RC Competition: Double-sided Printing

In celebration of the the new double-sided printing capabilities of HBS public printers, the ECs went at it again; this time taking each other on to see who can conserve the most paper when printing write ups for the week of March 2-5. Students got points if they (1) printed double-sided, (2) printed it 2 sides to 1 page, or (3) if their write-up fit on 1 page from adjusting margins. Students also earned all 5 points by demonstrating that their laptop is set up to print double-sided on printers in Spangler, Aldrich, and Baker Library. Section C came out on top once again, earning 719 points!

Love Your Mailbox: Junk Mail Reduction Campaign

Did you know Americans will spend 8 months of their life just dealing with junk, and that $320 million in tax dollars is spent disposing of it? Check out the Center for a New American Dream for more information. Green Living Reps have been getting the word out about free, online resources students can use to reduce the amount of junk mail they receive. Reps handed out chocolates with the information just prior to Valentine's Day. They also hosted a raffle for guessing how many pieces of junk mail we're in a trash can exhibit. Check out the Reps Top 3 web resources: Catalog Choice, Proquo, and the DMA.

Film Screening: An Inconvenient Truth

Green Living Reps hosted a screening of An Inconvenient Truth on Tuesday, March 3rd in Gallatin Hall. This Oscar-winning documentary by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, which exposes and busts many myths surrounding the global climate crisis, and paints it as "the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization." Mr. Gore is now focusing his climate change work through the We Can Solve It Campaign, advocating for the United States to provide all its electricity from clean resources by 2018.

Spread the Love: Valentine's Campaign

Each year, Harvard Recycling partipicates in a campus-wide donation drive to benefit women at the Cambridge YWCA Family Shelter. Green Living Reps assisted in the collection of unopened cosmetics & toiletries in their dorms and other common spaces. All donations were made into gift baskets and delivered on Valentine's Day.

Study Break: Planet in Peril

Green Living Reps hosted study breaks for the premiere of CNN's Planet in Peril: Battles Lines. This was the sequel to the award-winning Planet-in-Peril which aired in Fall 2007. Gatherings took place in all HBS lounges with refreshments provided. It was a great opportunity for students to take a quick break from all that cramming, socialize, and learn something new! Students are encouraged to visit CNN's Planet in Peril site to explore the many web extras.

GHG Commitment Outreach

With Harvard's newly set GHG reduction goal, HBS Reps helped advertise the official kick-off event, which took place on October 22nd, 2008. Former Vice-President Al Gore gave the remarks and an estimated 15,000 Harvardians came out for the event and filled Tercentary Theater. The week of the event, Reps hosted dinner gatherings in their dorms to discuss the new goal with their peers and give guidance on how every HBS student can help John Harvard kick the Carbon!

Recycling

Along with most of Harvard University, HBS has switched over to single stream recycling. By no longer requiring the separation of paper & cardboard products from other glass, plastic and metal containers, single stream takes a lot of the guess work out of recycling, making it more convenient to reduce the amount of waste we send to a landfill. New bins with a universal "Saturn" opening can be found around much of campus. Dorm students are provided with a personal bin in their room along with information on what should be recycled, and what should be disposed of.

Waste Audits

At Harvard Business School, we conduct two waste audits each year—in October and April. The results of the waste audits show that recycling in the dorms has been increasing since 2005. Since Fall 2005 and Spring 2006, the amount of recyclables in the trash for these semesters has shown a general downward trend.

Sustainability Pledge 2008

The Harvard Sustainability Pledge is an annual event across the University. Each year, thousands of students, staff, and faculty pledge to make changes in their lifestyle to reduce their environmental impact. The pledge is open year-round, but for each pledge taken before the end of the calendar year, Harvard puts aside $1.50 to fund a future renewable energy project on campus. Proposals for this project will be reviewed, and a winner chosen early in 2009.

Reduce your juice Energy Competition 2008

Congratulations to Morris Hall, the 2008 Reduce Your Juice Energy Competition Champs! Every year, we conduct a month-long energy competition between the dorms to educate residents about what they can do to reduce their energy use and use the utility data to track the energy changes. The score for each dorm in the competition is calculated with electricity savings as 75% of the total and Sustainability Pledge participation rate as 25%. McCulloch Hall is the two-time, back-to-back, defending champion.