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Report Card 2010

Brigham Young University

Student Survey

With the publication of the College Sustainability Report Card 2010, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these surveys offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the summer of 2009. To access surveys from other schools, go to the surveys section of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.

School name: University of Georgia

Date submitted: July 21, 2010

For each question, please choose the response that best represents the activities of your student organization. Some questions have additional instructions below the question. If you cannot find information for a particular question, please leave that question blank.

The response to this survey should be only in reference to one student organization. If there are multiple student organizations at a given school, each organization should complete its own survey. Only one survey should be submitted for each student organization at a particular school.

1) Contact Information

The following fields designate the main contact person for your group.

Name: Emily Karol

School Name: University of Georgia

Name of student organization: Go Green Alliance

Your position or title: Co-Chair

2) Student Organization

Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role. If you are a member of multiple organizations, you will be able to enter information about their activities on a later page.

Active members attend meetings and help implement the organization’s initiatives. Please describe event or email-listserv attendance under “Additional Comments.”

Number of active members:

Date of last meeting (mm/dd/yyyy):

April 27, 2010

Frequency of meetings:

Note: if you meet more than once a week, please select weekly.

Biweekly

Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2009:

Use the categories below to help describe your group's initiatives in each area. In the "Describe" field, outline actions taken and elaborate on the impact and degree of success. You may want to compose your descriptions in Microsoft Word or a similar program and then paste them into the boxes provided. Please be detailed in your descriptions, and use the "Other" option to describe additional areas of involvement. You can also elaborate or add clarifying comments under "Additional Comments."

	Addressed	Progress	Describe
Academics Examples: Minor, major and concentration programs, curricular additions, research projects	[X]	Moderate	UGA Sustainability Report outlines goals for reworking the Environmental Literacy requirement and incorporating more classes in sustainability
Administration Examples: Procurement policies, institution-wide sustainability policy, advocating for sustainability-related staff positions	[X]	Significant	Administration created UGA's Office of Sustainability after a student campaign and proposal
Climate Examples: Climate action plan, greenhouse gas emissions inventory	[X]	Moderate	converting parking lots into greenspaces
Endowment Examples: Proxy voting guidelines, investment advisory committees	[X]	Moderate	UGA Sustainability Report outlines goals for reworking the Environmental Literacy requirement and incorporating more classes in sustainability
Energy Examples: Conservation/behavioral change programs, retrofits and efficiency improvements	[X]	Moderate	student campaign and proposal to replace the coal-fired steam plant on campus with renewable energy sources
Food Examples: Advocating for local, organic, or more sustainable food, campus gardening, food purchasing and ingredient guidelines	[X]	Significant	pilot composting program in dining halls, exploring sustainable purchasing such as biodegradable straws, student campaign to get local food into the dining halls
Green Building Examples: Design or construction policy	[X]	Significant	4 of the new buildings on campus are seeking LEED accreditation, green roofs
Grounds and Maintenance Examples: Green landscaping, non-toxic cleaners	[X]	Moderate	Planting more trees around campus through an arbor program, practicing sustainable landscaping and rain gardens
Student Involvement Examples: Facilitating engagement with students, speaker series, establishing EcoReps program, student guide to sustainable living on campus	[X]	Significant	student-led green fee campaign that succeeded in getting an Office of Sustainability, progress in other campaigns: replace coal-fired steam plant with renewable energy, local food in the dining halls, Gameday recycling
Transportation Examples: Promoting sustainable transportation, campus fleet improvements, connecting students with public transit	[X]	Moderate	extensive bus system exploring bio-fuels, maintenance and greater accessibility of bike lanes
Waste Reduction Examples: Recycling, composting, reducing consumption	[X]	Significant	Gameday recycling program led by students and now being taken on by the Athletic Association, more recycling bins around campus and more education around recycling
Water Examples: Water conservation, reducing campus pollution, bottled water campaigns	[X]	Moderate	rain water harvesting with cisterns, better water quality going to river because of more rain gardens
Other	[ ]

Additional Comments

3) Sustainability Competitions and Challenges

This information should describe a campus challenge or competition organized by your group to promote sustainability. To add general information about your group, return to the previous questions.

First competition

Name of competition	Recyclmania
Frequency of competition	Annually
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.	2008
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.	Go Green Alliance, Physical Plant, University Housing

Participants:

Students	[X]
Faculty	[X]
Staff	[X]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Describe how students, faculty, and/or staff were encouraged to participate in the competition. How were they notified and enticed to join the competition? What was the “prize” or reward for which they were competing?

prizes and national recognition

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[X]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Describe both the raw savings, and the savings as compared to use before the competition. For example, an electricity-saving competition may have encouraged a dorm to conserve 6,000 kW/h of electricity for the month of April, a savings of 5% from the same month last year.

