Routes issue 9

September 2014

Ohio University’s Office of Sustainability provides services and support to the campus community and advocates for innovation and research. The office also acts to ensure the fulfillment of institutional commitments to environmental, social and economic well-being.

Routes /ro͞ots,routs/ Routes is an online magazine written and published by the Office of Sustainability.

The purpose of Routes is to inform the OHIO community of sustainability news, initiatives, and advancements at Ohio University.

New Routes Reporting Structure Beginning in October 2014, Routes will no longer be a magazine. In an effort to report more consistently and be transparent with our sustainability initiatives and progress, the Office of Sustainability will email the GreenNetwork listserv subscribers on a regular basis (at least monthly). You can subscribe to the listserv by clicking here. SOUL updates, campus and community news, as well as involvement opportunities will be featured. If you have comments or questions regarding the new structure of Routes please direct your inquires to sustainability@ohio.edu.

We thank you for your interest in sustainability at Ohio University.

In the September Issue Office of Sustainability Overview and New Staff ……………………………………………..2-3 SOUL Overview……………………………………………………………………………………………….….4 Benchmark updates…………………………………………………………………...…………..4-8 Energy Efficiency ……………………………………………………………………………...5 Built Environments & Education and Outreach………………………….…...6-7 Waste Reduction……………………………………………………………………………….8 Sustainability in the Community……………..………………………………………………………....8 Sustainability on Campus ……………………………………………………………...………………9-10 About the Editors …………………………………………………………………………………..…………11 2

The Office of Sustainability is proud to welcome a few new members to our team!

Lauren Stegeman

Lauren is a first year graduate student in the Patton College of Education pursuing a Masters in Recreation Studies. Lauren grew up in Cincinnati and received her B.A. in Studio Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She is hoping that her time as a student at OHIO will help with future plans of opening her own summer camp. At the Office of Sustainability, Lauren is currently working on programming for the new Sustainability Residential Learning Community offered to all students. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, painting, spending time outdoors, and developing/printing film photography.

Elaine started as the Sustainability Specialist in June 2014. She has degrees in Chemical Engineering (B.S., University of Michigan), Chemistry (B.S., University of Michigan), Bioengineering (M.S., Cornell University), and has almost completed her PhD in Civil Engineering (Ohio University). Some of her past positions include: process engineer in pharmaceutical manufacturing, floodplain management aide to the Athens City Council, and wastewater treatment research assistant. The title of her dissertation is “Sustainable Treatments of Acid Mine Drainage”. Elaine has lived in Athens since 1999 with her husband and 4 boys. In her Elaine Goetz spare time, Elaine can usually be found on a soccer field somewhere in Southeastern Ohio, as all six members of her family play soccer. Besides soccer, Elaine enjoys spending time with family and friends, tennis, biking, reading and vegetable gardening.

Sam Crowl

Sam’s position with the Office of Sustainability began in June 2014. Prior to joining the office he taught in Ohio University’s Department of History as a part-time instructor. Sam holds a B.A. in English from Lawrence University (Appleton, WI), an M.A. in International Affairs (Southeast Asian Studies) from Ohio University, and is almost finished with a Ph.D. in History (Southeast Asia) at OHIO. Sam grew up in Athens and returned in 1996 after living for many years in Osaka, Japan and Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Institute of International Education. Sam and his wife have three children, and the whole family enjoys playing soccer, hiking, biking, reading and sustainably renovating their home.

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How do we define SOUL? Sustainable OU Leaders is an active group of students, faculty, and staff that collaborate to reach the university's goals for environmental, social, and economic well-being. Guided by the Ohio University Sustainability Plan, members meet weekly to discuss progress on projects relating to waste reduction, energy efficiency, transportation, parking, purchasing, local food, construction, research, and more. Meetings often include guest presentations from the university administration or different departmental units, and members work with representatives from Culinary Services, Procurement Services, Construction and Facilities, the Office of Recycling and Refuse, the department of Energy Management, and numerous academic departments. As of Fall 2014, students can also choose to receive course credit for SOUL through a new Sustainability Implementation Practicum offering, which guides students in becoming professional, informed, and successful advocates for the environment.

Get Involved!

SOUL is the easiest and fastest way to get involved with the Office of Sustainability.

There are SOUL meetings every Wednesday in Baker 239 from 3:30-5pm.

Click the video above for more information about Sustainable OU Leaders!

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Energy Efficiency

August 27 and September 24, 2014

The Energy Efficiency sub-group addresses issues of greenhouse gas reduction, renewable energy, building efficiency, sustainable investing, and environmental purchasing.

B1

Benchmark 1 “ Reduce institutional greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) across all campuses”. Top university officials have suggested that Ohio University is still on track to meet our goal of being independent from coal by 2015. We will meet this goal by transitioning our on-campus coal-fired power plant to dual fuel boilers. This transition is not intended to be a permanent change, but rather an opportunity for the university to continue to operate at current capacity while technology continues to develop and better solutions arise. If you would like to discuss this or another Energy Efficiency benchmark with SOUL, feel free to attend the next meeting of this sub-group. The next Energy Efficiency sub-group meeting is scheduled for October 22.

