| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75.15 |
| Liaison | Lori Collins-Hall |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Sterling College (VT)
EN-5: Outreach Campaign
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Adrian
Owens Faculty Applied Sciences |
Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability? :
Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Name of the campaign:
A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged:
The course starts with students creating a statement of personal environmental ethics, values and goals that forms the framework of the design project. Defining terms like sustainability, resilience, and stewardship gives a foundation to the discussion of how our views are shaped by our social identities and experiences. The classes progress from personal beliefs to more concrete concepts through the Ideal Community Project. Looking from a solutions perspective, many ways of meeting modern human needs including food, clean water, housing, transportation, recreation, community, and earning money are examined.
Each semester that this course is run, there is a specific project for the students to engage in. In the last year, Professor Owens had students keep track of everything they threw away in the span of a week. Other students were added into the conversation when they saw their peers stowing away any napkins, cans, etc away in their bags. At the end of the time span, each student brought their waste into the classroom and analyzed what their waste consisted of, what categories the items could go in (recycling, trash, reusable, etc), and how they can minimize it going forward.
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Students are consistently put off by how much waste they generate even when trying to stay environmentally conscious. Both the students in the class and the students that interact with them start to focus more on how they can reduce their own waste. Once you can see it all in one place, you can see just how much you make.
The website URL where information about the campaign is available:
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged (2nd campaign):
As the seasons in Vermont change, so does the heating and electricity consumption on campus. To bring awareness to how staff and faculty are managing their office spaces and classrooms, email is used to remind all employees about how to decrease our energy consumption, specifically heating. This email campaign reminds employees how to properly use the insulated blinds in their offices, how to properly use thermostats (to include setting community norms re: the temperature itself), and how to ensure that storm windows are doing their job.
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
As a result of this annually occurring email campaign, Sterling benefits from a reduced heating oil consumption on campus.
The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):
A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns, including measured positive impacts:
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Many of our Natural Science courses, like Introduction to Climate Science, incorporate projects for students that reach the rest of the student body. These projects fluctuate semester-per-semester and broach different aspects of the school that are relevant to the school's needs or with current news.
Many of our Natural Science courses, like Introduction to Climate Science, incorporate projects for students that reach the rest of the student body. These projects fluctuate semester-per-semester and broach different aspects of the school that are relevant to the school's needs or with current news.
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.