Eco-opportunities for Staff

Image of a leaf with the text "Get Involved"

Do you love bringing your reusable cup to your local cafe, riding your bike, and exploring the farmers’ market? Do you wish there was more you could do to bring your sustainability values to the Emerson community? Check out the exciting opportunities for staff to become sustainability leaders on campus! 

Green Teams

Emerson Green Teams are groups of dedicated staff volunteers collaborating to effect positive environmental change on campus and in the community. Green Team department and building leaders organize and run activities and events to promote professional development and sustainability. 

Green Teams can be formed by building, floor, office, or department. There is no limit to the size of the Green Team: a “team” can range from one person to an entire department. Each team should designate a team lead to maintain communication with the campus sustainability manager and other Green Teams across campus. Once every other month, the campus sustainability manager will host a meeting with all Green Team leads to share progress and learn from each other. 

Teams can be formed at any time and do not dissolve at the end of the academic year. In fact, the Green Team program offers a unique opportunity to maintain continuity in sustainability leadership across campus in an environment where student leaders turn over frequently. Each spring, Green Team members will be invited to an Earth Month celebration with the student sustainability-focused peer educators on campus. 

You can read more about Green Teams in the charter here. If you are interested in forming or joining a Green Team, please contact sustainability@emerson.edu to get started. 

Sustainability Action Plan

Are you interested in helping set the agenda for sustainability at Emerson for the next several years? Over the next year, the Emerson community will work together to create a detailed roadmap to get us to our 2030 goals, which include (but are not limited to!) carbon neutrality and climate change resilience. This Sustainability Action Plan will cover everything from our emissions to our curriculum to how we address climate justice.  

There are many ways to make your voice heard in this important planning process. You don’t need to have any experience with sustainability to get involved. 

  1. Apply to join a Sustainability Action Plan working group. Each working group covers one of the following categories and will define 2030 subgoals and strategies to achieve them for the College. 
    1. Emissions and offsets: Chart a path to the 2030 carbon neutrality goal via Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reductions.
    2. Resilience: Assess the College’s risks from current and future climate impacts, and how these risks could affect future assets and operations. Identify risk mitigation strategies to implement.
    3. Equity and justice: Understand how our current operations and current and future climate change impacts the local community. Define a plan to ensure equity and justice.
    4. Waste: Assess current waste volume and diversion rates. Define strategies to decrease total waste volume and increase waste diversion rate.
    5. Curriculum and research: Understand how the current curriculum already incorporates sustainability and set goals for increasing exposure to sustainability topics across the academic experience.
    6. Finance: Assess how the College’s investments and purchases affect our sustainability performance. Set goals to align our financial practices with our values.

To get involved, fill out this application form and the Sustainability Office will be in touch. You can also find more information about the time commitment and the process here. 

There are additional ways to get involved if you’re unable to commit the time to joining or leading a working group. You can attend a working group meeting as a guest to share your ideas, you can attend a listening session to discuss how you think the College should prioritize sustainability with your colleagues, and you can submit suggestions here or provide input on the draft plan in the spring. 

You can follow the planning process over on the Sustainable Emerson blog. Feel free to reach out to sustainability@emerson.edu to discuss other ways to get involved. 

Jen Lamy (Sustainability Office)