Residence halls diverted 6 tons of plastic and aluminum from the landfill.

Lasting effects of competition:

Describe other impacts and effects. What are observable changes in campus behavior even after the competition’s completion? Have other efforts towards sustainability been given added momentum? Has the competition inspired other campaigns or initiatives?

There are more recycling bins in the residence halls. RA's have the resources and knowledge to educate their residents. Freshmen living in the residence halls retain the education and habits to recycle for the rest of their life.

Website:

http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/Index.htm

Second competition

Name of competition	Green Cup Competition
Frequency of competition	Semesterly
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.	2008
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.	Go Green Alliance, University Housing, River Basin Center

Participants:

Students	[X]
Faculty	[X]
Staff	[X]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

prizes based on how much they conserve

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[X]
Waste reduction	[X]
Water conservation	[X]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Lasting effects of competition:

education of RA's and freshmen so they can form life-long habits

Website:

Third competition

Name of competition
Frequency of competition
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.

Participants:

Students	[ ]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[ ]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Lasting effects of competition:

Website:

4) Sustainability in Student Government and Other Activities

Please describe the role of Student Government and other groups.

Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?

If yes. Please describe below:

Include the following: How many students are active in the committee? How often does it meet? What kinds of power and decision-making ability does it have? What impacts and initiatives has it undertaken? What kind of working relationship does it have with other student groups and the administration?

Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:

Describe any activities that your group or yourself, as a leader on campus, have undertaken that are not already included in your survey responses. If applicable, also describe off-campus and community efforts that relate to institutional sustainability at your school.

Go Green Alliance: Green Fee initiative that created UGA's Office of Sustainability; student won a $5000 grant, Clinton Global Initiative University Outstanding Commitment Award, to put up solar panels around campus; student leading a campaign to get more local food in the dining halls

Please Note: The following is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.

Please list any regional or national networks with which your group is affiliated (e.g., Energy Action Coalition/Campus Climate Challenge, Sierra Student Coalition, a state PIRG, a state student sustainability coalition):

Southern Energy Network, Sierra Student Coalition, Energy Action Coalition, Athens River Basin, Greenfest

PLEASE NOTE: Some schools have requested that more detailed descriptions of their sustainability programs be made available to readers of the College Sustainability Report Card. Accordingly, we plan to post the completed surveys on www.GreenReportCard.org as a link from each school's profile. If you would prefer that the full text of your survey not be published, please let us know. (As in previous years, we will continue to publish relevant excerpts in the school profile.) To opt out of online publication of your full survey response, please enter your name below:

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School name: Lafayette College

Date submitted: July 21, 2010

1) Contact Information

The following fields designate the main contact person for your group.

Name: Emily Clark

School Name: Lafayette College

Name of student organization: Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists

Your position or title: President

2) Student Organization

Active members attend meetings and help implement the organization’s initiatives. Please describe event or email-listserv attendance under “Additional Comments.”

Number of active members:

Date of last meeting (mm/dd/yyyy):

April 13, 2010

Frequency of meetings:

Note: if you meet more than once a week, please select weekly.

Biweekly

Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2009:

