So many initiatives have been inspired by the Presidents Climate Commitment! In addition to Wesleyan’s strategic plans to reach carbon neutrality, many faculty, staff, and student-organized initiatives continue to gain momentum and increase awareness about sustainability issues both on and off campus. Get Involved & Go Green! with us at Wesleyan by supporting the following initiatives:
Monthly Wesleyan Market Community Event
In April of 2008, Wesleyan College invited the community to experience its newest event, the Wesleyan Market. Held monthly during spring, summer, and fall, the fun outdoor community event features a variety of locally grown and produced items ranging from flowers and organic fruits and vegetables to baked goods. Music, fun & educational events also are offered. Locally grown produce vendors vary monthly. Regular vendors offer strawberries, pecans, peach preserves, perennials, shrubs, onions, squash, cabbage, artisanal cheeses, eggs, barbeque, Brunswick stew, whole bean coffee, cakes, cookies, petit fours, breads, coffee cakes, honey, pollen, hand-made soaps, bath and body items, sea salt, herbal teas, boiled peanuts, and more. The Wesleyan Market is part of a larger college initiative to take an active leadership role by adopting innovative programs to encourage students and members of the greater community to live greener lives. The event helps to increase access to locally grown produce and products. Hundreds of community members attend the event each month.
Creating Energy Savings through Nega-Watts
In a sense, Wesleyan College strives to be its own power plant. When hourly electricity prices get really high, like during the afternoon on hot summer days, Georgia Power will pay Wesleyan College to generate "nega-watts." Nega-watts are electricity savings we can create at certain critical hours throughout the year by doing things like...turning off lights and using daylight, shutting down unnecessary equipment, raising thermostat temperature set points, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Sometimes Georgia Power will pay us as much as 1000% (yes, one thousand percent) above our usual cost of electricity to generate nega-watts. To maximize our opportunities to generate nega-watts, a member of Wesleyan's TREW (Team for the Reduction of Energy and Waste) sends out "Nega-watt Alerts" that tell the whole campus when Georgia Power will pay us to save electricity. Saving electricity is always important, but these Nega-watt Alerts tell us when it's extremely important. These are the times we go above and beyond normal conservation behaviors and act like our own little power plant of energy savings.
Linc/Hays Donates New Energy-efficient Dishwasher
Wesleyan partnered with Linc/Hays, a mechanical firm specializing in energy efficiency, to help the College map out a strategy for upgrading lighting, HVAC systems, and other equipment to lower our energy consumption. During the past year, the College completed the first phase of a comprehensive energy efficiency project, spending more than $3 million to make repairs to chillers throughout the campus and install new air conditioning units, lighting, state-of-the-art DDC controls, and a new steamer in our kitchen, resulting in reduced energy use, lower repair expenses, and a significant improvement in comfort, efficiency and reliability for the residence halls and academic buildings. Recently, Linc/Hays generously donated a new energy-efficient dishwasher for the dining hall that allows water to be heated without the use of the old boiler.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper
Wesleyan partners with local and regional printers whose business practices support the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Purchasing FSC-certified paper and print products contribute to conservation, responsible management, and community level benefits for people near the forests that provide our paper. While recycled fiber is a key element of the traditional model for responsible consumption, it is becoming increasingly clear that forest management in the production of the wood used in paper manufacturing, has more fundamental importance than even recycled fiber. Carrying the FSC-certification logo on print products tells the world that Wesleyan supports the highest social and environmental standards in the market where we use paper. Wesleyan prints nearly all of its admissions publications, including the Viewbook, using FSC-certified products and services. Beginning in 2010, the Wesleyan Magazine will be printed on FSC-certified paper using soy-based inks.
Campus Printer Management System
In March 2009, the Computer and Information Resources department implemented a new printer management system to cut waste and make Wesleyan a more environmentally friendly campus. The new software program tracks copies made by individuals and restricts excessive use of our campus printers. Students are allotted a defined number of copies per month and given the option to purchase additional copies if necessary. The software restricts individuals’ ability to print to printers in various buildings without the software. The CIR department measured print usage and waste across campus and discovered that, as a community, we were printing over 90,000 pages each month in the residence halls, academic center, and library, which equated to roughly 30 feet of stack paper. The initial goal for the new system was to reduce usage by at least 20% over the remainder of the 2009 academic term. The CIR department intends to track usage and adjust the policy as needed to meet the goal. Future possibilities include establishing individual page quotas similar to the process used at other colleges. Computer Resident Assistants were trained on the new Printer Management System and spent several weeks helping students, faculty, and staff members configure their computers to work with the new system.
