Community Events

Sustainability education is best when driven by community interest and community involvement.  Encouraging sustainability through social engagement and peer celebration is a great way to promote awareness. The following projects are just a few of the ways the Green Living Program (GLP) at Harvard has targeted and created community involvement:

Green Parties

Objective

To educate students about green alternatives and how to run a “green” party

Partners

Harvard College Office of the Dean, the house masters (dormitory house parents) and the house office assistants

Activities

Who does not like to party?! GLP reps can provide students with tips on how to run “greener” parties. The Harvard GLP successfully lobbied the college administration to insert green tips into the official campus-wide party form.

Resources from the Harvard Green Campus Initiative GLP

Other Resources

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Large Green Parties

You can take the Green Party tips and use them for even larger parties, not just room parties. Try them for dormitory-wide parties, student dances and more. Shoot for a zero-waste event! Even if there are barriers to running a zero-waste party, you can at least use some green factors.  For example, one of the Harvard GLP reps convinced her dormitory's house committee (social committee) to use packaging peanuts to create a “peanut pit” for wrestling at their Masquerade. If there are barriers to running a zero-waste event, identify what those are and attempt to find solutions to those barriers.

Resources

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Campus-wide Green Parties

Due to the fact that campus-wide events take even more time to organize than a smaller event, they may be a bit tougher to “green.” However, it is still possible to run a zero-waste campus-wide event! Take the green tips from above and consider applying them to any of the following:

  • campus-wide events and celebrations
  • campus-wide concerts
  • campus-wide conferences
  • graduation and related events
  • alumni reunions

Resources

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Greening Tailgates

Objective

To educate students about waste reduction and recycling, promoting these behaviors at student tailgates

Partners

Harvard Recycling, Harvard College Student Activities Office and Harvard Facilities Maintenance Operations

Activities

The Harvard GLP has focused its green tailgating efforts on the Annual Harvard-Yale football game, which has the highest attendance of the season. The location of the game alternates between the two schools at the end of the season.

GLP reps work with dormitory social committees, who are in charge of each dorm’s tailgate, to ensure that there will be recycling areas at the individual tailgates. Reps publicize to the student body before the game, reminding them to recycle at the game. A popular motto has been, “Waste Yale, not your recyclables!”  Reps also create signs to hang up at the tailgates on the actual day.

The GLP coordinates with Harvard Recycling, the College Student Activities Office and Facilities Maintenance Operations to ensure there will be proper recycling receptacles placed strategically within the tailgating area. The program has also worked with the announcer at the Harvard-Yale game to have him remind spectators to recycle their cans and bottles.

Resources

Checklist

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Eco-Studybreaks: Food for Thought

Objective

To create community involvement and awareness through the use of food and fun facts with an eco-focus

Partners

House (dormitory) dining halls and masters (house parents)

Activities

Reps run an eco-study break in their residence halls. There can be a specific theme to a study break, such as the Waterworld study break to promote water conservation, or the purpose can be general community outreach. Bringing students together for food and conversation can be a powerful tool.

In 2003, the Harvard GLP study breaks were themed “Food for Thought" and consisted of various eco-facts. Reps served ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s—two tubs per residence—along with about ten topping choices. In 2004, the GLP study breaks were themed “Waterworld” and focused on the importance of water conservation.  Reps served an assortment of vegan cookies, along with about ten toppings for the cookies.

Posters were made out of reused cardboard, and there was one eco-fact per topping. The eco-study breaks were set up in such a way that students had to file through a line to get the toppings, with the associated eco-facts strategically placed next to the toppings so students could read them while choosing toppings.

All of the toppings, posters and other materials traveled from dorm to dorm in the “study break suitcase.” Reps were assigned two shifts—their study break in their own residence and the study break just before theirs, where they would help set up and answer questions. Attending the study break before their own allowed the reps to see how the study break ran (so they could better prepare for their own), and they were able to take the study break suitcase at the end of the study break so they would have it for theirs.

Consider the following well in advance when planning eco-studybreaks in the residence halls:

  • donations of food or advanced purchase of food
  • scheduling of reps’ study breaks
  • pickup of ice cream or other study break items
  • transfer of study break suitcase
  • eco-fact research
  • poster design
  • advanced permission to use dining halls or other spaces for the study breaks

Resources

Checklist

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Greening Student Activities

You can also branch out to existing student activities and groups to help green their events. Examples include:

  • greening “stein” clubs
  • greening dorm social events
  • enter a green date raffle into an existing raffle
  • greening campus dances

The possibilities are endless! The more you are able to connect green habits with existing campus life, the more successful you will be at creating a living laboratory envisioning sustainable change. Consider creating a guide for existing campus student groups to use, teaching them how to green their organization's offices, their activities and their goals.

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