	Addressed	Progress	Describe
Academics Examples: Minor, major and concentration programs, curricular additions, research projects	[X]	Significant	The Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES, for short) is a student-led research club. Many of the projects organized through the group are created into student thesis papers for honors recognition. For example, there is a student conducting research involving the nitrogen cycle in compost, and another working on perchlorate remediation. Recently, a design course helped greatly in outlining the plans for expanding and institutionalizing our campus composting system. In addition, curricula in the “Intro to Environmental Engineering” and “Environmental Chemistry” courses include a semester long research project that culminates in a poster presentation. Every year, a few of these projects are directly related to SEES and originated in the club. This student group is very effective at addressing the “academic issues”.
Administration Examples: Procurement policies, institution-wide sustainability policy, advocating for sustainability-related staff positions	[X]	Moderate	SEES recently won a $10,000 grant from the EPA P3 “People, Prosperity, and Planet” Program for a model of a sustainable food loop at Lafayette College. The larger scope includes obtaining funds to support a student or adult worker on staff who can maintain the compost and garden components.
Climate Examples: Climate action plan, greenhouse gas emissions inventory	[X]	Moderate	Alternative, clean energy is a focus for some students. Specifically, students are researching the feasibility of using wind power at the college. Not only are they monitoring the wind speeds, they are also looking for grants to fund such a project.
Endowment Examples: Proxy voting guidelines, investment advisory committees	[ ]	Significant	The Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES, for short) is a student-led research club. Many of the projects organized through the group are created into student thesis papers for honors recognition. For example, there is a student conducting research involving the nitrogen cycle in compost, and another working on perchlorate remediation. Recently, a design course helped greatly in outlining the plans for expanding and institutionalizing our campus composting system. In addition, curricula in the “Intro to Environmental Engineering” and “Environmental Chemistry” courses include a semester long research project that culminates in a poster presentation. Every year, a few of these projects are directly related to SEES and originated in the club. This student group is very effective at addressing the “academic issues”.
Energy Examples: Conservation/behavioral change programs, retrofits and efficiency improvements	[X]	Moderate	The school held an energy saving competition between residence halls in April. The event was the idea of a geology student who is a member of environmental clubs on campus. The Residence Hall Council, Sustainability Committee, SEES, Plant Operations and other groups worked together to organize and advertise the event. Nine dormitories chose to participate. Plant Operations staff used a spreadsheet provided by the student-leader. Readings and recording started on April 14th with a final reading done on April 21st. Final readings on all dormitories were read at the exact time as the initial reading, e.g., if read on April 14 at 8:30 am – final reading was done on April 21 at 8:30 am. The winning residence hall was rewarded with a pizza party. This served as a kick-off for "Earth Week", which is the week that includes Earth Day and many special events on campus.
Food Examples: Advocating for local, organic, or more sustainable food, campus gardening, food purchasing and ingredient guidelines	[X]	Significant	SEES, along with another environmental student group “LEAP”, strongly advocates for local, organic, and more sustainable food by suggesting local farmers as resources for members of dining services. At Lafayette College, we have a campus community garden that was started by a small group of student members and faculty. The two acres are a place where students, faculty, administration and staff are all able to grow their own food. The student section has successfully grown numerous tomatoes, turnips, potatoes and pumpkins, among various vegetables. The food will eventually be served in the dining halls on campus. However, we use a roof rainwater catchment system so the food has not been served yet due to the need for additional soil testing. Local outreach centers have benefited greatly from our food donations, though. Also, many group meetings where food is provided tend to include locally-made salsa, bought at the local farmer’s market.
Green Building Examples: Design or construction policy	[X]	Moderate	One project team of SEES is currently researching the hydrological behavior of vegetated roofs. There is a small-scale model of the vegetated “green” roof on top of Acopian Engineering Center so the students may better analyze the system and make improvements as necessary. Also, team members have conducted research to see what buildings can support a green roof.
Grounds and Maintenance Examples: Green landscaping, non-toxic cleaners	[X]	Moderate	Currently, a marginal amount of grounds are amended with compost instead of harsh synthetic fertilizers. As the composting system expands, we hope to replace chemical fertilizers with compost made on-site.
Student Involvement Examples: Facilitating engagement with students, speaker series, establishing EcoReps program, student guide to sustainable living on campus	[X]	Moderate	In November 2009, SEES co-sponsored the visit of Majora Carter, a prominent person in the field. Members advertised on campus and encouraged others to get involved. In the future, the group plans on inviting and organizing the lecture sessions for at least one speaker each semester.
Transportation Examples: Promoting sustainable transportation, campus fleet improvements, connecting students with public transit	[X]	Moderate	Lafayette currently has a shuttle service to near-by shopping centers and the athletic fields off campus. A detailed report and redesign of the transportation infrastructure at the off-campus athletic fields was completed by students during the Spring 2010 semester and their proposals will be considered in future planning meetings. The College, largely in support of collaborative, student coursework that was previously mentioned, is adding an “express” shuttle to its free transportation service. Starting this Fall semester, the expanded service will serve the College’s intercollegiate and intramural athletic complex at Metzgar Fields, which is 3 miles from campus. This Metzgar shuttle service will provide students with more frequent and easier accessibility to the athletic complex. This new program is intended to significantly reduce the need for students to individually drive to games, practice or other activities at the athletic complex. The Metzgar express will use a small, more efficient vehicle compared to the type of shuttles the College used a few years ago.
Waste Reduction Examples: Recycling, composting, reducing consumption	[X]	Significant	The “waste” issue is clearly addressed through the efforts of this club. The student-initiated composting system at Lafayette College has been student-run for over three years now. Since August 2009 we have expanded our operations from a five tumbler system that could handle 100 lbs of food waste every 6 weeks to a system that can process up to 1000 lbs per day. It is an integral part of our “sustainable food loop” model. The club and its members also support proper recycling practices.
Water Examples: Water conservation, reducing campus pollution, bottled water campaigns	[X]	Moderate	Although the SEES group does not have a “bottled water campaign” it seriously advocates the school’s initiative. Reusable, BPA-free Nalgene bottles are given to new students during orientation. They are encouraged to use the bottles and use specially designed bottle-refilling stations that supply filtered water.
Other	[X]	Moderate	Community Outreach – Members helped organize a “sustainability tour” on campus for members of the local community. Local farmers as well as curious faculty were able to see the numerous projects on campus including composting, vegetated roofs, solar panels, and gardening. Also, the club organizes and implements multiple kids’ activities during the school year, many of which relate to sustainability.

