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Clean Air-Cool Planet is the Northeast's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
  Outreach Audiences  |
PARENTS Parents are increasingly interested in ensuring that their children go to a green school and are able to succeed in the low-carbon economy. Share your green stories with parents and tell them how generating electricity on site and increasing energy efficiency in dorms ensures that their tuition dollars go to education and not to inefficient campus operations! 1. Admission Publications and Tours Many colleges and universities have found that their green efforts are a key selling point. Countless higher education surveys have reported that prospective students increasingly make their college choices based on sustainability reputations. Example 1: Cape Cod Community College features its green campus projects and clean energy curriculum in its Admissions Bulletin. Take a look at it here. Example 2: Bridgewater State College Admission tour features the campus’s LEED certified green dorm. The visit to the dorm provides the tour guide with the opportunity to talk about other green initiatives on campus. 2. Alumni Magazine Many schools have sparked parent interest in green campus efforts with articles in the Alumni Magazine. These articles have also worked to cultivate donor support for green campus efforts and renewable energy installations. Example 1: Click image for example. Example 2: Click image for example.
Colleges and universities all over the country have discovered that prospective students are interested in your school’s green commitment and will choose a school based on its environmental commitment. To this end, many colleges and universities have incorporated green talking points into the campus tour and campus maps. Example 1: The University of New Hampshire’s Office of Sustainability has developed a sustainable campus map. Check it out here. 4. Athletic Events, Homecoming, and Parents' Weekend Many colleges and universities have tackled the challenge of greening athletic events, homecoming, and parents' weekends, recognizing the huge communications opportunity of such large events. Some have also begun to offer events and tours for family members during parents’ weekend. Example 1: Game Day Recycling The University of Notre Dame (IN) has launched 'Game Day Recycling,' a new program designed to make recycling easier for the ND tailgating crowd. As part of the program, students pass out recycling bag in each of the tailgating lots at every game; additional bags are made available at recycling stations placed on lampposts; and recycling bins are available across campus and in the stadium. Additionally, all recyclables go in the same bin. The new program was launched after a successful pilot program during last year's football season. Find out more information at http://enlighten.nd.edu/notre-dame-and-energy. Example 2: “Get Your Green On” Homecoming at Ohio University Ohio University made a conscious effort to minimize the ecological footprint of all aspects of Homecoming - including the parade, sporting events, and tailgating. The campus community was reminded of the effort with OU’s homecoming logo. Find out more at:http://www.facilities.ohiou.edu 5. Course Catalog Many schools have begun to indicate low-carbon or sustainability courses with a special designation in the course catalog. Example 1: UMASS Dartmouth has indicated sustainability-related courses by a “SUS” in the course catalogue. Find out more: http://www.umassd.edu/sustainability/curriculum.cfm Example 2: Cape Cod Community College has designed brochures exclusively about its environmental technology courses. They’re the envy of other campus departments!
6. Graduation Events Graduation is a great opportunity to educate a larger community – students, alums, parents, neighbors – about your green efforts. It’s also a great way to tackle any number of green challenges on campus from food purchasing to transportation to composting! Example 1: Green Graduation at Colby College, Waterville, Maine Example 2: Oberlin College Climate Neutral Commencement Project Oberlin has undertaken a five-year plan to make Oberlin’s Commencement/Reunion Weekend climate neutral and will serve as a test case for the wider campus initiatives. Learn more about Oberlin’s green and reduced-waste purchasing plans and the Oberlin graduate green pledge here (http://www.oberlin.edu/alumni/greenCommencement.html). 7. Move In and Move Out Move-In and Move-Out Days have huge waste and transportation issues. Many schools have worked to green these moving days, as well as using them as an opportunity to educate students and their families about campus green efforts. Example 1: Westfield State College’s student Green Team piloted a green move-in. 8. National Press and Surveys The list of surveys and national magazines covering and ranking college and university sustainability grows by the day. Those undertaken by the Sustainable Endowments Institute and the National Wildlife Federation get a great deal of attention, but so do many others. To stay up to date on surveys and national press stories on sustainability, check out the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability’s 2007 Digest. In it, the section “Sustainability in the Media” has a compendium of the biggest articles and surveys of the year. Find it on-line at: http://www.aashe.org/publications/digest.php The research for sustainability features often begins where you or I would – with a Google™ search. Issuing frequent press releases and updating your website with your green intiatives, renewable energy courses, and sustainability events is a great way to increase your national green exposure. 9. Summer Reading Assignment Many schools assign mandatory summer reading for incoming first-year students and have found that students are really engaged with sustainability-related texts. Parents read them too! Example 1: Wheaton College assigned Michael Pollen’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and planned courses and events based on local food systems. Find out more: http://wheatoncollege.edu/Quarterly/Q2008Winter//Food.html 10. Website Information and links on the college’s home page is a great way to inform alumni about campus greening and renewable energy efforts. Both Cape Cod Community College and Greenfield Community College have made explicit links to green efforts on their websites. Example 1: Greenfield Community College Example 2: Cape Cod Community College Tell Us Your Outreach Story! Contact Anne Stephenson, CA-CP Campus Outreach Coordinator: astephenson@cleanair-coolplanet.org or (603) 422-6464 |
3. Campus Tours
