED lighting design, implementation of an eco-friendly wastewater system, and work in the field office. The building will feature an ice storage cooling system that complements the air conditioning system and internal electricity generator to relieve pressure on the public grid.
The college's new "SustainAbilities: Practical Steps to a Sustainable Society" program, encompassing all four years of the undergraduate experience, includes sustainability representatives for each residence hall to help students develop skills to design and build a more sustainable society, on campus and off. The newly launched SustainAbilities website offers students live newsfeeds, a blog with local stories, a calendar of events, a resource guide and green room certification guidelines.
See also: AASHE Resource: Student Peer-to-Peer Sustainability Education Programs
A University of Maryland student team has won the U.S. Department of Energy’s first Max Tech and Beyond Appliance Design Competition. The students simplified the design of a standard wall-mounted air conditioner by separating the systems that remove humidity and provide cooling. After the students tested a fully functional prototype, they found that the design reduced energy use by 30 percent compared with typical wall-mounted air conditioners already on the market.
Campus Operations
Buildings
The historic classroom building features 85 solar panels, recycled construction materials and an educational LCD screen that monitors energy consumption, water use, heating use, solar energy production and weather data. Additional features include a "cool roof" that deflects heat and a digital control system that heats or cools the building based on classroom schedules and current temperatures.
Designed to meet LEED certifications, the building features a geothermal system that will generate as much energy as is consumed on-site. In partnership with Arkansas State University, Montana State University-Northern and the University of Memphis, the center will support entrepreneurs, workforce training and applied research in the use of renewable agricultural outputs.
The 144,000-square-foot science facility was designed to LEED standards. The indoor air distribution system works in concert with chilled beams, a system of radiant heating and cooling panels that reduces the need for large motors and fans. The concrete floors and wallboards contain waste fly ash and the ceiling tiles contain up to 80 percent recycled paper products. The building will serve as a green teaching laboratory for students who will be able to study medicinal plants in the garden and track and measure the quality of rainwater flowing through the site drainage system.
See also: AASHE Resource: Green Science Buildings (AASHE Member Resource)
Dining Services
Working with several area farms and food/producer co-ops, the college aims to increase consumption of local foods on campus to 20 percent during the 2012-2013 school year. The move will represent an investment of about $100,000 to grow the presence of local foods on campus while supporting a local foods economy, farmers and their families.
See also: AASHE Resource: Sustainable Dining Initiatives on Campus (AASHE Member Resource)
The university’s Hillcrest Marketplace has installed a $58,000 food pulper that is expected to save $8,000 in water costs. The device grinds leftover food into mush. Water is pressed out of the mush, filtered and used to wash dishes. The leftover compost is taken to a local landfill to be made into fertilizer.
Energy
A large solar farm, several smaller photovoltaic arrays and a wind energy project have been installed on the community college campus over the past five months. The college expects to save more than $100,000 a year in electricity costs.
See also: AASHE Resource: Wind Turbine Installations on Campus (AASHE Member Resource)
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Solar Photovoltaic Installations Database
The college has installed two solar panels, two solar tracking arrays and three wind generators to provide energy to the electrical system. The systems will also be used as teaching tools in advanced technology courses. Funding for the installations was provided by a $400,000 grant from the State Energy Conservation Office.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Solar Photovoltaic Installations
See also: AASHE Resource: Wind Turbine Installations on Campus (AASHE Member Resource)
The university has installed three solar-powered charging stations on campus. In addition to the renewable power source they offer, the Solar Dok patio tables are constructed of plastic materials made from 1,200 recycled plastic milk jugs.
Grounds
Five years after its inception, the Elon Community Garden has been designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified wildlife habitat. The small vegetable garden is a space where local wildlife can find food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. A camera that can be moved around the quarter-acre property has spotted raccoons, coyotes, foxes, woodchucks, squirrels and rabbits.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus and Campus-Community Gardens (AASHE Member Resource)
Purchasing
The university has announced that its bookstore will sell a brand of clothing that has committed to higher standards of social responsibility. Alta Gracia manufactures collegiate apparel in overseas factories that provide all employees with benefits and a living wage sufficient to cover monthly costs for a family of four.
Transportation
The FIU Bike Shop, now open at the Modesto Maidique Campus, provides tune-ups, tire installations, safety checks, part replacements and other adjustments. The shop is open to both students and the public, with students receiving discounted prices for all services. In 2013, the Bike Shop plans to hold bike repair workshops for students.
The university’s Outdoor Program is installing bike "Fixit" stations across campus that include tools for performing basic bicycle maintenance and repair. Funded primarily through the Student Sustainability Fund, six stations will be completed by the end of fall term
See also: AASHE Resource: Student Fees for Sustainability
The recently launched program will provide 20 bikes to students free of charge for any period of up to 24 hours.
See also: AASHE Resource: Bicycle Sharing & Rental Programs (AASHE Member Resource)
The college has opened a new parking lot designated for students, faculty and staff who carpool or drive energy-efficient vehicles. The lot also includes charging stations for electric vehicles, LED lighting, subsurface infiltration system, rain gardens and vegetated swales with check dams to slow the rate of run-off conveyance.
In an effort to encourage students, faculty and staff to walk more and use public transit, the university has announced plans to reduce the number of parking spaces on campus. As part of the effort, the university will add about a dozen additional bikes racks throughout campus this year.
Waste
Departments and campus groups will no longer be allowed to use university funds to purchase single-serving bottles of water. In addition, hydration stations will be installed in all future construction and major renovation projects. The institute's National Technical Institute for the Deaf has recently installed two stations.
