Lehigh University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

The Southside Permaculture Park began during the 2017-2018 academic year. It is designed as a laboratory and educational space where people can experiment with and learn about techniques of regenerative urban agriculture, climate change mitigation, systems thinking, and holistic living. Guided by the ethics and principles of permaculture, elements within the Southside Permaculture Park are designed to be multifunctional and highly integrated, creating a web of collaborative connections that lead to greater overall system stability, adaptability, and productivity. So far, efforts surrounding the Southside Permaculture Park have resulted in the creation of 6 large, swaled garden beds and 5 smaller un-swaled, ones. These beds have been planted with interconnected guilds of plant and fungal species that symbiotically interact to increase overall functionality.The increased vegetation in the urban setting contributes to surrounding air quality. Text taken from https://ei.cas2.lehigh.edu/sites/ei.cas2.lehigh.edu/files/1STEPS%20EI%20SSPP%20Poster-compressed.pdf

During the 2017-2018 academic year, a student in the Energy Systems Engineering Program completed a project with a faculty and staff mentor. This project aimed to conceptualize Lehigh's material and resource usage in four subsystems (water, energy, food, and materials) to identify interconnections, interdependencies, stakeholders, and gaps within the overall campus system. In particular, the student did an in depth examination of Lehigh's energy system, with a particular focus on buildings. In addition, the student created Sankey Diagrams for total energy consumption at Lehigh and academic buildings electricity consumption. This project allowed the student to identify the top buildings by kWh by square foot and make specific recommendation on how to reduce the building footprint. This project helped to target building energy efficiency and retrofit projects on campus.

A student in the Office of Sustainability did an internship with OSISoft during the Summer of 2018 where he worked on a cutting-edge research project for Lehigh. The project, called the OSISoft Campus Metabolism Project, helps track Lehigh University resource usage to indicate where there is room for energy efficiency and maintenance improvements around campus. In particular, the student created an energy dashboard that tracks energy use by building (natural gas and electricity), total campus usage, etc. The dashboard also puts the usage into context by comparing it to real-life, relatable circumstances. Additionally, the dashboard includes a comprehensive energy flow diagram. This project helps the university make decisions about where to focus their energy efficiency-focused projects for long-term progress, as well as give individual students access to their own energy footprints. https://sustainability.lehigh.edu/campus-metabolism-project-lead-way-operational-efficiency-improvements

Leftover Food Waste Communication Platform: During the 2017-2018 academic year, a group of students worked on a leftover food waste project. The goal of the project was to create a platform by which faculty, staff, and students could notify each other about leftover food from events on campus. During the project, the student identified the problem, goal, and established a solution to pilot. The problem was that every day departments, offices, and clubs hold events and meetings across campus with food. There was often leftover food at these events and meetings. Prior to this, there was no platform to communicate this leftover food to the campus community. As a result, this leftover food was often thrown away. The goal of this project was to determine a platform through which leftover food from events and meetings can be communicated to the campus community. This would allow faculty, staff, and students who notice leftover food at an event or meeting to post about it on the platform and it would give students who are looking for food the opportunity to come take it. The solution was to create a GroupMe notification system for leftover food on campus. Through a notification system, students in the group are notified about leftover food. This project has reduced the amount of leftover food that is thrown away on campus.

Ecology course (EES-152): Students taking Ecology course (EES-152) study of relationships among organisms and their physical environment. Students have been using the Lehigh Experimental Forest as a natural laboratory for the ecology class for the past years. There has been no maintenance of the forest, so there is really cool succession. The professor and students recognize the value of the forest plots in understanding the behavior of our forests. The following lab activities take place throughout the semester: -Forest Ecology: investigations in the Lehigh Experimental Forest -Forest Ecology: investigations in the Lehigh Experimental Forest -Forest Ecology in the Lehigh Forest Plantation. Plant identification quiz -Population ecology in the Lehigh Experimental Forest -Population demography in the Lehigh Experimental Forest See more details about the course: http://www.lehigh.edu/~rkb205/ecology.htm Recent activities in Lehigh University's Experimental Forest: https://amongthestatelytrees.wordpress.com/tag/lehigh-experimental-forest/

Students, under the supervision of Office of Sustainability staff, work with Dining Services to research food procurement practices, analyze total spend and participate in supply chain management goal setting to increase the purchase of local, organic, humane and fair trade products at equal or similar costs. Dining Services is actively working with those students to identify new local suppliers and those without OSHA/NLRB violations. As a result of the student efforts in partnership with Dining Services, in 2018-2019 Lehigh purchased 12% real food. Students may not have previous experience or skills prior to the start of this experience but training and education are an integrated competent of this experience.

