October 23, 2016Bee Awareness Day

Bee Awareness Day was one of the events organized during Ramapo College’s Campus Sustainability Week. It took place on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, in the Fishbowl.

During this event, the Ramapo College Beekeeping Club members talked to students and faculty about the importance of bees, why we need to save bees and other pollinators, and what kinds of things we can do to help them. In order to attract students and faculty, the Beekeeping Club members gave out free honey cookies, candy and reusable shopping bags.

Once, students and faculty were hooked on wanting to learn more about bees, the Beekeeping Club members asked them if they would sign a petition to ban Bee-killing pesticides and also if they wanted to join the Club as well.

Bee Awareness Day was a success because many students and faculty really did not know why bees are important, and the event helped raise awareness on issues such as Colony Collapse Disorder.

Bees are essential to us and they need us as much as we need them. By teaching others about them and by inspiring others to take action, we can start saving the bees and all the other pollinators out there.

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Categories: campus sustainability

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September 15, 2016Campus Sustainability Town Hall, Fall 2016

The President’s Committee on Campus Sustainability (PCCS) hosted a Town Hall on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 in the Alumni Lounges.  Professor Michael Edelstein presented a brief but deep history of sustainability at Ramapo College.  Following that, the PCCS laid out a comprehensive view of all that is currently being done with regard to campus sustainability at RCNJ.

Categories: Sustainability

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August 31, 2016Sustainability-Oriented Study Abroad Programs

Combine the huge benefits of a Study Abroad Experience with an intensive opportunity to engage with sustainability outside the North American frame.

Explore the entirely unique possibilities here.

“Sustainability, broadly defined as the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Prosperity), touches every aspect of the human condition.  And thus it is that a sustainability thread can be found running through every Major offered at Ramapo College. As such, we would argue that every student benefits immensely from participation in a Sustainability-oriented Study Abroad Program.

“Of course, travel really does broaden the mind.  But more significantly than that, a Sustainability-oriented Study Abroad experience gives us the ability to switch contexts, to be able to see the world through a lens that is entirely different than the one we are accustomed to using.  The ability to switch perspectives, to view things from a point-of-view other than our own, to change the frames we make in how we take the world, this is probably the most extraordinary gift that such a Study Abroad experience can give.  We become transformed, in the process of stepping into someone else’s worldview.  And our capacity for empathy is hugely enhanced.

“Experiencing life in other countries and cultures, developing foreign language skills, broadening our views of the world, and making lifelong friends while earning college credits are just some of the ways students benefit from their time abroad. For many students, the Study Abroad opportunity triggers the move to graduate school, or opens entirely new prospects for future employment. Over the years, we have found that students remember and value their Sustainability-oriented study abroad experiences for the rest of their lives.  It is, in a word, transformative.”

Categories: Sustainability

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August 11, 2016Ramapo Signs Up With Campus Wall

If you want to give away, sell, buy or trade things you no longer need, try visiting Campus Wall.  Choose Ramapo College of New Jersey, create an account with your Ramapo email address, and you’re all set to reduce your waste stream by promoting the reuse of things you might normally toss into the trash.  Enjoy…!

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Categories: Sustainability

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May 23, 2016Ramapo Green Newsletter Spring 2016

Ramapo Green Newsletter

Spring 2016, Issue 2

Hydration Stations 

Hydration stations are being installed in Mackin, Bischoff, the Student Center and the Bradley Center over the summer. The newly installed hydration stations will surely help kick-start 1-STEP’s Fall “Rethink Water” campaign led by Pamela Gilligan and Emily D’Maio. The new hydration stations will absolutely make us want to use reusable bottles and reduce plastic water bottle use on campus!!Hope you have checked out the hydration stations in the A, C and G wing of the academic complex. 

Better Building Alliance

Ramapo College has chosen to join with the US Department of Energy’s Better Building Alliance, in an effort to better measure and manage our ongoing efforts to make sure our buildings perform as sustainably as possible. 

