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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.
Name: Emily Bauer
Position (in student organization): Director of Sustainability for the SUNY Student Assembly
Date survey submitted: July 9, 2009
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
Name of organization: SUNY Student Assembly
Number of active members: ~ 60 elected members
Website: http://www.studentassembly.org/
Date of last meeting: June 20th, 2009
Frequency of meetings: The executive committee meets once a month in Albany
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008:
The Director of Sustainability is a new position still being created. Goals set out include signing all SUNY school’s onto the Presidents Climate Commitment and organizing resources for schools to move towards climate neutrality.
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008:
I have spoken with the SUNY Chancellor about our goals and she has expressed sustainability as a mission of the SUNY system.
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[ X ] No – However, we plan to initiate competitions between SUNY School’s next year
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[ X ] Yes.
Please describe: A group I was leading last year created the Student Association Office of the Environment. This office will serve as a sounding board for UB student environmental needs and opinions, guiding the University at Buffalo’s path to climate neutrality. It will work directly with our climate neutrality steering committee, the Environmental Stewardship Committee, and educate students on campus environmental issues. This office will go into operation September 2009.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
- Yearly university-wide sustainability survey to assess our progress
- Served as undergraduate student representative to the Environmental Stewardship Committee from January 2007 to May 2009
- Focus the Nation - 2008
- Earth Day Rally – 2008
- The Real Food Challenge – 2008 – Signed our Campus Dining and Shops onto the Real Food Challenge: realfoodchallenge.org
- Sustainability Forum’s to foster public review of our universities’ Climate Action Plan
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible:
UB Environmental Network
President: Danielle Peters
Engineers for a Sustainable World
Presidents: Dan Snitzer
Student Association Office of the Environment
Director: Chris Llop – cjllop@gmail.com
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
6) 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):
AASHE
The Presidents’ Climate Commitment
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Name: Daniel Snitzer
Position (in student organization): President
Date survey submitted: 7/28/2009
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
Name of organization: SUNY Buffalo Chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World
Number of active members: Approximately 50
Website: http://wings.buffalo.edu/sa/esw/index.htm/
Date of last meeting: July 4th 2009
Frequency of meetings: General meetings during School year every two weeks. Project meetings as necessary (usually on opposite weeks from general meetings). Events about once a month.
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008:
-Renewable energy
-Community Sustainability
-Urban Gardening/Renewal
-Awareness/Education
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008:
-Projects concerning renewable energy-
UB on B20 (using bio-diesel for school bus fleet): ongoing
Wind power project (design and creation of small scale wind turbines): ongoing
Pedal Power project(make a bike generate electricity): completed
-Community Sustainability
Sustainable housing project
Park Project
HECK volunteering (Annual effort to lower heating and power costs of houses in less
fortunate areas of the City of Buffalo
-Urban Gardening/Renewal
Central terminal/urban gardening project
-Awareness/Education
Yearly Earth Day Extravaganza (event to celebrate Earth Day)
Engineer Week Demonstration at Buffalo Science Museum
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[x] No
[ ] Yes. Please list details for each competition.
#1 - Name of competition:
Year initiated:
Frequency of competition:
Participants:
Incentives:
Goal of competition:
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced:
Lasting effects of competition:
Website:
#2 - Name of competition:
Year initiated:
Frequency of competition:
Participants:
Incentives:
Goal of competition:
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced:
Lasting effects of competition:
Website:
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[x] Yes. Please describe:
The Environmental Stewardship Committee of the Student Association. This committee is in the initial stages of formation.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
Greening the Student Union. A project for the next semester in the beginning stages to make the Union more environmentally friendly and cut costs.
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at
your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible:
UB Green ubgreen.buffalo.edu
UB Environmental Network
UB Engineers without Borders
Environmental Stewardship Committee
Wellness Center Bike Rentals
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
6) 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):
National chapter Engineers for a Sustainable world
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Name: Danielle Peters
Position (in student organization): President
Date survey submitted: 7/28/2009
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1) Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role.
