It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a month since spring semester ended! For the ASCP, summer brings a much needed step back from our regular academic year programming and time to strategize, research and plan. This summer, we’re working on several research and planning initiatives and we want to tell you about them!
Research and Planning Initiatives:
- 5-Year Strategic Plan: We’ve developed a worksheet full of objectives that will help us achieve our goals for each of our seven pillars and we hope to make it readily available on our website once we’ve finalized it a bit more. Stay tuned!
- Greenhouse Gas Inventory: We are working on updating our GHG inventory—which quantifies the carbon emissions produced by our campus and helps identify and prioritize projects to lower our emissions. This will likely take us until the end of the year to complete if we do it comprehensively…and we want to! We’re very excited to crunch the numbers.
- Water Action Plan: this plan will identify opportunities for water conservation and efficiency among our indoor and outdoor uses and in cooling equipment. We have been working together on collecting our current water use data with the Brendle Group and the One World One Water Center and hope to have something completed by the fall semester. Read more below!
There are a number of other research projects going on over here that we’re excited to tell you about when we have more info to report out, including work to formalize our Green Offices pilot, reduce our plastic consumption, improve alternative transportation options and help make on-campus events more sustainable!
New Faculty Staff Coalition:
We’re also excited to report that we’ve begun a faculty/staff sustainability coalition with the purpose of connecting the dots across our tri-institutional campus and developing a stronger network of sustainability-oriented campus community members. See the DRAFT mission statement and objectives below to get an idea of the groups form and function.
DRAFT statement: The Auraria Faculty/Staff Sustainability Coalition aims to advance and integrate sustainability initiatives within and across all four institutions comprising the Auraria campus (AHEC, MSU Denver, CCD, CU Denver). We achieve this by:
- Spearheading sustainability initiatives at the functional level where we can make an impact and working to ingrain sustainability as a core value among our institutions
- Serving as a conduit and advocate for communication from ASCP/coalition back to institutional/functional level and leveraging institutional resources to enact change
- Exchanging ideas, knowledge and projects with the Student Advisory Committee to the ASCP (the ASCPAC)
- Building and sustaining a network of sustainability-minded professionals across campus that can uphold student-led initiatives over the long term
We've had two formative meetings with a group of faculty and staff so far. If you’re interested in joining the conversation, please fill out this
google form
to register your email address. Next time we’ll be breaking out into groups based on focus area and project ideas. We’re excited to have a platform for all these folks to interact and for this group to interface with the students that volunteer and work with the ASCP.
|
|
Water in the west is a delicate resource and here at the ASCP we take it very seriously. For some time now we have been working on a Water Action Plan to address the needs of the Auraria Campus while figuring out how to conserve as much water as possible. This can be achieved in a number of ways by changing fixtures, altering landscape practices, and changing our habits here on campus. With the help of students and custodial staff, we recently conducted an indoor water audit of restroom fixtures to collect data on flow rate and consumption. Using this data, together with the other indoor and outdoor information we've collected over the past several months, we are developing a list of water conservation priorities. Our second stakeholder meeting is coming up June 19th, where we will be meeting with HVAC, groundskeepers, plumbing and facilities staff to draft and discuss the top ten conservation strategies that have emerged from our collective research. We are aiming to finalize the water action plan by the end of the fall semester and as such would like to give a big shout out and thank you to all the staff that have worked with us to make this a reality!
|
|
Check out our social media pages to learn about events and get involved!
|
|
June 26
th
is Bike to Work Day! Over the past few years the cycling presence in Denver has grown larger and larger and this year is our chance to continue that trend. Encouraging a greater cycling community in Denver has huge impacts on the health of our citizens as well as on the environment. A
2015 study
by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) found that increasing the amount of cyclers in US cities by just 5% over the next 35 years could not only save $24 trillion dollars in total but also reduce carbon emissions by 11%! The study also mentions the various other benefits that increased cycling has such as higher citizen health, lower traffic congestion, lower traffic accidents and fatalities, and reduced air pollution. The benefits from cycling are worth it and together we can create a better bike culture in the Denver metro area. Make sure to check out the
website and register yourself
for Bike to Work Day. Registering even gets you a year subscription to the Chinook App, which allows you to get discounts and coupons at lots of sustainable stores in the area. Don’t forget to take a look at the
station map
to see what water, breakfast, and event stations you can stop in on your commute for the day.