Sub-Metering

The electrical connections to all traditional Residence Halls have been sub-metered, allowing us to more effectively measure electricity usage by building, and to find ways of further reducing the campus carbon footprint. Electric meters have been installed in Village, Pine, Linden, Laurel, Overlook, Mackin, Bischoff, Buckeye, Holly and the Student Center.  The meters will be integrated into a kiosk/dashboard system that everyone can access and will have the capability to generate monthly usage reports. Meters will also be installed in the CPAs as the renovations progress.

Auxiliary Gym Lighting Retrofit:

We have ordered new LED lighting fixtures for the auxiliary gym.  Our in house electricians will be installing the fixtures in June. They will use much less energy, produce more light and start up faster to increase safety.

AASHE Membership Renewed

Ramapo College Student Clubs have renewed our annual membership to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability In Higher Education (AASHE).  This site (aashe.org) is a goldmine of information on case studies and reports pertaining to campus sustainability within North America.  Anybody with a Ramapo College email address can create an account at the site and gain access to a huge amount of information.

Use Campus Wall to Give Away, Sell, Buy, or Exchange Stuff

Go to campuswall.com, create an account with your Ramapo College email address, and list things you no longer need, look for things you do need, contribute to the sharing economy…!

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Categories: Sustainability

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February 2, 2016First Meeting of the Ramapo College Environmental Studies Alumni Association Steering Committee

Current students and alumni alike were excited to be gathering together last Thursday night for the very first meeting of the Environmental Studies Alumni Association Steering Committee. They gathered in the Sharp Sustainability Education Center (SSEC) to discuss the structure, purpose, and intentions of this newly formed group. While the Environmental Studies community at Ramapo boasts a 200-member Facebook group, annual reunions, and numerous campus events, there has never been a group of people dedicated to the connecting, networking, inspiring, and sharing necessary to enrich and enliven the environmental programs Ramapo has to offer. And so, during an Environmental Studies reunion last year, the Alumni Association Steering Committee was born.

First on the agenda? A name! It was agreed by the group that a fitting name would be voted on at the next meeting. Additionally, the group agreed a mission statement would be required. As a result, a robust conversation about the goals of the committee ensued. The primary discussion centered around communication and connecting – using social media platforms as well as email and events to bring past and current students together.

Beyond bringing the Environmental Studies community together, the committee agreed that they should play a supportive role in promoting and enriching the current programs Ramapo has to offer in the Environmental Studies field. The unique perspective of the alumni in the group could provide the support these programs need to continue to flourish and grow. Additionally, it was agreed that committee members should be active and engaged in facilitating, promoting, and attending events held on campus.

It was clear by the conversation in the room that the value of creating a strong Environmental Studies community beyond graduation could not be understated. Whether a current student looking for career potential or an alumnus looking to stay involved and continue their education, a lively and engaged Environmental Studies community, the group agreed, is essential. The Environmental Studies Alumni Association Steering Committee intends to promote, support, and maintain this lively community in whatever capacity they are capable. At the conclusion of the evening, the group left feeling energized and inspired, ready to bring ideas to the next meeting to put these intentions into action.

 

Written by Grace Whitney ’13, Healthcare Sustainability Specialist, Stericycle

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Categories: Sustainability

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January 28, 2016Healing Hospitals: Advancing Sustainability in Healthcare

Kyle Tafuri ’13 opens the Ramapo College Expert Practitioners in Sustainability series with a lecture on sustainability and hospitals

As Senior Sustainability Advisor to Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), Kyle Tafuri, alumnus of the RCNJ Master of Art in Sustainability Studies program, has made a tremendous impact in only three and a half years on the job. He offered a view into his world Wednesday evening at the first talk of the 2016 lecture series “Lessons of Sustainability: Voices of Key Practitioners” to an attentive audience in Friends Hall .

