Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 56.54
Liaison Elaine Durr
Submission Date Feb. 19, 2020

STARS v2.2

Elon University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Kelly Harer
Associate Director of Sustainability for Education and Outreach
Office of Sustainability
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Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Has the institution held a sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

1st campaign 

Name of the campaign:
Campus Sustainability Week

A brief description of the campaign:
A key feature of Campus Sustainability Week (CSW) is a competition aimed at reducing our collective energy use on campus. Residential neighborhoods compete with each other to see who can reduce their energy use the most. This competition happens in the fall semester and lasts for one week. To win the competition, the residential neighborhood must earn the most points by reducing their energy use and attending CSW events. There is also an individual competition for students, faculty and staff based on event attendance and completing a CSW survey. The survey asks students, faculty, and staff to identify opportunities for themselves to reduce their energy consumption, such as unplugging items not in use or washing clothes in cold water.
Several events, designed to be educational and promote sustainable behavior change, are held during CSW. For example, the Landfill on the Lawn event provides students, faculty, and staff with a visual representation of all the recyclables and compostables put in the landfill bins on campus. The clothing swap pop-up provides information about the social and environmental issues of fast fashion while encouraging students, faculty, and staff to bring their old items to swap for something new (to them).
CSW, including the events and competitions, is promoted via social media, emails, flyers, yard signs, word of mouth, and Today at Elon.
Today at Elon: https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2019/10/03/elon-to-celebrate-campus-sustainability-week-october-7-11/
More information: https://www.elon.edu/u/bft/sustainability/get-involved/live-sustainably/campus-sustainability-week/

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
During the fall 2019 competition, the winning residential neighborhood decreased energy consumption by 20% during the competition.
The CSW survey was completed by 276 students and 41 faculty/staff.
Survey results indicated that students, faculty and staff are very likely to turn off lights when they leave the room, use natural light when possible, and wash their clothes in cold water. They are less likely to use LED light bulbs instead of traditional incandescent bulbs, and not very likely to unplug items when not in use. When asked to list actions taken to reduce energy consumption, students, faculty and staff often listed actions such as turning off lights, taking shorter showers, and using reusable items such as bags, utensils, and water bottles.
During the week, 11 events were hosted with over 200 people participating.

if reporting an additional campaign, provide:

2nd campaign

Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
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A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):
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A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
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Optional Fields

A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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