Additional Comments

3) Sustainability Competitions and Challenges

This information should describe a campus challenge or competition organized by your group to promote sustainability. To add general information about your group, return to the previous questions.

First competition

Name of competition	Earth Week Energy Saving Competition
Frequency of competition	Annually
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.	2010
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.	LEAP, Sustainability Committee, Plant Operations Staff, SEES, RHC

Participants:

Students	[X]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

A large poster was placed in the student center to advertise the competition. Residence Hall Council members and Resident Advisors were informed and relayed the information to their residents. The prize was a pizza party for the residence hall that saved the most electricity.

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[X]
Waste reduction	[ ]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Nine dormitories signed up: Ruef (145 students) was the winner followed closely by Farber.· Results broken down per student:1. Conway: 633 Watts/student2. PT Farinon: 806 Watts/student3. Lerch House: 1.5 Watts/student4. Ruef Hall: 212 Watts/student5. Kirby Hall: 139840 Watts/student6. Keefe Hall: 63100 Watts/student7. Ramer Hall: 55800 Watts/student8. Farber Hall: 286 Watts/student9. South Hall: 1080 Watts/studentNext year, when we organize the competition again, we plan to take readings for 2 weeks - the first week will provide a baseline amount and the second week will be used to calculate energy savings.

Lasting effects of competition:

The competition served as a kick-off for the numerous other events during "Earth Week", the week including Earth Day. This competition will most likely be an annual event and gain in popularity each successive year.

Website:

Second competition

Name of competition
Frequency of competition
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.

Participants:

Students	[ ]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[ ]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Lasting effects of competition:

Website:

Third competition

Name of competition
Frequency of competition
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.

Participants:

Students	[ ]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[ ]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Lasting effects of competition:

Website:

4) Sustainability in Student Government and Other Activities

Please describe the role of Student Government and other groups.

Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?

If yes. Please describe below:

Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:

A Sustainability Committee consisting of students, administration, faculty and staff totaling approximately 15 people meets monthly to discuss current issues on campus and evaluate project ideas submitted by others.

Please Note: The following is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.

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School name: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Date submitted: July 30, 2010

1) Contact Information

The following fields designate the main contact person for your group.

Name: Anasha Cummings

School Name: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Name of student organization: Student Sustainability Task Force (SSTF)

Your position or title: Chairperson

2) Student Organization

Active members attend meetings and help implement the organization’s initiatives. Please describe event or email-listserv attendance under “Additional Comments.”

Number of active members:

Date of last meeting (mm/dd/yyyy):

March 10, 2010

Frequency of meetings:

Note: if you meet more than once a week, please select weekly.

Weekly

Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2009:

