University of Minnesota, Duluth
EN-4: Outreach Materials and Publications

Every month, the Sustainability Coordinator sends out a sustainability newsletter with updates and opportunities for students to become involved with sustainability on campus or in the local community. These opportunities include climate cafe events, internship availability, and local legislative events.


The sustainability office engages in social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, to promote sustainability practices. Instagram is currently our primary social media platform with 1,441 followers and postings every week. In addition to weekly posts, the Instagram account utilizes the story feature, reels, and highlights to showcase students and events. The Facebook page has 1.4k followers and 1.4k likes.
https://www.instagram.com/umdsustain/
https://www.facebook.com/umdsustainability/

All LEED-certified buildings at UMD feature a plaque that displays the level of green certification obtained. Additionally, the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (UMD's first LEED Gold building) has plaques that feature the green and sustainable elements in the building. These elements include energy efficiency, water savings, healthy building elements, lighting upgrades, and recycled and local building materials. The Bagley Classroom, Civil Engineering, and Ianni Hall have interpretative display plaques just outside the building. Details for all green buildings are available on the UMD Sustainability website.
https://sustainability.d.umn.edu/campus-initiatives/reduce-emissions/buildings

Various tours are offered focusing on different aspects of sustainability on campus including, but not limited to, the farm, sustainable buildings on campus, and rain garden tours. The tours are offered to current students, faculty and staff, and campus visitors. In addition to tours offered by the Office of Sustainability, UMD Tour Guides are trained on sustainability aspects of the campus which they share during tours with prospective students and families.

There is also a GIS-based virtual sustainability tour that features additional aspects of campus sustainability that are less visible. https://umn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=a3ffed24fae54381ad96df5b7296b664

A Sustainable Living Guide was developed by a student sustainability intern, and it summarizes presentations given to RAs and incoming freshmen at past Bulldog Welcome Weeks. The Guide is available to anyone but provided to RAs who request help designing sustainable activities and themes to share with their residents. Although it is no longer available in print form, the guide is online and provides students with a resource for ideas for projects and outreach events.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7PMqfePaUrCczV1MmdHUDFwODQ/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-Mjc9wyJF2i-ohctKW8_cOg

Additionally, Housing and Residence Life encourages proper waste sorting such as recycling and composting through signage in each community trash room. Residents have the opportunity to obtain a personal compost bin for their residential space. All materials used for RA-hosted activities are compostable and RA’s are heavily encouraged to use previous items in the resource room before ordering more materials. Professional Staff within Housing and Residence Life host Earth Month events during April to continue to highlight sustainable actions for residents. Near the end of the academic year, the Office of Sustainability and Housing and Residence Life provides materials and resources to minimize waste during move-out.
https://sustainability.d.umn.edu/news-events/move-out

UMD's student newspaper, The Bark, puts out print issues monthly. One reporter is assigned to the environment and sustainability issues, among other duties. We typically see pieces on sustainability/the environment once a month or every other month. Some articles are featured online and other articles are included in print.
https://www.thebarkumd.com/

The UMD Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project offers students research dollars and valuable links to faculty, staff, and community members for basic research and sustainability projects. Results are disseminated to the campus through departmental symposiums and poster sessions, and projects are often highlighted on the Sustainability website and social media platforms. Many of the UROP students attend the annual SELFsustain conference (Student Engagement Leadership Forum on Sustainability), hosted via the U of M Institute on the Environment, where sustainability student leaders from across U of M meet to discuss sustainability progress on each campus and across the U of M system.
https://evcaa.d.umn.edu/about/undergraduate-research-opportunities-program-urop

Signage and information regarding sustainable food systems are available for students across the campus. This includes signage educating the university population on proper waste sorting and management practices, signage in the dining areas to identify locally-grown food items, and information distributed for food waste awareness day. Food Waste Awareness Day offers educational opportunities to help bring student attention to what is on their plate and what they are throwing away. The greater implications of food waste involving energy, water, and soil are addressed with the students as well.
https://sustainability.d.umn.edu/campus-initiatives/grow-food

Signage regarding sustainable groundskeeping features the UMD Rain Garden which is continually featured and toured by the campus and our surrounding community members. The rain garden has a large display, along with paper copies of plant lists and a suggested tour of the stormwater treatment features. In addition, our Grounds crews use many alternative plantings to sod, including wildflowers and native plants, which also have signs across campus, and are included in our online Virtual Sustainability Tour. https://umn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=a3ffed24fae54381ad96df5b7296b664

UMD Transportation and Parking Services maintains an extensive website that showcases the wide variety of sustainable transportation options that exist at UMD. The most highlighted program is the U-PASS program. The U-PASS Program is an innovative partnership between UMD and the Duluth Transit Authority to encourage the use of public transportation at UMD. Unlimited, free rides are provided for students anytime, anywhere around the Twin Ports area. A $18 per semester student service fee helps cover the cost of the U-PASS program. Staff and faculty can purchase a U-PASS for only $79 for the year, via payroll deduction! The number of riders from UMD has now exceeded 8 million using the UPASS since the program's inception in 2000.
They also offer the opportunity for multiple people/vehicles to share a parking permit, which also encourages carpooling. Additionally, folks who carpool to campus and park in the pay lot receive discounts and incentives to continue carpooling and to add more people to the carpool. UMD offers Electric Vehicle Charging at no charge. We currently have 4, double-port sites, that are spread out geographically across campus.
https://tps.d.umn.edu/

Transportation and parking services provide a walking map that provides routes and route times. A walking path was built exclusively for pedestrians and bicyclists from one of the main roadways and campus. We also have a Bike-to-Campus program, including two RFID bike reader stations that "count" bike riders each day, three bike-repair stations, and multiple bike parking options (including designated Winter Bike Parking.) Faculty and staff can earn wellness points by biking to campus as well. https://tps.d.umn.edu/sustainable-transportation/bike-campus