Name of organization: UB Environmental Network
Number of active members: 20
Website: Inactive
Date of last meeting: 4/27/09
Frequency of meetings: Weekly
Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2008:
- Student-wide environmental awareness
- Volunteering
- Political activism
- Environmental activism
- Environmental education
- Environmental crafts
Progress made on each issue/program since August 2008:
- Student-wide environmental awareness
-
- Greenman project
- Think Outside The Bottle
- Volunteering
-
- Straw-bale house building
- Search and rescue dog training
- Political activism
-
- Local political candidate forum on environmental platforms in upcoming election (2008)
- Canvassing for candidates with environmental platforms
- Powershift ‘09
- Environmental activism
-
- UB Critical Mass
- Presidents Climate Commitment student involvement
- Environmental education
-
- Presentations each meeting from members about various environmental topics
- Film series
- Environmental crafts
-
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES AND COMPETITIONS
2) Does your group organize any sustainability challenges/competitions for your campus and/or with other colleges?
[ X ] No but we are planning one for this upcoming year
[ ] Yes. Please list details for each competition.
#1 - Name of competition:
Year initiated:
Frequency of competition:
Participants:
Incentives:
Goal of competition:
Percent of energy/water/waste reduced:
Lasting effects of competition:
Website:
SUSTAINABILITY IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
3) Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
[ ] No
[ X ] Yes. Please describe: This year we are creating an Office of the Environment under the Student Association, which will represent students in initiatives taken on through the Presidents Climate Commitment. The Chair of the Office will report to the Environmental Stewardship Committee (ESC), and there will be 6 sections to the Office of the Environment which mirror the subcommittees on the ESC.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
4) Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
All of the below projects were initiated by the Environmental Network:
Greenman Project - Spring 2009
· A unique campus environmental awareness campaign
· The campaign sent out 20 students wearing bright green body suits to catch the eye of students. Not revealing our identity, we gave them business cards with the date and time of a presentation to find out “Who is the Greenman?” We hung banners and advertised on chalkboards. The Greenman represents an environmentally conscious student.
· The presentation had 2 parts, and we conveyed simple ways to be environmentally friendly without impacting your life (recycling, re-useable water bottles, shutting off lights, etc):
o 5 film clips creatively displaying the ideas of being environmentally friendly
o A mock “Price Is Right” game, where instead of using prices, we used statistics about carbon footprints, food miles, energy savings, etc.
· Overall we got between 50-100 students to the presentation, and visibly displayed ourselves to thousands of students on campus. We are planning on using the Greenman in the future, and perhaps a similar presentation scheme.
Fume Hoods Initiative – Spring 2008 – Spring 2009
- The purpose of this project was to go into the science buildings and monitor the energy usage of fume hoods (which are located mostly in chemistry and engineering labs to capture harmful chemicals from entering the air). Many of the fume hoods on campus are no longer in use, but remain turned on 24/7, wasting enormous amounts of energy.
- Our students received academic credit for being part of this team to discover which fume hoods could be turned off permanently, or have on/off switches put on them. Overall the project saved the university upwards of $10,000 in energy costs.
Student Electrical Footprint
- The purpose of this project was to discover how much energy students use where they live in residential dormitories, on campus apartments, and off campus housing.
- Our students received credit for this project also. They were given energy meters to plug in to various appliances that they use in their household, figure out how long each is used per day, and add up all of the electricity they consume per day, per month, and per year, and figured out the carbon footprint. The average was then multiplied by the number of students at the school, to estimate total personal student electricity usage.
- This information will be useful to the Environmental Stewardship Committee, which is the group responsible for organizing and implementing the Presidents Climate Commitment.
5) Please list and briefly describe any other student-run organizations related to campus sustainability at your school, and provide URLs if available (e.g., student groups; student government committees; student-run food co-ops, gardens/farms, bike co-ops) and provide contact information of the student leaders, if possible:
- Department of the Environment: Chair: Chris Llop, cjllop@buffalo.edu
- Engineers for a Sustainable World: President: Daniel Snitzer
- Environmental Design SA
Questions 6 is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
6) 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):
- Western New York Climate Action Coalition
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