	Addressed	Progress	Describe
Academics Examples: Minor, major and concentration programs, curricular additions, research projects	[X]	Significant	We have been working closely with the faculty who have been leading the effort to develop the sustainability studies Minor program and are working on a major to compliment it (http://sustain.sts.rpi.edu). We have also helped highlight many of the research projects being done at RPI in the area of sustainability, from imitating photosynthesis to developing new, highly efficient LED lighting (http://www.lrc.rpi.edu) to creating innovative architectural solutions (http://www.case.rpi.edu), just to name a few. We are also leading up a few research projects of our own, including an energy monitoring and display system and a hands on horticultural class.
Administration Examples: Procurement policies, institution-wide sustainability policy, advocating for sustainability-related staff positions	[X]	Moderate	The Student Sustainability Task Force has been advocating for a sustainability coordinator since it's inception and while we work with a few other groups and individuals to fulfill many of the responsibilities of this role until it's creation, we continue to press for it and have made significant strides this year. Many in the administration now agree that such a position is necessary and the hiring document has been drafted. We do, however face a few budgeting hurtles before the position will officially be created. To address this we have been working on a proposal for a rotating green fund. Overall, the administration has been very supportive of many of our projects and while we are still developing the dedicated green fund, many administrative branches have dedicated portions of their discretionary funds to sustainability initiatives.
Climate Examples: Climate action plan, greenhouse gas emissions inventory	[ ]
Endowment Examples: Proxy voting guidelines, investment advisory committees	[ ]	Significant	We have been working closely with the faculty who have been leading the effort to develop the sustainability studies Minor program and are working on a major to compliment it (http://sustain.sts.rpi.edu). We have also helped highlight many of the research projects being done at RPI in the area of sustainability, from imitating photosynthesis to developing new, highly efficient LED lighting (http://www.lrc.rpi.edu) to creating innovative architectural solutions (http://www.case.rpi.edu), just to name a few. We are also leading up a few research projects of our own, including an energy monitoring and display system and a hands on horticultural class.
Energy Examples: Conservation/behavioral change programs, retrofits and efficiency improvements	[X]	Moderate	We have been working directly with Environmental and Site Services to create a campus wide energy display system which will read building energy usage and display it in each building. This is combined with an educational program to encourage faculty and staff to save energy. To inform this process, we conducted some research in the biggest research building on campus, monitoring energy usage patterns using passive sensors.
Food Examples: Advocating for local, organic, or more sustainable food, campus gardening, food purchasing and ingredient guidelines	[X]	Significant	We conducted a program encouraging many students not to use trays in an effort to help Sodexo switch its dining facilities to tray free (which should save 30 plus percent of food waste and have significant water savings as well). They are in the process of gathering estimates from contractors in order to make the conversion. We are also working to start a new farmers market on campus (http://farmersmarket.union.rpi.edu ) and are in the process of starting a pilot program for an innovative on site composting system. We are also working with dining services to increase the amount of local food in the dining halls and are working with grounds to manage a student greenhouse and gardening space.
Green Building Examples: Design or construction policy	[ ]
Grounds and Maintenance Examples: Green landscaping, non-toxic cleaners	[X]	None	We are starting a survey of landscaping practices and and plan on working with them much more closely in the coming semester. We also work closely with them in the campus greenhouse.
Student Involvement Examples: Facilitating engagement with students, speaker series, establishing EcoReps program, student guide to sustainable living on campus	[X]	Significant	Last semester, we worked with some faculty in the STS department to organize and promote a speaker series which got about a hundred students at each monthly event. We also helped EcoLogic with Earth Fest (hosting outreach for our farmers market project), which got hundreds of student passing through, organized Face the Waste, which made campus waste streams visible to all of campus. Finally, we organized a major event to update the whole campus and bring the various sustainability communities together (video at http://www.rpitv.org/productions/299-rensselaer-sustainability-view-point). Over a hundred students, faculty, staff, and administrators, and alumni participated in this event.
Transportation Examples: Promoting sustainable transportation, campus fleet improvements, connecting students with public transit	[X]	Moderate	We have been providing support to the APO service fraternity on campus which is working to start a bike share program as well as the cycling club which is working to start an on campus bike shop and advocacy branch. Note: Parking and transportation already runs a great subtle service for all students and provides free access to the Capital District Transportation Authority's bus system to all RPI community members.
Waste Reduction Examples: Recycling, composting, reducing consumption	[X]	Moderate	We recently won second prize the NYSAR3 & Alcoa's Recycling video challenge with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIeysg0ijSE and there by educated many on the campus about our new single stream recycling system (the video has over 1000 views already) and won 600 new recycling bins to be distributed around campus. We are now working with Environmental and Site Services to optimize distribution of recycling bins on campus and educate the community members and and maintenance staff about the new system. We also ran Face The Waste 2010 which is an annual event during which we place large containers of waste of different kinds around campus in order to make our waste more visible to the campus and educate students about the recycling process. Finally, we ran a recycling drive at Relay For Life and got extremely high participation from those in attendance.
Water Examples: Water conservation, reducing campus pollution, bottled water campaigns	[X]	Moderate	As mentioned in the Food section, we are working with Sodexo to get them to implement Tray Free Dining in more dining halls. This will significantly reduce water use in the dishwashing process. As part of Hey Red! Go Green, an event coordinated by the Residence Hall Association, they conducted water saving education to all freshmen in the residence halls.
Other	[ ]

Additional Comments

As the coordinating body for the many sustainability initiatives we, in conjunction with the Green Corps, are aware of and support all initiatives across campus. As such, I have included many projects which various groups across campus have headed up. Typical attendance for major sustainability events on campus is between one and two hundred people, and our mailing list reach is over one hundred students, faculty, staff, and administrators.

