Emory University
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

The Office of Sustainability Initiatives website serves as a central resource for Emory’s sustainability vision, programs, news, events, partners, resources, policies, guidelines, and history. In addition, the website provides links to other related websites, including Emory Recycles, the Emory University LEED Map,Transportation and Parking Services, Bike Emory, Outdoor Emory Organization, and the Emory Piedmont Project. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives plans to update its website in Summer 2017.

The Office of Sustainability Initiatives publishes an online newsletter twice a year that is distributed to the Emory neighborhood. The newsletter shares important sustainability stories from Emory University and Healthcare. The listserv currently has 2,427 subscribers. OSI also issues sustainability notices through a weekly newsletter, which updates subscribers about campus and community sustainability events and resources, as well as shares components of the Emory Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan 2015-2025. Currently, the listserv has 2,043 subscribers. Additionally, a weekly Farmers Market newsletter goes out to the 416 subscribers. The newsletters tells vendors stories, announces what products vendors will bring each week, shares market and food related news and events, and shares information on Emory’s seven sustainable food messages: Three large issue areas: o Emphasize seasonality – more signage is going up in dining facilities o Connect to social justice, farm worker, farm community aspects of local and sustainable food o Highlight energy embedded in food and climate implications Three specific topical areas: o Educate about sustainable seafood choices o Strengthen understanding of Fair Trade (and role of certifications) o Improve understanding of grassfed meats and dairy And one further important issue: Reduce waste The Office of Sustainability Initiatives' Green Offices at Emory and Green Labs at Emory programs have dedicated newsletters that are sent monthly to offices and labs that are certified under these programs. The sustainability website also features a "Sustainability News & Events" section, which serves as an online compilation of News and Articles related to sustainability efforts and events at Emory.

Emory's Office of Sustainability manages a Twitter account (@EmoryGreen), Facebook page (Emory Sustainability), and an Instagram account (emorysustainability).

Emory's student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, provides regular coverage of sustainability topics, including stories on Incentives Fund student projects, on the weekly Farmers Market vendors, on visiting speakers including former EPA Chief of Staff Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, and on relevant community events, such as the recent CDC climate change conference which featured Al Gore. These stories are published around three times each semester.

Emory's Undergraduate Research Program (URP) serves as the primary vehicle for showcasing undergraduate student research. URP promotes undergraduate research projects through grants, faculty-student research partnerships, and summer research stipends, offering advantages to both students and faculty. Undergraduate Research Symposiums are held bi-annually and feature student research from all disciplines. While this symposium is not focused directly on sustainability research, numerous research projects in the past have related to sustainability. Some examples of previous research topics in sustainability research include: "Planting the Seeds of Sustainability" (Katie Grams, spring 2016); "Pricing of Atlanta's Local Food" (Valerie Morrill, spring 2016); "Sustainable Beekeeping" (Juan Jose Pinto, spring 2016); "Identification of cultivable bacteria monarch eggs, larval guts and wilkweed plants" (Mahal Bugay, summer 2016); "Using pollen DNA metabarcoding for reconnstructing pollinator networks in forests managed for biofuel production" (Julie Fowler, summer 2016) and "Comparisons of Indian air pollutant emissions inventories and national and regional levels" (Qianru Wu, summer 2016).

All LEED certified buildings at Emory feature a LEED certification plaque. There is also additional signage around campus that highlights particular green features of some of the LEED buildings. 24 of Emory's buildings are equipped with a building dashboard that measures and displays total electricity, heating energy, cooling energy, water consumption and per-floor electricity use. In many of our LEED certified buildings, a number of plaques highlight various green features of the building, including natural lighting and recycled material used in construction.