Urban Planning and Transportation at Lehigh: As part of the Mountaintop Project in the Summer of 2016, a group of 5 undergraduate students studied the potential environmental impact of transportation on campus using aspects of urban design and renewable energy modeled after Jacque Fresco’s "Future by Design." The team’s goal is to develop a smarter transportation system as part of a Lehigh campus for the future. The students plan to utilize the creative freedom of Mountaintop to look for alternative solutions which will allow Lehigh’s campus to reach its full potential and become a global model of urban campus design.

LV (Lehigh Valley) Shares: As part of the Mountaintop Project in the Summer of 2016, a group of 2 undergraduate students and 2 graduate students developed research with Lehigh Valley Shares (LV Shares), which addresses the issue of environmental sustainability in the Lehigh Valley and aims to decrease consumption and waste generation. The goal is to establish a free website that connects parties with excess items with parties in need of those items, in order to eliminate waste and consumption of resources. Once operational, LV Shares will be self-sustaining for many years to come and will support progress toward a more sustainable community in the whole of the Lehigh Valley.

A group of students working with the Office of Sustainability staff did a survey on all water bottle refill stations on campus that resulted in the maintenance of several stations. Additionally, every Fall and Spring semester, the students do an inventory on the progress made towards plastic bottle diversion. This progress inventory helps the Office of Sustainability and LU Facilities to identify future actions and engage students on sustainable actions they can pursue. There was also an initiative to install water bottle refill stations at the Centennial School, which was achieved in May 2018 through a sustainable initiative grant. The number of plastic water bottles used by both students and teachers has greatly reclined due to this initiative.

There is a graduate student, the Sustainability Metrics & Reporting Graduate Assistant, who gathers and analyzes data to propose solutions for future campus planning efforts. This Graduate Assistant compiles year-end summaries for campus departments and reporting organizations to assist with future planning and they also collect and input data into tracking mechanisms for Sustainability Plan metrics. This position helps Lehigh accurately report progress using standard reporting tools, which helps with future planning and coordination.

Calculated Actions to Deliver Racial and Ethnic Equity in Education: As part of the Mountaintop Project in the Summer of 2016, a group of 4 undergraduate students and 2 graduate students developed research to draw from the expertise of students across a variety of backgrounds to work to advance equitable educational outcomes, particularly for those who are socially excluded from a majority culture due to poverty or other birth circumstance. The students focused on communities in the United States and the Czech Republic.

There are undergraduate Events Assistants within the Office of Sustainability that collect and distribute information on sustainability events, initiatives, and programs. They help to further engage the campus community and the broader community in a dialogue about sustainability. Additionally, there is a graduate student, the Campus Engagement & Outreach Graduate Assistant, who facilitates Lehigh's participation in national competitions/events, organizes major sustainability events on campus, and plans campus engagement events and activities. These student positions have resulted in increased campus and public engagement.

Lehigh Valley Parklets This project started in 2017 and continued through 2019. The aim of this project is to improve the pedestrian experience in urban neighborhoods to create safer, cleaner, greener, friendlier, and more walkable communities. The team designed and constructed a parklet on a main street in Bethlehem with 27 feet of flowerbeds. The parklet was built by only four students and only took 15 minutes to install. (text taken from https://wordpress.lehigh.edu/parklets/) See link for more information: https://ei.cas2.lehigh.edu/sites/ei.cas2.lehigh.edu/files/1Parklet%20Expo%20Poster-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf https://wordpress.lehigh.edu/parklets/ https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/parklet-pops-up-on-south-side-bethlehem