Hospitals are huge energy consumers and produce a lot of waste. There are over 20 different waste streams at the hospital that need to be dealt with, and, through education and habit change, they have been able to reduce the amount of non-hazardous waste ending up in the hazardous waste bags, helping to save the hospital money and reduce the amount of waste by half.

The key to Tafuri’s success at HUMC has been aligning sustainability initiatives with the overriding mission of the hospital as a bastion of public health in the community. “This is how I got a room full of highly-educated doctors and executives to let me tell them what to do,” he explained. “I showed that my sustainability mission is in line with their healthcare mission.”

His presentation included numerous facts and examples. He explained to the audience the many waste streams that are generated by the state’s largest hospital, and how some of them are disposed of. He then illustrated how the different waste streams have different costs – both financially and environmentally, and how he was able to save the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars by changing staff habits (and removing some receptacles) to reduce the amount of non-contaminated waste put into “red bags” that have a much greater cost than regular waste or recycling. With funding always an issue in healthcare, administrators were very pleased to apply those savings to patient care.

Statistically, nurses have the highest rate of occupation-related asthma due to the many chemicals and materials they are exposed to daily. “Do you want to go to a hospital to get treated for pneumonia and be exposed to chemicals that make it hard to breathe?” Kyle asked. Seeing the hospital as a place that should set an example of health in its own environment helped gain support for initiatives as diverse as moving to Eco-Logo certified cleaning chemicals, working to remove harmful types of plastics present in everything from IV lines to incubators, banning carcinogenic flame retardants from furniture and mattresses, and working toward getting antibiotic-free meat for patient meals. He also gave examples of initiatives tied to HUMC’s mission to promote public health within the community.

Tafuri has worked to find products that cause less harm to the people working and visiting the hospital.   He has worked with suppliers to try and find out what is in products, in order to get ones that will not cause any harm. An example of this is products that use flame retardant chemicals. Flame retardants contain carcinogens and that is something that should not be used in hospitals. Tafuri called up their furniture suppliers and told them that if they could not provide the hospital with flame retardant free furniture, they would find another company that would. Now the hospital has furniture that does not contain flame retardants. The hospital has also worked on the food they serve. They no longer serve soda and have antibiotic-free chicken. Many of the hospitals that are a part of Hackensack University Medical Center also have green spaces for people to have lunch breaks or sit and relax. For instance, many of the accessible rooftops have been turned into gardens, which help patients and staff relax and provide therapeutic benefits.

In a separate seminar afterward with MASS students, Kyle answered questions and went into more depth about how he achieved his goals. His first advice was to learn the politics (who gets things done? How? What is the selling point for the person you’re talking to?) and to build alliances: “Find the passionate people.”   He provided an example of using purchasing power to force vendors to make changes. Other methods he discussed included using sustainability goals as part of employee performance incentives, changing to match existing priorities and latching on to them, and doing what you can rather than waiting for the perfect solutions. Winning national “green” hospital awards two years running and being asked to address members of congress doesn’t hurt, either.

This was the first in what promises to be a wonderful series of talks, titled Creating a Sustainable World: Voices of Key Practitioners.

Written by Heather McAdam & Taylor Donohue

Categories: Sustainability

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January 11, 2016Post-Consumer Food Waste Audit at The Trustees Pavilion

The Post-Consumer Food Waste Audit was a project run by the student environmental club 1STEP, Dining Services and the President’s Committee on Campus Sustainability. The Waste Audit Project, in fact grew from a coincidental conversation with Dining Services Operations Manager, Mr. David Carreras. While dining at The Trustees Pavilion, I noticed the absence of waste segregation at the dish disposal station. Incidentally, while returning dishes I met Mr. Carreras at the dish disposal station and the simple question of “Why not”—“Why is Ramapo not segregating organic waste to compost”—got us to talk more about it, and sparked the plan for a waste audit.