Feature Story B19

The goal of Benchmark 19 is to increase the use of green cleaning products. This summer, the Office of Sustainability staff decided to make our office cleaning a little greener, and it was easier than you might think. We followed the directions below to create a solution that we now use to wipe down our work stations at the end of a shift. This helps to keep our office clean and germ-free.

Ingredients:

Directions:



1/4 cup lemon juice



2 tbsp. white vinegar



10 drops tea tree essential oil



5 drops sweet orange essential oil



2 cups hot water

Mix ingredients well (no lemon pulp). Use a funnel to transfer to spray bottle. Spray onto surfaces and wipe clean with a reusable towel.

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Built Environments

September 3, 2014

The Built Environments sub-group addresses issues of land and resource management, parking and transportation, local food purchasing, and water and irrigation systems.

B14

Benchmark 14 “Increase Purchase of Local Foods”. Winner of the 2014 OHIO Exemplary Sustainable Department award, Culinary Services has demonstrated great initiative in progressing sustainability through their services. Erin Robb, Purchasing Specialist for Culinary Services, and Dan Pittman, Assistant Director, Auxiliary Sales, presented the recent sustainable achievements of Culinary Services at the SOUL Built Environments Subgroup meeting. In regards to Benchmark 14, as food contracts were up for bid over the summer, Erin Robb put much emphasis on how well companies could trace what percentage of their food is local. Other highlights from the presentation included news that Culinary Services recently signed a bid to purchase all chicken used at dining halls from local White Feather Farms and is now able to offer Zero Waste Catered Events to the entire campus community.

Aside from local purchasing efforts, Culinary Services is also making an effort to reduce food waste by allowing customers to choose their portion sizes and also utilizing the university’s composting facility. Ongoing efforts include the development of new partnerships in order to supply Fair Trade Coffee at several dining halls and cafés around campus. Culinary Services also utilizes soaps and detergents that are biodegradable.

For even more sustainable progress made by Culinary Services, visit their website here.

The next Built Environment sub-group meeting is scheduled for November 5th.

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Outreach and Education

September 10, 2014

The Built Environments sub-group addresses issues of sustainability literacy, curriculum and degree programs, fundraising and capital campaigns, behavior change, and sustainability research.

B9

“Increase enrollment in sustainability-themed courses, majors, and programs”. The College of Arts & Sciences has recently launched a Curricular Theme program, designed to offer students a multidisciplinary teaching and curricula approach that will allow them to, “...acquire the critical skills and knowledge they need for successful careers, engaged citizenship and fulfilling lives” (http:// www.ohio.edu/cas/undergrad/themes/index.cfm).

Specific to Benchmark 9, Sustainability Studies is one of the Themes developed out of this initiative. Dr. Nancy Manring, Associate Professor of Political Science, a member of the Master of Science Environmental Studies (MSES) Advisory Board, and now Sustainability Studies Theme Leader, discussed her excitement at the new opportunity for students to broaden their knowledge on the complex topic of sustainability. According to Dr. Manring, the Sustainability Studies Theme will provide students with a lens to look through to better understand the relationships between their “breadth of knowledge” requirements, their major and sustainability. Themes are an option that can be individualized to each student’s interests. A diverse list of courses in the Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Humanities make up the flexible curriculum for the Theme (none of the Theme courses are formally required).

Feature Story B8 The goal of benchmark 8 is to improve sustainability literacy of students, faculty and staff.

In addition, CAS 1415: Introduction to Sustainability, is now being offered for the Spring 2015 semester. Geared toward first A Resident Assistant (RA) plays an essential year students but open to all role in the on-campus student living experiOHIO students, those enrolled in ence. With the use of bulletin boards, messagthe course will explore sustainaes can be relayed to students throughout all bility on a multitude of levels, residents halls on campus. Recognizing this, from the local to global levels. several staff members in the Office of SustainaThe course will be team-taught bility created 300 bulletin boards, one for each by four professors. Visit the ColRA, throughout the summer to be handed out lege of Arts and Sciences website at RA orientation before the beginning of or contact Dr. Nancy Manring school. Each bulletin board was created using a (manring@ohio.edu) for more recycled plastic bag, cardboard salvaged from the Recycling Center, newspainformation on the Introduction per and magazine clippings, and information cards printed on recycled conto Sustainability course and the tent paper. If you would like a copy of the bulletin board (right) contact Sustainability Studies Theme. sustainability@ohio.edu and check out more information online.

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Waste Reduction

September 17, 2014

The Waste Reduction sub-group addresses issues of recycling, composting, dining education, material reduction, and surplus food donations.

B5

September 20th marked the opening home game this season for the OHIO football team, defeating Idaho 36-24. Although compost has been at tailgates for football games in the past, Saturday celebrated the beginning of the first season in school history where compost will be in the stadium at every single home game. Beyond the stadium, composting opportunities were also set up at the Student Tailgate, the Bobcat Club Tailgate, select areas in Tailgreat Park, and in the Tower on the third and fourth floor.

