Lauren RubensteinIn a letter released May 8, President Michael Roth joined 29 other college and university presidents from across the country in endorsing carbon pricing for its economy-wide approach to reducing greenhouse emissions that cause climate change. The letter calls on state and federal lawmakers to proactively work to enact a carbon price at the state and federal level. Roth was one of three leaders, together with the presidents of Swarthmore and Dickinson colleges, to first sign the letter back in February. “As leaders of higher education institutions, we call upon our elected representatives to act collectively on behalf of current…
Cynthia RockwellAlok Appadurai ’00, co-founder of Fed by Threads, the first sustainable, sweatshop-free, multi-brand, American-made organic vegan clothing store in the United States that has used a portion of its profits to feed over half a million meals to Americans in need, offered the keynote speech on "Food Justice and Sustainability" at the 2017 Americas Forum, held at the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall on April 28. He has recently founded GoodElephant.org, designed to create a global "herd" that will work on changing the world by nurturing compassion and empathy to promote social and environmental reform—and his book, Good Elephant, will…
Andrew Logan ’18On April 28, the Center for the Americas will host its 2017 Americas Forum on “Food Justice and Sustainability” at the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall at 2:30 p.m. The keynote address will be given by Alok Appadurai ’00. Appadurai is the the founder of Fed by Threads, a sustainable, sweatshop-free, multi-brand, American-made organic vegan clothing store that has fed over half a million meals to Americans in need. He also recently founded GoodElephant.org, a global network that aims to promote social and environmental reform by nurturing compassion and empathy. His time at Wesleyan helped to inform his current projects. As a…
Olivia DrakeThe Wesleyan Green Team hosted a mini-trash bin workshop and discussion for faculty and staff on March 20. Dawn Alger, Theater Department administrative assistant and Green Team member, and Jen Kleindienst, sustainability director, led the workshop. Mini-bins are small containers that are used in place of standard waste receptacles. They encourage recycling and reduce the number of trash can liners used on campus. The Green Team provided craft supplies including cleaned coffee containers, colored paper, stickers, yarn, magazines, glue and scissors. Participants also discussed campus recycling efforts while designing their mini-bin. “We’d love to see all staff and faculty members at…
On April 22, the Wesleyan Climate Ambassadors will host the 5th Annual Earth Fest at the base of Foss Hill from 1 to 4 p.m. This celebration of Earth Day is aimed at bringing the sustainability community and campus together to honor Mother Earth. Participants will enjoy student bands, free vegan and veggie burgers, a clothing swap and a pin-the-solar-panel-on-the-building game. Participants also will learn more about what the sustainability community is working on at Wesleyan.
Throughout the month of April, Wesleyan is celebrating Earth Month with an array of activities. Events include film screenings, lectures, concerts, a festival on Foss Hill and more. For a full list of on-and-off campus events, visit the editable Earth Month 2017 calendar. For more information email sustianability@wesleyan.edu. Featured events are below:
On March 31, Wesleyan hosted #BeTheChange, Connecticut's annual Campus Sustainability Conference, featuring former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Gina McCarthy as the keynote speaker. Organized by the Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability, the theme of the day-long conference was "Engagement and Empowerment around Climate Change: Fostering Inspiration and Action at the Local Level." About 150 students, staff and faculty from the state's public and private colleges attended the conference, which also included workshop sessions on climate and sustainability action; empowerment on campus; engaging in state policy and legislation; engaging in community and municipal action; and engaging at the grassroots level. Several…
On March 31, the Connecticut Alliance for Campus Sustainability will run its fourth annual Connecticut Campus Sustainability Conference on campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The theme for this year’s conference is "Engagement and Empowerment around Climate Change: Fostering Inspiration and Action at the Local Level." Discussions will center on sustainable citizenship in Connecticut and how to take action at multiple levels, including the role of universities, state policy makers, students, municipalities and individuals. The conference encourages the involvement of attendees and invites them to share their work on campus sustainability as break-out session speakers. Register online.
For the third year in a row, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded Wesleyan with a Regional Food Recovery Achievement Certificate for its efforts reducing and diverting food waste. Wesleyan is among 26 organizations and institutions to receive the honor in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. This also is the third year Wesleyan has participated in the EPA's New England Food Recovery Challenge. "These organizations are showing that protecting the environment, saving money and feeding the hungry can go hand in hand,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. “It’s true year-round, but especially important to keep…
On Nov. 1, Wesleyan celebrated the installation of a 750 kW-AC ground-mounted solar photovoltaic system, or solar farm, located near Physical Plant, at the corner of Long Lane and Wadsworth Street. (more…)
The student-run Wesleyan Local Food Co-op sources a large variety of fresh foods and distributes them on campus. The co-op offers locally grown produce, fresh dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter and ice cream), meat, eggs, tofu, seitan, preserves, bread and coffee. Sign up for the co-op online by Sept. 21 and pay from 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 28 in Daniel Family Commons. The program began solely for students but is now open to staff and faculty participation in the wake of expressed interest. More than 500 members of the Wesleyan community are part of one or more co-ops. Participants…
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