ASCP will be co-hosting a station on the greens between the science building, St. Elizabeth Church, and Speer Blvd. from 6:30am – 9:30am. Make sure to come visit us!
|
|
Campus Kitchen Project Needs Your Help!
|
Campus Kitchens Project
is looking for a place to prepare and distribute meals when they launch this coming fall. Ideally, CKP is looking for a commercial kitchen space to be able to prepare food from produce donations. If we can't locate that, however, we're looking for a space that would be suitable to house a refrigerator and a space to repackage already-prepared meals into individual meals to distribute. If you have access to either of these types of spaces, PLEASE reach out to jackie.slocombe@ahec.edu so we can make Campus Kitchens Project a reality, rescue would be wasted food and feed some hungry people! This is a really important mission that we hope someone on campus will step up to support.
|
|
Mile High Youth Corps is a 25 year old community focused organization that hires youth between the ages of 18 and 24. The purpose of the organization is to not only help support the community in various ways, but to give young people an opportunity to learn valuable work, education, and leadership skills. The Mile High Youth Corps operates several programs focused on sustainability. Their energy and water conservation program places workers in low income areas to install free energy and water efficiency devices such as LED light bulbs, aerators, programmable thermostats, low flow shower heads, and ultra high efficiency toilets. Their land conservation programs allow youth workers to learn and participate in environmental rehabilitation and habitat restoration projects around Denver and the Southern Front Range. They also have a youthbuild program designed to help youth engage in construction work for affordable housing. Each of their programs gives the members valuable experience that they can use to help further themselves in the future.
MHYC is hiring! If you are interested in applying to become part of the Mile High Youth Corps or know someone who is, visit their
website here
to learn more.
|
|
June 8:
Adapted Plants for the Urban Environment/Irrigating Wisely,
10am - 11:30am, Phelan Gardens, 4955 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, $5
register
June 9: Bike Streets June Bike Party! 3pm - 6pm
, Robinson Park, 200 Fairfax Street, Denver,
register
June 10:
AWWA Water Conservation Division Social Event,
5:30pm-8:30pm, Tivoli Brewing Company Tap House 900 Auraria Pkwy Denver,
register
June 18:
Restoring Native Vegetation (2) for Urban and Suburban Developments
, 6pm-7pm, High Plains Environmental Center 2698 Bluestem Willow Drive Loveland,
register
June 21-23: 2019 Colorado Tiny House Festival
, 6/21 12pm - 5pm, 6/22 10am - 6pm, and 6/23 10am - 6pm, Adams County Fairgrounds, 9755 Henderson Road, Brighton, $10 - $20
register
June 26:
Tour: Mo' Betta Green MarketPlace & Dahlia Campus Urban Farm,
6:30pm - 8:30pm, 3401 Eudora Street, Denver,
register
June 26: Bike to Work Day
, breakfast stations open 6:30am - 9:00am, water stations open 3:30pm - 6:00pm, Bike Party stations open at select times, check the
stations menu
to find one on your commute
July 17: Stanley Marketplace Green Building Tour
, 2:30pm - 4pm, 2501 Dallas St., Aurora, $5
register
July 27: Sustina-A-Fest
, 12pm-7pm, Acacia Park 115 E Platte Ave Colorado Springs,
register
August 24:
1
st
Annual Sustainability Festival
, 10am, Jeffco Fairgrounds 15200 West 6
th
Avenue Frontage Road Golden,
register
|
|
On Campus
Resources
Off Campus
Resources
Alliance Center
|
JOBS CORNER
Have a sustainability-related job you'd like to advertise? Email scp_contact@ahec.edu with a description! We have lots of students graduating this spring and in pursuit of careers :
)
|
|
Every year, the ASCP reviews or drafts dozens of proposals brought to us by students, staff, and faculty. Do you have an idea that could make the Auraria Campus more sustainable? Let us know!
|
|
Stay Connected with us & follow us on
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
