George Washington University
ER-T2-6: Sustainability Events

Yes, GW hosts many events throughout the year related to sustainability. GW's location in Washington, DC, gives the university ample access to key decision makers and policymakers, and GW views itself as a vital convener on sustainability issues in the district. GW has recently hosted events including: - The Business Response to Climate Change: In 2013, GW business school students hosted the third annual conference aimed at bringing together business leaders, policymakers and academics to discuss solutions for a changing climate. - DC Environmental Film Festival: GW hosts environmental films annually on campus as part of this festival, including most recently a documentary on urban farming, and the previous year one on international development. GW Faculty introduce the film. - GW Feeding the Planet Summit: Sustainable Innovations in Food Security - This 2013 innovation summit gathered leaders from agriculture, business, finance, academia, NGOs, government and media from across the country to focus on game-changing innovations in global agriculture and food security. The summit explored transformational and scalable developments in policy, practices and technologies and paid special attention to the related issues of gender, climate change and urbanization. - Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU): GW hosted CGIU in 2012, which brought together hundreds of students from around the world to present their ideas for creating a healthier planet. There were over a dozen ideas presented from GW students on issues of sustainability that included a program designed to reduce bottled water consumption, a waste-reduction initiative for the DC area and initiatives designed to reduce waste pollution in Kenya. - Earth Day Activities: Each year, GW hosts a series of student-focused events designed around a theme during Earth Month. The 2014 theme was "Sustainable Food", and featured events throughout the month aimed at helping students understand how the foods they eat and their food decisions relate to the sustainability of the planet. At the annual Earth Day Fair students participated in a tap-water taste test and learned about worm composting. They also met with partners from the Foggy Bottom Farmer's Market, Zipcar, Whole Foods, and Capital Bikeshare and learned about energy efficiency by playing with tools such as watt-o-meters. The 2013 theme was "What Can You Do?", and focused on the impact that students can personally make on the environment. Featured vendors in 2013 included Capital Bikeshare, Zipcar, Whole Foods, and many more. - Solar Roundtable: Expanding Low-Income Solar in Washington, D.C., hosted by GW Solar Institute and DC SUN in April 2014. This roundtable brought together key stakeholders from the low-income housing community, advocacy organizations, the solar industry, and officials from the DC and federal government to discuss and develop recommendations on how to best scale the deployment of solar energy for low-income District residents. - Since 2011, GW Institute for Sustainability has organized a "Frontiers in Sustainability" speaker series. Speakers include GW faculty experts as well as invited national and international thought leaders on such topics as climate change, energy, water, and urban sustainability. Many of our internal and external speakers attracted sustainability faculty from several different schools, helping to enhance interdisciplinary conversations on these issues. GW has designated this speakers series as a "Univeristy Seminar Series" due to its interdisciplinary nature. This is just a sample of recent GW sustainability events. GW is committed to holding outreach events and convening thought leaders on sustainability.