Locally-grown Produce Purchasing
Wesleyan Dining Services, and its parent corporation ARAMARK, is taking an active eco-friendly leadership role on campus by adopting innovative programs to encourage students to live greener lives. Nationally, ARAMARK has been researching new programs designed to help clients reduce their carbon footprint. Through these efforts, the corporation intends to address its concerns about the future of the environment and the quality of life for future generations. During spring 2008, Wesleyan Dining Services began actively participating in buying locally grown produce in every instance when it's available. By buying local, we’re helping the farmers in our area financially. The produce gets to us much faster, thereby making it much fresher. And, we're aiding in the reduction of diesel fuel and gasoline usage. On average, each piece of produce in the supermarket has traveled nearly 1,500 miles, from farm to plate. Dining Services introduced a new brand of coffee in the dining hall that is eco-friendly, as well.
Water Conservation with Trayless Dining
August of 2008, students returned to campus to find a new policy in the Dining Hall, “Tray-less Dining.” Our food service provider, ARAMARK, discontinued the use of trays and now serves students, faculty, and staff food in individual bowls, plates, or take-out containers. Instead of using individual trays, diners simply carry plates and glasses to their tables. The Dining Hall staff measured and educated the campus community about some statistics regarding our impact on the environment by eliminating trays. On average, ARAMARK provides approximately 4750 meals per week to students, faculty, and staff. When each diner used a tray, the dining staff used 792 gallons of water per water to wash trays. By eliminating trays in our dining services, we save 25,344 gallons of water per academic year and $58.08 per week or $1,858.56 per year in chemicals. Nationally, tray-less dining has also shown a decrease the amount of food waste that occurs. So through the adoption of this one policy, we are not only saving water, chemicals, and pollutants from destroying our environment but also wasting less food. Current plans are being developed to reduce/compost food waste.
Wesleyan's Environmental Concerns Committee
Students studying environmental science stay actively engaged in the community through various service projects and initiatives of the department and the Environmental Concerns Committee, a student-led group that strives to establish an environmentally and energy friendly college campus. The Committee is also committed to raising awareness about various environmental issues which affect the students, faculty, and community surrounding the Wesleyan campus. Elections for the Environmental Concerns Committee are held every spring and candidates are chosen by their peers. The chair attends the SGA and is involved in influencing environmental policy for the campus. The Environmental Concerns Committee hosts convocations, a campus clean-up day, and hopes to launch an Earth Day event in the near future.
Free-cycling FREE Market
A 2009 student-led research project, FREE Market, promoted free-cycling and awareness within the community. VIEW the video on YouTube! The students collected clothing, toys, and housewares and set-up Free booths in the community to give collected items away. The students aimed to make it fun and easy to recycle and reuse. The event was popular, so they set-up a FREE-cycling room on campus, located in Jones Hall. Stop in and deposit a donated item or take something you need -- after all, one woman's trash is another woman's treasure.
Environmental Leadership Development
In 2007, through Wesleyan's unique Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), a group of twelve students plus their faculty and trustee sponsors traveled to Washington and Oregon for a week of intensive study. Traveling to the Pacific Northwest region gave students a chance to analyze the concept of environmental sustainability from cultural, historical, environmental, and business perspectives in native versus urban populations. Read their story!
Aunt Maggie's Kitchen Table Community Garden Project
Faculty and students of the Environmental Concerns Committee revitalized a community garden for the families residing in the Anthony Homes Housing Development. The project was one of ten projects completed during a mass-volunteer service initiative called WOW! A Day for Macon and was featured on 13WMAZ's Saturday Evening News. Wesleyan College organizes more than 100 volunteers through the twice annual WOW! A Day community-wide service event and completes multiple projects simultaneously at separate work sites throughout the city of Macon. Students, faculty, staff, and community volunteers join together for the mass effort coordinated through Wesleyan’s Lane Center for Community Engagement and Service. During each WOW! A Day event, the Environmental Concerns Committee works to maintain the community garden at Aunt Maggie's.
