Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 57.65
Liaison Michelle Seppala Gibbs
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

Hope College
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Michelle Gibbs
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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

Name of the campaign:
Cottage Energy Reduction Competition

A brief description of the campaign:

The Cottage Energy Reduction Competition has been going on since at least 2011 (although we must note that a couple of years spotted in there it did not happen) and is a fun way for our students to learn more about their energy consumption. This year (2019-2020) our Hope Advocate for Sustainability Cottage Intern has been hosting a year-long competition and emailing the cottages their energy usage.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:

From this competition, six of the seven cottages were able to decrease their kWh usage. This program also raised awareness in the campus community of the importance of energy conservation and simple steps that can be taken to reduce energy waste.

The following email went out to students regarding their November compettion:
Good afternoon, Centennial RAs!

We hope that you have had a fantastic winter break!
Because of the billing cycle and the absence of students on campus during most of December, we will only be giving you the November results and skipping December entirely. Start working hard now to reduce your energy consumption for January!
Here are the results for this billing cycle, which goes from October 23rd to November 22nd. The average for your neighborhood was 141.50 kWh/person, with Dosker being the building with the lowest energy usage per person.....again!!! Congratulations, Dosker, for using the least energy per person. Also, congratulations to Timmer for being the only living space to reduce their energy consumption this month!
Dosker: 87.75 kWh
Rider: 102 kWh
Mayors: 105.26 kWh
Vennema: 120.92 kWh
Hoffman: 160.67 kWh
Centennial: 164 kWh
Timmer: 173 kWh
47: 178.11 kWh
Zwemer: 181.67 kWh
Most living spaces used more energy in October than in December, so this month, focus on reversing your habits again. Keep less lights on, unplug items when not in use, and be aware of each second you are using electricity. Let's keep working to minimize our electricity usage!
RAs, please pass on this information to your residents, and please congratulate them for their efforts!

See you next month!
Hope Advocates for Sustainability and Student Housing


Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Cupanion Cup Project

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):

Changing our habits is the first way to change our carbon footprint. Hope College is dedicated to providing students with the education and resources they need to make an impact on the Earth personally as well as campus-wide. The Hope College Cupanion Initiative is one of the practical ways Hope plans to do this; this cup not only allows an individual to produce less waste, but it pairs with the Fill it Forward app, which allows for individuals to be further educated on their impact. With this app, and the Cupanion reusable to-go cups, students, faculty and staff are able to track pounds of waste, power, land space and emissions saved each time they reuse this cup. Individuals are not only able to reduce their personal use of single-use items, but are able to contribute to global water projects that are improving water. Every scan of your cup gives money towards these water projects—you can even watch your contribution grow every time you scan your cup!

Hope College is committed to three concepts when it comes to supporting our Earth and creating a more conscious campus: Reduce. Refill. Rethink. These three R’s define the entire purpose for the Hope College Cupanion Cup initiative. We are committed to reducing our single-use waste: this includes in our dining halls, campus housing and educational buildings. We are committed to refilling and saving the resources on this Earth, including land space, plastic use, waste and power usage. Refilling this cup is a tangible way that we get to do just that. We are committed to rethinking. The Hope College Cupanion Initiative is an effort to rethink exactly what it looks like to live sustainably. These cups allow students and faculty to rethink how they use single-use plastic items, rethink their impact on the Earth through the Fill it Forward app and ultimately rethink how to make small habit changes that can lead to influential changes of our current carbon footprint.
Article in the Hope College Anchor Campus Newspaper.
https://anchor.hope.edu/campusandbeyond/how-to-make-sustainable-living-your-cupanion/
This program is open to students, faculty, and staff.


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

The program launched in November 2020 to students, faculty, and staff and to date through the app we have tracked over 2,000 scanned reuses by our campus community. Through the app we can also track an approximate amount of waste diverted from the landfill as well as power, emissions, and land saved.


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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