In the main dining halls, there is signage to highlight the local and organic foods available in the dining area, as well as signs instructing customers about recycling and composting. Chalkboards and posted menus at each food station indicate the farms from which local food, meaning from the eight-state Southern region, is sourced. Customers can, therefore, know from where there food is coming. Additionally, small stickers are placed on menus and to-go items to indicate items that are local, grass-fed, pasture raised, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, halal, kosher, and a “better choice.” The “better choice" distinction was developed through a partnership of Healthy Emory, Bon Appetit dietitians, Emory Dining staff, and Healthy Eating Partner students to indicate meal options that have an ideal balance of nutrients. In fall 2015, the most popular coffee shop on campus, Kaldi’s, added table toppers which explained what fair trade is and the social justice benefits of purchasing fair trade products. Additionally, a fair trade sign that is four feet in diameter was installed on the wall of the shop. All other retail locations are asked to add signage to indicate their fair trade coffees and teas, as well. In spring 2017, Emory Dining launched the “Eat the Seasons campaign” in which signage is used to explain seasonality, the consumer benefits of eating seasonally, and the foods that are in season in Georgia. Additionally, two times a semester the chefs will create a meal highlighting particular seasonal produce to help students, faculty, staff and visitors begin to appreciate the taste, quality and diverse bounty of seasonal foods in Georgia. Emory’s dining locations are zero landfill waste, meaning no landfill bins are present. All food is served in compostable materials, and rarely recyclable materials, but never Styrofoam, eliminating the need for landfill bins. Signage at the recycling and composting bins is color-coded – blue for recycling and green for composting – and includes visuals of materials served at a location. Outdoor light pole banners, electronic signs, posters, and hard copy flyers draw attention to Emory's Educational Garden projects, Emory Farmer’s Market, Sustainable Food Fair and other special food-related events.

The Emory Grounds Department and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives collaborate on the installation of signage around campus to draw attention to water conservation efforts such as the presence of bioswales and rainwater collection cisterns for reuse, forest understory restoration, green roofs, educational gardens, and other grounds features as present.

In May 2010, Emory launched a comprehensive online, interactive campus sustainability map in conjunction with Emory's Walk n' Roll campaign. Using the layered map, people can view the locations of Emory's educational food gardens, bike racks and shower facilities, building tours of Emory's LEED certified buildings, Cliff shuttle routes, recycling options, and guides to campus plant life, history, arts and more. Pocket-sized sustainability maps have been produced and are distributed to new students, staff and guests, portions of this map have been added to the University's mobile app, and in-person sustainability tours are given upon request. Every year, during new student orientation in the fall, the Office of Sustainability Initiatives staff lead a one-hour walking tour for all interested students and parents.

Both the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and the Office of Transportation and Parking Services' websites provide information to commuters about Emory's many alternative commute options, including Bike Emory (features Bike Map), Cliff Shuttles (features Cliff Shuttle schedules and real-time locator), subsidized MARTA passes, and more. The Transportation and Parking office developed a real-time shuttle locator that is available as a web page or a mobile app.

The Office of Sustainability Initiatives provides pedestrian information by linking to the Georgia Department of Transportation's Bike Sense guide. The guide shares safety tips and information about regulations that pertain to cyclists on the road. Bike Emory provides bicycle maps of Emory's campus, which indicates where showers, repair stations, and bike racks are located. The Emory Spokes Council and Bike Emory offers regular bicycle safety classes for free in collaboration with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. The group is also piloting a Bike Shepherds program which will pair experienced commuters with interested, future cyclists who live near them. The pairs then will commute to campus together. The group hopes to have this program fully operational in fall 2017.

Emory's "Living Green: Sustainability in the 21st Century Living Learning Community" is a program available to first year students at Emory which fosters student commitment to a living green lifestyle through various hall programs. The Resident Advisors, Sophomore Advisors, Residence Hall Association Sustainability Chairs and the Sustainability Graduate Fellow all work to create sustainability-related programming and to promote sustainable lifestyles. Since fall 2012, Green Action is a Second Year at Emory living-learning community that builds upon the theme of Living Green into the second year residence life experience. This community occupies one floor of the Woodruff Residential Center. Residents have an active voice in what’s included in the residential programming, events, and education of this sustainable community. Residents also have an opportunity to sit on a Green Action leadership council to control programming and events that take place in Woodruff Residential Center, within the Second Year at Emory program, and among the greater Emory and Atlanta communities. Additionally, before all new student residents arrive on campus, they receive an electronic sustainability pre-arrival guide, as well as a sustainable shopping list and move-in instructions intended to help students and their families reduce and divert waste. In fall 2016, the Sustainability Graduate Fellow piloted the Residence Life sustainability literacy curriculum she developed in partnership with the Living Green Complex Director, the Office of Sustainability staff, and faculty from the Environmental Sciences department. This curriculum will be rolled out throughout all residence halls in fall 2017.

Generation Response is "Emory's Environmental/Humanitarian magazine” written by Emory students. The magazine covers local, national, and international humanitarian and environmental issues. Articles shed light on the people and organizations at Emory and in the greater Atlanta area that are making a positive difference in response to the issues.

Data reported for 2016-2017 academic year.