Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.35
Liaison Gioia Thompson
Submission Date March 19, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

University of Vermont
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 5.00 / 5.00 Gioia Thompson
Sustainability Strategist
UVM Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution hold a campaign that meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

The name of the campaign(s):
Bye-bye Bottled Water, Real Food Challenge, and Follow the Leaf campaign

A brief description of the campaign(s):

Bye-bye Bottled Water: UVM ended bottled water sales January 1, 2013, after years of community conversation initiated by student activists and embraced by other students, faculty and staff who participated in surveys, presentations, signs, internships, class projects, and art projects.

Real Food Challenge: UVM was the fifth institution to sign on to the commitment to measure and increase the amount of Real Food served on campus. The University goal of at least 20% Real Food by 2020 is a campus-wide campaign nurtured by the Real Food Working Group, a student-led initiative and supported by the Food Systems Initiative.

Follow the Leaf: In 2012-13 UVM's Eco-Reps launched their "Follow the Leaf" campaign with a tabling event where passersby wrote out their eco-pledges and the group premiered a video to kick-off the campaign.


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

Bottled Water: No more bottled water is sold on campus! Everyone in our community knows about this policy. The University also reduced significantly the number of departments permitted to pay for water coolers with University funds, reducing costs by at least $20,000 per year.

Real Food Challenge: In fall 2013 a senior-level course in Community Development & Applied Economics on Social Research Methods conducted more than 900 surveys of undergraduates and found that 62% were aware of UVM's commitment, even though the campaign had just begun and many first-year students were part of the survey.

Follow the Leaf: Overall, more than 150 students stopped by to sign pledges.


The website URL where information about the sustainability outreach campaign(s) is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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.