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environmental conservation courses and residence life. Students from the environmental conservation courses were sent into residence halls, where they surveyed the residents about their personal energy usage. Members of the class then used Kill-A-Watt electricity usage monitors to measure the energy being wasted and reported these figures to the sustainability department, which plans to use the information for

into the implementation phase,” says Fannie Koa, communications and outreach specialist for the Tufts Office of Sustainability. This renewed focus on sustainability turns the spotlight even brighter on each of Tufts’s pre-existing sustainability programs, such as the staff-centric Eco-Ambassadors and student-populated Eco-Reps programs. Eco-Reps in particular is based within the world of residence life, described

or energy saving, we always include water in addition to energy.” This is reflected in one of the university’s newest initiatives, “Get Clean, Get Green.” This program revolves around residence hall laundry facilities and encourages students to wash their loads of clothes in cold water. “To do this, we created washer magnets that emphasized sustainable actions, posters with sustainable statistics, and

along wITh provIdIng a home for The cuTTIng-edge envIronmenTal work beIng done by scIenTIsTs, The unIversITy also offers an exTremely deTaIled lIsT of envIronmenTal scIence and susTaInabIlITymInded classes for sTudenTs To Take, as well as a wIde varIeTy of susTaInabIlITy-focused clubs.
future residential education efforts. Other efforts at Shepherd include conducting collection drives for recyclable ink cartridges and shifting to a paperless database for resident check-in information, allowing students to submit such information before even arriving on campus. “We’ve not only eliminated the need for the thousands of paper forms we were using, but we’ve also cut our check-in times by 28 percent,” says Belice. To the north, Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, is an institution with a renewed focus on sustainability, one whose base is built on the concept of raising awareness. Upon taking office last year, university President Tony Monaco declared sustainability to be a priority and, not long after, formed the Tufts Campus Sustainability Council. This council has three different parts, focusing on water usage, energy usage (and their attending carbon emissions), and waste management. The council’s next steps include community outreach. “In the next few months, the Council will be holding town hall meetings to get feedback from the Tufts community on its plans before finalizing its priorities and moving on its official Website as “a group of residential students who serve as ‘green champions’ in the dormitories to help raise awareness about ecological issues and encourage environmentally responsible behavior in their hallmates and peers” (http://sustainability.tufts. edu/programs/ecorepresentatives/). This 11-year-old program was given a new format just two years ago. On the other side of the country, the University of Arizona in Tucson is working with a very different set of environmental conditions and conservation priorities, which are reflected in their sustainability programs. Along with providing a home for the cutting-edge environmental work being done by scientists, the university also offers an extremely detailed list of environmental science and sustainability-minded classes for students to take, as well as a wide variety of sustainabilityfocused clubs. “Since we are in a desert location, we are definitely more focused on water saving,” says Jill Ramirez, coordinator of sustainability education (a position that notably falls under the greater umbrella of residence life). “Whereas an East Coast campus might do targeted campaigns on electricity stickers to emphasize cold water use,” says Ramirez. “Since 90 percent of the electricity used in washers is to heat the water, the push to use cold water will save electricity and money.” The program provides further incentives to students in the form of bookstore gift cards given to those noticed practicing sustainable laundry techniques. Over at the university’s graduate and international student housing area, a composting program was recently launched, driving down the cost of garbage removal for certain sectors, while elsewhere an Eco-Tour program has been launched. “Our Eco-Reps, who are student volunteers from each hall, created a student-friendly tour of what is arguably the most sustainable corner of campus,” says Ramirez. The tour highlights two campus buildings that have achieved LEED Platinum status and emphasizes the university’s efforts to integrate solar and cogeneration initiatives into their technology programs. “The tours may not directly save the university money or energy. However, they may spark something in a student so they go on to create better sustainable building techniques or technologies that will help not only the university, but the rest of the world as
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http://sustainability.tufts.edu/programs/ecorepresentatives/ http://sustainability.tufts.edu/programs/ecorepresentatives/
Talking Stick - November/December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2012
