Princeton University
Sustainability News
Office of Sustainability • August/September 2011
New Faculty Co-Chair joins Sustainability Committee
New this year! The Princeton Sustainability Committee (PSC) is very pleased to announce its first faculty Co-Chair, Assistant Professor Elie Bou-Zeid from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
The PSC is a 17-member group of staff, faculty and students who collaborate with the Office of Sustainability to foster new ideas and advance the use of the campus as a sustainability laboratory. The PSC accomplishes this by suggesting policy changes to the upper administration, monitoring progress toward stated goals, and generating collaboration between academics and the physical plant to locally address pressing global sustainability challenges.
The committee meets once per month on Wednesdays at the WU Hall, Private Dining Room 12:00-1:15pm. This year's dates are: 10/5, 11/9, 12/7, 2/8, 3/7, 4/4, and 5/2. These meetings are open to all campus community members. Please contact the Office if you wish to attend.
Sustainability@Princeton Discussion Event: Using the Campus as a Laboratory for Undergraduate Study
Join campus operations leadership in discussion with faculty and students exploring potential JP or Senior Thesis topics using the campus physical environment as a laboratory. Open to campus.
October 21, 2011 - 10:00 am to 12:00 noon (with lunch after)
Carl A. Fields Center, multipurpose room
RSVP requested (indicate lunch or no lunch) by October 7 to jschedne@princeton.edu or 258-6085
Rapping Toward Sustainability - Video for New Students
"Sustainable is attainable and easy to do," rap alumnus Brooks Barron '11 and Ben Barron '13 in a new how-to video for freshmen on ways to go green as they don their orange and black. The project was supported by the Student Environmental Communication Network (SECN). Watch the rap video that covers all aspects of dorm life, from recycling to laundry.
Princeton Environmental Network starts a new year
The Princeton Environmental Network (PEN) is a monthly gathering of sustainability-focused student club and project leaders. Sponsored by the Office of Sustainability, leaders meet to organize collaborative campus-wide efforts and to communicate student priorities that can be shared with the Princeton Sustainability Committee and University administration.
PEN groups represented include: The Bee Team; Environmental Discourses on the Ingestion of Bugs League (EDIBL); Greening Princeton Farmers' Market; Graduate Student Government (GSG); Greening Princeton; Greening the Street; Outdoor Action (OA); Ecology Representatives (EcoReps); FoodTASK; Garden Project; Slow Food Princeton; Student Environmental Communication Network (SECN); Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE); Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE); U-Bikes and CycLab; and the Undergraduate Student Government (USG).
PEN meets monthly on Fridays in the Frist Campus Center. The next meeting will be on October 14, 2011 at 12:00-1:00pm in the Class of 1952 room. To get involved please email Kristi Wiedemann (kristiw@).
Sustainability Survival Kit distributed to Freshmen
During move-in on Sept. 3, incoming freshmen received a "Sustainability Survival Kit" from the Office of Sustainability including a Drink Local water bottle (BPA-free), a reusable BYOBag, a reusable "spork" and campus sustainability information.
The Drink Local initiative supports the reduction of waste and fossil fuel usage associated with bottled water. In addition to providing reusable water bottles to incoming students, the initiative is responsible for installing more than 140 filtered water stations across campus since 2010.
UBikes Rentals Continue Rolling for the New Academic Year
End bike abandonment and the hassle of bike storage over the summer! While supplies last, rent a bicycle from Princeton UBikes. Bikes are available to students, staff, and faculty for only $25 per semester. The fleet is comprised of a growing collection of refurbished abandoned bikes from the campus, as well as durable purchased cruisers. Visit the UBikes web page for more information. Note that supplies are limited.
If you would like to volunteer as a bike mechanic to help keep UBikes thriving, please contact Kristi Wiedemann (kristiw@).
Office of Sustainability at the Activities Fair
The Office of Sustainability was one of the many groups represented at the Activities Fair in Dillon Gym on Friday, September 16th. If you were not able to visit us there, learn more online about the student groups that participate in the Office-hosted Princeton Environmental Network for student leaders, and campus employment opportunities in sustainability.
Mobile Tip:
Visit the iPrinceton app maps feature and take the Sustainability Tour!
PU Delegation to AASHE 2011 - presenting campus as lab
Princeton representatives will be participating in a panel next month on "Bridging Operations and Academics" at the annual conference held by The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Operational and Academic units represented will include: the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI), Dining Services, the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Facilities Engineering, and the Office of Sustainability. Updates on the conference will follow in our next newsletter issue.
AASHE Conference & Expo 2011 - Creating Sustainable Campuses and Communities
WHEN: Sunday, October 09 - Wednesday, October 12, 2011
WHERE: David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA
Summer of Learning Symposium
Each summer, dozens of Princeton students serve in internships all over the world exploring solutions to environmental and sustainability challenges. You are invited to hear PEI and Grand Challenges students share their varied summer internship experiences on Friday September 30th, from 9am - 5pm, and Friday, October 7th, from 9am - 5pm. Location TBD. Check the PEI website for more details.
NEW FRESHMAN SEMINAR Spring Term - an inside view of campus operations
PRINCETON’S ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: USING THE CAMPUS AS A LABORATORY FOR SUSTAINABILITY
FRS 142 Shana Weber, Ph.D.
This seminar will provide students with the opportunity to use the campus as a laboratory for analyzing personal as well as university resource use. Students will examine the literature associated with global ecological carrying capacity for the purpose of informed sustainability decision making. Students will work with expert staff co-instructors as well as administrative and academic guests, and determine the amount of resources necessary to support individual and University consumption patterns, and assess challenges to, and strategies for, reducing those impacts.For more information, visit:
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