3) Sustainability Competitions and Challenges

This information should describe a campus challenge or competition organized by your group to promote sustainability. To add general information about your group, return to the previous questions.

First competition

Name of competition	Hey Red! Go Green [EcoHall Challenge]
Frequency of competition	Annually
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.	2008
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.	Residents Hall Association, Residence Life, Sodexo (Hospitality Services),

Participants:

Students	[X]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Hey Red! Go Green, formally called EcoHall challenge is run primarily by the RPI Residence Hall Association. During the competition, all of the residence halls compete to see who can reduce their energy usage by the most (compared to uninhabited levels) and the winning hall gets an ice cream party. During the course of the competition, RHA members hosted a series of themed weeks devoted to educating their residents about various kinds of waste and conservation (energy, water, recycling, local food, etc.).

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[X]
Waste reduction	[X]
Water conservation	[X]
Other. Please describe	Local Food Awareness

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Unfortunately, I don't have this year's data but last year it saved roughly 20,000 kWh of electricity.

Lasting effects of competition:

As all incoming freshman go through this competition, they are all taught several conservation techniques and good practices right at the beginning of their time at RPI. Several other Resident oriented projects have also come out of this, including recycling initiatives, trips to the farmers market, and CFL-swaping drives.

Website:

Second competition

Name of competition	Face The Waste
Frequency of competition	Annually
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.	2008
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.	Student Sustainability Task Force, Environmental and Site Services

Participants:

Students	[X]
Faculty	[X]
Staff	[X]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Each year, we collect enough waste of different kinds to fill several 4X4X8 foot containers. Then display them around campus with tables containing information about the various kinds of waste and how to reduce them. Students guess various trivia questions with regard to the waste streams then we give out recycled prizes to the best guesses.We get many on campus organizations to man the tables and distribute the information, thus increasing the total reach.

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[X]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe	Community education

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

N/A- This is primarily an educational challenge aimed at increasing awareness about the new single stream recycling system.

Lasting effects of competition:

Got the campus talking about how much waste we produce and increased awareness of single stream recycling.

Website:

Third competition

Name of competition
Frequency of competition
Year initiated Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
Groups involved in coordinating If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.

Participants:

Students	[ ]
Faculty	[ ]
Staff	[ ]
Other. Please describe.

Incentives/Rewards:

Goals of competition:

Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).

Energy conservation	[ ]
Waste reduction	[ ]
Water conservation	[ ]
Other. Please describe

Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):

Lasting effects of competition:

Website:

4) Sustainability in Student Government and Other Activities

Please describe the role of Student Government and other groups.

Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?

If yes. Please describe below:

The Student Sustainability Task Force works closely with the Student Senate (particularly the Finance, Facilities, and Advancement committee) and while we used to be a sub-committee, we have recently become an independent group. We still work very closely together though.

Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:

The Student Sustainability Task Force is primarily an advocacy group which coordinates many groups and projects on campus. One of our biggest projects this year has been the creation of a Farmers Market on campus (http://farmersmarket.union.rpi.edu) to increase the availability of local, sustainable food to students, faculty, and staff.Other projects are listed below:• Composting: We are working on a pilot program for a brand new composting system which could provide easy, on site processing of campus food waste thus minimizing transportation costs and harvesting energy off of the process at the same time.• Green Roof: the Class of 2010 has chosen to make a green roof for the union book store their class gift. We are supporting this both financially and logistically.• Calendar: We also work with EcoLogic to run a calendar which provides a unified place where all sustainability related events can be found: http://sstf.union.rpi.edu/SSTF/Calendar.html • Map: Also in conjunction with ecologic, I have developed a map of location of interest around the campus: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=101232908585714550586.00047496dcea04f5acdc6&ll=42.731505,-73.681998&spn=0.015131,0.027466&z=15• Facebook: We manage a facebook page which serves as a unified communication point to the campus about sustainability initiatives (http://www.facebook.com/rpisstf)• I also work closely with the local 350.org chapter to coordinate events.

Please Note: The following is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.

Note: While we do not have official affiliations as a club, we are members of the following through the institute: AASHE, USGBC, the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities, and NYSAR3's College Council (on which we will have a student representative next year).

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