See also: AASHE Resource: Bottled Water Awareness and Reduction Campaigns (AASHE Member Resource)
The Office of Sustainability and Facilities Planning & Management have partnered to increase composting opportunities through pilot programs with schools and departments across the Danforth campus. Through the new initiative, the university's waste is collected for composting and the finished product is sold to local landscaping companies who use it as a soil additive that the university then buys back for use in campus landscaping.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Composting Programs
The university has purchased 72 recycling bins designed specifically for placement at tailgate lots during football games. The bins were awarded as part of the Coca-Cola Foundation’s Bin Grant Program.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Recycling and Waste Minimization Policies (AASHE Member Resource)
The college has installed receptacles in five buildings in an effort to boost paper recycling.
Planning, Administration & Engagement
Coordination & Planning
President Stephen Mulkey recently announced that the college's faculty and Board of Trustees have endorsed sustainability science as the overarching framework for all academic programming with an emphasis on upper division courses. With this endorsement, the college has dedicated significant financial and human resources to strengthen academic offerings through this lens, and to further develop campus infrastructure to support sustainability science on the ground.
Funding
The National Science Foundation grant will go toward the development of a doctoral program in energy and establishing the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Solar Utilization Network (SUN) program. Focusing on biological conversion, photovoltaics, solar thermal and sustainable policy, the program will provide the groundwork for the Global Institute of Sustainability's planned doctoral program by 2016.
The Washington State Department of Commerce grant will go toward campus-wide lighting retrofits, low-flow water fixtures and HVAC improvements. The project will also include a solar array and an energy-monitoring dashboard, both funded in partnership with the student environmental sustainability fund.
See also: AASHE Resource: Student Fees for Sustainability
A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be used to teach organic farming techniques to students enrolled in the university’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems apprenticeship program. The grant will also allow the Ecological Farming Association, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and the California Certified Organic Farmers to collaborate on the apprenticeship project.
See also: AASHE Resource: Campus Supported Agriculture and Farms (AASHE Member Resource)
Health & Wellness
The university is the latest campus to declare a smoke- and tobacco-free campus, joining a movement that is on the rise in the U.S. with 126 schools that have moved forward with smoke-free policies that apply to all areas of campus this year. Between January 2011 and January 2012, the number of U.S. colleges and universities with total smoking bans rose from 466 to 648, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
Public Engagement
Harvard Law students have prevailed in a two-year battle to lift restrictions on the installation of solar power in Massachusetts. For more than two years, the university’s Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic has represented a group of general contractors who specialize in renewable energy projects but were being blocked from installing solar power by a state licensing board.
This latest AASHE guest blog features Dallase Scott and Lea Lupkin, sustainability program managers for GreenerU at Babson College. They share their experience of how completing a STARS report two years in a row has been an effective community building tool toward campus sustainability.
The guide for each chapter of "The Nature of College: How a New Understanding of Campus Life Can Change the World" includes a "Coming to Terms" section with concepts and ideas in the book, and a set of "Questions for Consideration" to help readers connect the book to their own lives, college culture and cultural patterns. A companion website includes The Ecologician’s Dictionary, related essays and discussions.
AASHE is offering “Back-To-School” discount packages for both first-time AASHE members and first-time STARS Participants starting August 27 and running through Sept. 21, 2012. First-time members that sign up for an AASHE membership will receive a 10 percent discount and one free AASHE 2012 conference pass. First-time STARS Participants will receive a $250 discount on STARS registration. New institutions that sign up for both AASHE membership and STARS will receive a 20 percent discount on AASHE membership and a $400 discount on STARS registration, plus one free AASHE 2012 conference pass.
Organized by the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC), RecycleMania and Keep America Beautiful, with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program, this event challenges colleges and universities to reduce the most waste during home football games. Schools report waste reduction and disposal data during the challenge that is used to determine the winners.
This U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water challenge invites undergraduate and graduate students to create an innovative green infrastructure design for a site on their campus. The design should show how managing stormwater at its source can benefit the campus community and the environment. Winning teams will earn a cash prize, as well as research funds for their faculty adviser to conduct green infrastructure research.
Between September 4-28, students who sign-up for a volunteer opportunity through Arbor Day's Volunteer Center will be eligible for daily prizes and a chance to win a Kindle Fire, trees planted in their honor, or a donation to their favorite local nonprofit organization. Students can register for opportunities at local conservation-related organizations.
Oct. 14-17, 2012; Los Angeles, CA
Host: AASHE
Oct. 24, 2012; Nationwide
Supported by multiple organizations including AASHE
Oct. 19-21, 2012; San Rafael, CA
As part of an alliance between AASHE and Bioneers’ Education for Action Program, groups of 6-10 AASHE-associated educators, students or allies will receive a group discount of $150 per person to attend the entire conference.
Sept. 13, 2012; 1:00 p.m. Eastern; Online
Host: College & University Recycling Coalition (CURC) with support from AASHE
Sept. 27, 2012; 3:00 p.m. Eastern; Online
Host: American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) SEED Center
Sept. 18, 2012; 3:00 p.m. Eastern; Online
Host: Davidson County Community College
Oct. 6, 2012; Burbank, CA
Host: Woodbury University
| Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums Highlights |
Click on the titles below to view the full discussion thread.
I am compiling resources to share with our student program participants as well our Student Affairs (SA) division this year as we explore sustainability leadership with more intention. What have you found to be most useful as you guide learning about sustainability? We want to share a variety of leadership learning opportunities for students in our Sustainability Volunteer Program. We are also creating a sustainability toolkit for our SA division that will focus on both staff development and integration into programmatic learning outcomes. If you can share just a few of your resources, it would be much appreciated! I will compile and share the results here so we can all benefit from the collaboration!
We are currently changing our university accounting system over to Banner and wanted to include more in depth break down options for waste removal costs. What sorts of waste does your accounting department have or do you wish you had?
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