Sustainability in the Community

By Katie Lasco, Office of Sustainability SOUL implementation manager

Did you know that 50-90% of local bee populations in regions worldwide have disappeared?

On Wednesday, September 10th, the Athena Cinema kicked off their Fall Sustainability Series with a special screening of More Than Honey. This awardwinning documentary by Markus Imhoof explores the evolving role of bees in today’s society and the combined influence that agricultural pesticides, new viruses, and commercial bee-keeping practices have on the declining health of global populations. Generally referred to as “colony collapse disorder” this ecological phenomenon threatens the ability of bees to continue pollinating crops that form the basis of our human diet.

Wednesday, October 8th @7: On Thin Ice Wednesday, October 22nd @7: On Our Own Land Wednesday, November 5th @7: Cafeteria Man

The screening was sponsored by the Ohio University Common Experience Project for Sustainability (CEP-S), which works to integrate sustainability dialogue into university curriculum. Following the film was a panel discussion with several faculty, students, and community members.

Interested? The Fall Sustainability Series will continue throughout the semester. All films begin at 7:00pm at the Athena Cinema on Court Street.

For more information, please refer to the Athena calendar, the Common Experience Project on Sustainability webpage, or this article about the 2014 Fall Sustainability Series.

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Sustainability on Campus

SIAC volunteers will assist in developing investment guidelines that will help student-managed equity (SEMG) and student-managed fixed income (FIMG) groups to identify companies and entities that account for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). These groups will then incorporate the ESG analysis in their investment decision-making.

The Sustainable Investing Advisory Committee (SIAC) is recruiting student volunteers for its new ESG themed Investment Project. To learn more or join SIAC, email sustainability@ohio.edu.

The Office of Sustainability is now accepting applications for the Ecohouse for the 2015-2016 school year!

A unique off-campus housing opportunity The OHIO Ecohouse is currently the only residence at Ohio University that offers students the chance to focus on sustainable behaviors. Any student (undergraduate or graduate) who is eligible to live off-campus is invited to apply to live in the house to further their knowledge of and investment in sustainable living. No experience with sustainability is required; residents must merely have an interest in learning more about sustainability. Residents engage in a variety of exciting activities and workshops to enhance their sustainable living skills. Applications are available here.

This semester, Ecohouse residents were able to partake in Food Preservation and medicinal herbs workshops as well as homesteading 101.

Check out the Ecohouse website for all the details!

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Sustainability Summit

(Above) Summit participants. 13 colleges and universities from the state of Ohio were represented.

Earlier this month, on September 16 and 17, Ohio University hosted a Sustainability Summit for sustainability professionals from colleges and universities across the state. Over the course of the two-day event, participants were invited to discuss their successes at their home institutions. Everyone was also welcomed to ask questions and seek advice from their colleagues.

The two-day summit consisted of Ecohouse and compost facility tours as well as presentations by OHIO Culinary Services and the Environmental Studies Department.

Cross-institutional collaborations that are facilitated by events such as the Summit are extremely beneficial to all participants. Programs and initiatives are stronger when a greater number of students, faculty, and staff can support them. The sustainability professionals that participated in this year’s Summit are hopeful that a similar event will take place again The colleges and universities that were represented at the summit included: Loraine County Community College, Hocking College, Miami University, University of Dayton, Kent State University, University of Mount Union, Bowling Green State University, University of Toledo, University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, The Ohio State University, and Oberlin College.

For more information about the Sustainability Summit and pictures taken at the event, check out the article published by the Compass.

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About the Editors Tess is pursuing a Masters in Environmental Studies with a focus in sustainability in higher education.

Before attending Ohio University, Tess graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina with a B.S. in Environmental and Natural Resource Management, which is where she found her passion for environmental issues. At Clemson, Tess’ work with a sustainable living-learning community gave her Student Affairs experience that made her perfect for Tess Phinney her starting position in the Office as the Education and Outreach Coordinator. This year, Tess continues her role as a staff editor of the Office e-magazine Routes and assists the Sustainability Specialist with greenhouse gas reports. When she is not in the office or working on her thesis, Tess enjoys biking, hammocking, nature photography, and traveling.

Megan is a third year graduate student in the School of Rehabilitation and Communication Sciences working towards a Doctorate in- Physical Therapy. She grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton.

Through her work at the Office of Sustainability as well as in her future career as a physical therapist, Megan aspires to promote personal sustainability through education and opportunities to improve Megan Graver wellness and develop healthy lifestyles. She is also working to further her knowledge of and appreciation for local and global sustainability efforts. She enjoys running and hiking and hopes to motivate students to enjoy and develop an appreciation for the natural- resources that surround Athens. This is Megan’s second year as a Routes editor.

Feature Stories are intended to highlight the sustainable achievements of students, staff, faculty , or university offices. If you or someone you know is helping us achieve our OHIO Sustainability Plan goals and would like to be recognized by our office, please contact sustainability@ohio.edu 11