Keene State College
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

Yes, the Office of Sustainability has both a Facebook page and Instagram page (both are currently managed by The Office staff and our Eco-Rep student employees), as well as our Office of Sustainability newsletter, The Green Gazette.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KSCEcoReps

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kscecoreps/

Newsletter: https://kscsustainability.wixsite.com/kscsustainability/green-gazette

The Office of Sustainability has created a set of interpretive signs that highlight different aspects of sustainability across campus and within the Office of Sustainability. The signs within the Office, which is in a converted residence on campus, are intended to show people how to do sustainability at home. Each interpretive sign in the Office of Sustainability discusses a different topic such as composting, recycling, energy, and water usage. The signs also explain how KSC demonstrates sustainability in each of these areas. Each sign also states the College’s sustainability goals that were announced by the President in 2018. Additionally, the signage aims to provide the campus community with actions to improve sustainability in each of these areas.

The purpose of these signs as a whole is to not only demonstrate sustainability at Keene State College but encourage the campus community to get involved in sustainability on campus and in their personal lives.

In addition to the Office of Sustainability signs, there are also signs to interpret specific aspects of sustainability across campus. These signs highlight individual programs, groups, and buildings at Keene State College. The topics of these signs include the compost program, the recycling hub, the high performance Architecture 2030 Commons residence hall, the LEED Silver Pondside III residence hall, the LEED Platinum Technology Design and Safety Center, the Science Center, the heat plant (central boilers), the Ashuelot river, the ROCKS program, and the Eco-Reps program. These signs explain how each of these areas of campus demonstrate sustainability.

Example of both office and campus signage can be found at https://kscsustainability.wixsite.com/kscsustainability/interpretive-signage

Finally, Keene State College grounds are certified as an arboretum, meaning that the collection of trees and plants serve a purpose. Many of the trees around campus are tagged with QR codes that link to a description on ArborScope. This allows anyone who visits our campus to easily discover facts about the trees on our campus and their purpose in relation to sustainability. One example is the Variegated Gum Trees planted outside the Student Center to provide shade in the summer to reduce cooling costs. Each year, the Office of Sustainability teams up with the grounds department to lead a campus tree tour. The tour travels around campus identifying different trees and plants and their intended purpose. You can find the full tree inventory at https://arborscope.com/mapDisplay.cfm?inventory=Manage&id=0FCBC7§ion=Map%20Display.

Yes, The Office of Sustainability offers in-person Campus Sustainability Walking Tours, detailing the many sustainable features of our campus. Due to restrictions put in place by COVID-19, we have also developed a virtual walking tour so that interested members of the campus community can still engage with our campus sustainability features virtually: https://kscsustainability.wixsite.com/kscsustainability/sustainability-walking-tour

Yes, The Office of Sustainability, together with the KSC Eco-Reps, created and distributed the Green Living Guide, a guide for first-year students to teach them how to live sustainably while at KSC. (https://4d45ae1b-6b6a-4130-a7f7-d808b6209f1e.filesusr.com/ugd/0360da_cb7bcd50e24f42f1b36bf7ebe520c947.pdf) The Office of Sustainability aims for our programming to consistently support and reinforce our messaging. Upon arrival to KSC, students take the Sustainability Pledge during New Student Orientation, and in the future our goal is to have all arriving first year students take the Sustainability Literacy Assessment as well. Then, the sustainability programming is reinforced through the First Year Experience, an interdisciplinary course that all first-year students take. At Graduation, all students will also complete the Graduation Sustainability Pledge. Throughout their time at KSC, students will continuously be reminded of the sustainability programming through education and outreach delivered by the Eco-Reps and the Climate Action Leaders.

Eco-Reps and ROCKS students prepare outreach materials for each of the programs they sponsor. These include information on general sustainability at Keene State, information and signs on recycling, fact sheets, posters, flyers, and other materials as needed.