Ocmulgee Alive River Clean Up Project
In October 2006, the Wesleyan College Environmental Concerns Committee co-sponsored the 2006 Ocmulgee Alive! clean-up event organized by NewTown Macon, Keep Macon/Bibb Beautiful, and Macon Water Authority. The successful community initiative organized 93 volunteers who cleaned up over 2,500 pounds of trash along 1.5 miles of the Ocmulgee River in Macon. Other co-sponsors included the City of Macon Public Works, Shirley Hills Neighborhood Association, National Park Service - Ocmulgee National Monument, Mount De Sales Academy, and the Museum of Arts and Sciences. The initiative occurred again in 2007, and 2008. The 5th Annual event is planned for Saturday, November 14, 2009. Through the project, volunteers cleanup sections of the Ocmulgee River, walking trails, and surrounding streams and make a big difference for our community.
The initiative is part of a state-wide initiative called Rivers Alive, Georgia’s annual volunteer waterway cleanup, and was created in 1999 to organize the numerous cleanup events held throughout the state as a joint program of the Environmental Protection Division’s Adopt-A-Stream Program and the Department of Community Affairs’ Keep Georgia Beautiful Program. This annual Georgia Waterway Cleanup is expected to once again be the largest single volunteer effort to beautify Georgia’s water resources. The mission of Rivers Alive is to create awareness of and involvement in the preservation of Georgia's water resources. There are over 70,150 miles of streams and rivers in Georgia that provide for drinking water and recreational activities. Rivers Alive works to eradicate litter on these waterways. In 2008, volunteers and sponsors we were able to remove 368 tons of trash from rivers and streams. Over 200 groups composed of 26,841 volunteers put in over 90,000 hours of their time. Rivers Alive has seen tremendous growth since it started as a direct result of the hard work of the organizers and volunteers across Georgia.
 Green Seal Certified Cleaning Products
Wesleyan’s custodial partner, National Management Resources Corporation, is committed to helping maintain clean, sanitary, and safe environments for our campus community. National strives to use cleaning products that are classified as environmentally friendly. Such products generally are biodegradable, packaged using recycled materials, and sold in a concentrated form. National values the guidance of Green Seal, an independent non-profit organization that uses science-based standards and the marketplace to create a more sustainable world. The Green Seal certification is awarded to products that have a minimal impact on building occupants and the outdoor environment while still delivering high performance.
According to Leah Hoppe, Director Of Custodial Services at Wesleyan, “The concept behind green cleaning –protecting human health and the environment—fits very naturally into the way National has always done business. We have been working hard to make Wesleyan a more environmentally friendly college. All of the paper products used in campus restrooms -- toilet paper and paper towels -- are Green Seal certified and 100% recycled. Also, one of our main all-purpose cleaners, a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner, is a Green Seal certified product. We are in the process of transitioning all hand soap used in campus restrooms to a new Green Seal certified product.”
National is now purchasing vacuum cleaners that are equipped with high efficiency particulate filters that operate low noise levels to control air and noise pollution. Also, they have transitioned to using microfiber cleaning cloths and are in the process of implementing a microfiber dust mop and damp mop system. “The advantages of these microfiber cleaning cloths and mops are many,” said Hoppe, “and the result is a clean environment with a minimized need for cleaning products. This in turn creates a higher quality of indoor air pollution, costs less, and is better for the environment.”
Microfiber is a man-made, very fine synthetic that can be woven into fabrics. When designed for cleaning, microfiber cloths can retain moisture much better, which means fewer trips to the sink. It also means that cleaning up spills takes much less effort, as the microfiber cleaning cloth can absorb more liquid than a typical sponge. Microfiber cleaning cloths can also hold dust and dirt better. Because these cleaning cloths can be used with little or no cleaning products, they are better for the environment. Many of these specialty cloths can be cleaned and reused, so there is less to throw away. |
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