By: Katie Koenig<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between University of Toronto\u2019s (U of T\u2019s) expansive carbon reduction goals and Boston University\u2019s (BU\u2019s) support of their local community, it\u2019s clear that colleges\u2019 efforts to become more sustainable are incredibly varied in scope and focus. Still, there are similar projects done at other colleges, even with less resources than the well-funded University of Toronto. Emerson itself has several comparable programs and aspects of campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emerson is a much smaller school than U of T or BU. It isn\u2019t ranked in QS World University Rankings, but BU is, set at rank 267 in sustainability<\/a> out of over 1700 listed colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, one ranking system that Emerson participates in is with AASHE\u2019s sustainability rating program. AASHE, or the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, is an organization that works to increase the integration of sustainable living, education, and social equity in institutions of higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AASHE has built their definition of sustainability, and the criteria they use to measure it, off of the Earth Charter<\/a> and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals<\/a>, as well as incorporating ways that Indigenous cultures approach sustainability. AASHE specifically focuses on sustainability-focused education, racial and social equity in higher education, and providing tools and platforms for students to promote sustainability themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One service they provide is their rating rating program, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, where schools self-report about their campus life, administration practices, and education to identify their strengths and weaknesses with integrating sustainability holistically into the institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the data is self-reported, AASHE does standard reviews of one third of the reported points in their ranking system for each submission, and reviews the entire submission for the highest ratings. Many institutions, including Emerson, also pursue additional points by working with another institution to conduct a peer review of all of the data submitted. In addition, AASHE STARS reports are all public, allowing peers and others who are interested to dig into the data submitted themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Institutions can earn one of four rating levels depending on their submissions: bronze, silver, gold, or the highest, platinum. AASHE has a detailed list of qualities that colleges must achieve in order to gain a numerical \u201cgrade,\u201d so to speak. Emerson is currently rated at gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emerson has implemented several sustainability-focused aspects into campus life. One of these aspects concerns building construction and management. We participate in LEED certifications, which I\u2019ve covered in a prior post: \u201cWhat Are Leed Certifications?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n That post covers the details of this type of certification, so I won\u2019t repeat myself here, but I will highlight that four out of our five dorms on campus have received certifications, and Little Building was actually used as a case study<\/a> for sustainable construction strategies. When you walk into the lobby of Colonial, you can see the LEED placard on the far wall! The Emerson Los Angeles Center also earned a LEED Gold rating, featuring rooftop solar and an automated sunshade system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly to BU\u2019s bike donations, we have our own donation drive. You\u2019ve likely already heard of it, or at least taken advantage of its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Griff Gives is our end-of-semester donation drive, with a focus on dorm materials that students no longer need or want. We get the most donations at the end of the spring semester, of course, when students move out of their dorms, or even graduate, and don\u2019t need to bring all of their belongings with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emerson Sustainability staff, Sustainability Fellows, and Griff Gives Assistants work for several weeks leading up to and beyond move-out on campus. We sort, bag, and send off donations to the appropriate organizations that repurpose these items. These organizations are all local, but some of them specifically support college students to get the belongings they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We primarily send clothes to Goodwill and More Than Words. Dorm supplies like small, tiered carts, bedding, and lamps get sent to Grad Bag, which passes them on to students in need of dorm supplies. More than Words takes donated books, and Emerson\u2019s very own Student Success accepts unopened, nonperishable food items for the Student Success pantry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the beginning of last fall, we began the Griff Gives Sustainable Living Program<\/a>, where incoming Emerson students can browse donated dorm essentials and pick up what they need, free of charge. We also host Free Shop<\/a> at the start of every January, specifically so students can explore and pick up clothes that were donated at the end of the fall semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In various ways, Emerson has integrated sustainability into campus life. Many of them are invisible in our daily lives, but still have a large impact on our energy and water usage, like LEED certifications and building management. Others are more obvious, like with Free Shop and Griff Gives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to consider the impact we have on our local community here in Boston, but it\u2019s equally important to consider the support we offer to our own students and community life on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless, there are always aspects that we can improve, particularly with how we connect with the rest of the community in Downtown Boston and in Chinatown. A common talking point about campus life is the \u201cEmerson Bubble,\u201d so on individual and institutional levels, we can still better and more directly connect with the people living around us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Katie Koenig Between University of Toronto\u2019s (U of T\u2019s) expansive carbon reduction goals and Boston University\u2019s (BU\u2019s) support of their local community, it\u2019s clear that colleges\u2019 efforts to become more sustainable are incredibly varied in scope and focus. Still, there are similar projects done at other colleges, even with less resources than the well-funded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3509,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-1236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-programs","tag-by-katie-koenig"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1237,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions\/1237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/sustainable-emerson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Buildings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Donations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n