Spring 2007, Volume 10 Newsletter:
Graduate Green Living Program Enters Its Second Year
The Graduate Green Living Program is a peer-to-peer education program based on the model of the undergraduate Resource Efficiency Program. The pilot for this program began in the fall of 2005 with the primary goals to increase recycling by 30 – 40% and decrease water and energy use by 10%. Program partnerships are with the Harvard Business School (HBS) Operations and Housing, Harvard Law School Facilities Management, and Harvard Real Estate Services Residential Real Estate and effectively include over 3000 graduate students and their families.
A display during Green Week at HBS emphasizes the environmental impact of bottled water.
Twenty Green Living Representatives work to engage their peers in conservation. The breakdown is as follows: Harvard Business School (HBS): five Green Living Representatives for the dorms, one for the common areas. Harvard Law School (HLS): four Green Living Representatives for the dorms. Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES): four representatives at Peabody Terrace, six at Soldiers Field Park/One Western Avenue.
To achieve the program’s goals, representatives run campaigns with a variety of activities. Some highlights include:
• Compact fluorescent light bulb swap
• Harvard Sustainability Pledge campaign, including 100% participation from residents of Hamilton Hall, a HBS dorm
• Energy Competitions in HBS and HLS dorms
• “Thanks for using reusable dishware” dining hall campaign
• HLS recycling bags distribution
• Showing of “An Inconvenient Truth” at HLS, HBS and Peabody Terrace
• Green Fest at Peabody Terrace with singing program “EarthTunes”
• Environmentally themed social events / study breaks at Peabody Terrace and Soldiers Field Park/One Western Avenue
The program is a great opportunity for residents to ask questions and learn and to know that they are not alone as they embark on incorporating more green living actions into their daily routines. It is also a program that helps to build community, and another benefit is that building operators also learn what barriers are keeping residents from conserving as well as how the residents are experiencing the HVAC systems (too warm / too cool).
The HGCI’s project leader is Meryl Brott. Other project leaders include Dara Olmsted, HGCI; Rebecca Andreasson from HLS; Meghan Duggan from HBS and David Dower from HRES.