The enthusiastic support from Mr. Carreras, and interest from student clubs and Dr. Vasishth led to the launch of a pilot project to assess compostable food waste and to brainstorm ways to reduce food waste in the dining halls. Although it was initially daunting to find enough people to cover 37 hours in a week without compensation or course credits, with overwhelming help from 1STEP, the daunting task of implementing a waste audit became doable and we gathered a group of very committed students participate in the project. The pilot food waste audit project was implemented from October 26–30, 2015 and it’s objective was to measure food waste per plate during meal times at the Pavilion dining hall.

We audited waste from every plate during meal hours at Pavilion dining hall, for five consecutive days. Students were provided instructions to put their food waste in a special bucket. We kept track of both number of plates that scraped waste into the bucket and number of buckets that were filled by food waste. Our data on food waste showed that in the Pavilion dining hall, total food waste from that week was 403.4 pounds from 1637 plates.

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Day 1	410 plates	102 lbs. of waste
Day 2	367 plates	89 lbs. of waste
Day 3	310 plates	84 lbs. of waste
Day 4	345 plates	79 lbs. of waste
Day 5 (no dinner)	205 plates	49 lbs. of waste
Average Breakfast/Lunch Plates:		210.4
Average Breakfast/Lunch Waste (lbs.):		47
Average Dinner Plates:		146.25
Average Dinner Waste (lbs.):		42.1
Average Daily Plates:		327.4
Average Daily Waste (lbs.):		80.68
Average Waste/Plate (lbs.):		0.246
Total Weakly Plates:		1637
Total Weakly Waste (lbs.):		403.4

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Our data show us that the very act of auditing reduced food waste to some extent—a progressive decline was perceptible over the five days of the audit. The most surprising observation was that desserts were the most discarded food from plates—though we did not quantify it. Maybe the next audit will quantify desserts wasted form food plates separately. This could possibly be the beginning of a new conversation on campus about food waste and health.The task was difficult and required great organizational skills, as many a times it meant phone conferences at 10 p.m., managing e-mails and scheduling meetings, updating information with Sodexo, etc. Unplanned events such as low battery on scale or something simple as not having a pen to note the data or just making sure that we had student presence through the day—in the midst of classes—to collect data were a few other obstacles. Despite the challenges, working in the cafeteria and asking students to segregate their food waste into compostable material was a rewarding experience. There was great enthusiasm for the project and most diners were keen to support us, and appreciated our initiative. A lady took a photo of me to share with a friend the wonderful initiative we have at Ramapo. Some diners were sorry for not having enough food waste to participate. Yes, there were some people who did not have a clue what “compostable” means and also, some were not too keen on engaging in a sustainability project; however they were a minority. What I learned the most is that with work and commitment it is easy to make a positive change.

Written by Francis Gryglak

Categories: campus sustainability, dining services, food waste

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January 11, 2016Vegetable Garden Behind Sharp Sustainability Education Center

An array of plants and vegetables can be found flourishing in the garden behind the Sharp Sustainability Education Center (SSEC) in the spring and summer months, and winter crops such as garlic through late fall and winter. This initiative to promote sustainability on campus is made possible by the involvement of student volunteers who dedicate their time to maintain and upkeep the garden. Planting begins each spring in mid-April. Garden maintenance continues throughout the summer. Volunteers get to see the growth of the garden over time as a result of their work and are able to harvest the vegetables they yield for their own consumption.

Crops such as squash, tomatoes, peppers, and swish chard share the garden space with a cluster of sunflowers. In result of having the beautiful sunflowers presence it helps attract insects and birds, which successfully keeps them away from the vegetables.

Food scraps are used to feed the composter located in the garden; the resulting compost is in turn used to enrich the garden’s soil. A collection for food scraps will soon be implemented in The Village as a means of reducing food waste and encouraging student involvement in composting. Students are also encouraged to get involved in the maintenance of the various plants grown in the garden. This is just the beginning towards moving Ramapo to becoming a more sustainable college.

Written by Gianna Lineri ’18

Categories: composting, gardening

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