George Goes Green

George Gets Ingenious

The following ideas for improving campus sustainability were submitted by students in spring 2007 as part of the George Goes Green initiative.

Meg Chapman '07 - Winner of 2007 Contest

My idea for a more sustainable campus revolves around the most precious resource on earth, water. With only 3% of the world's water not in the oceans, and most of that frozen, it is wonder that we waste so much of it, everyday. I have two different ideas, one that involves the reduction of water use and one that involves water education. These ideas can be taken together or separate, considering one is slightly more practical than the other!

Idea #1

Imagine a sustainable action that can be done over one summer without students, faculty, or staff knowing, and possibly complaining about the "inconvenience." It can all be yours for the low, low price of a good idea.

To reduce the amount of water used on the Washington College campus, it is necessary to install aerators on every faucet and showerhead. A normal faucet dispenses 2.75-5 gallons of water per minute (GPM) while a normal showerhead 5-8 GPM. It breaks my heart to think of all the students who leave the water running while brushing their teeth or the sink in the dining hall behind the stir-fry station that always seems to be on with nothing in the sink. To me, these actions are irresponsible and selfish, but in order to protect the earth, it is necessary to change the way people think about the environment. However, by adding an aerator to these outlets, we can buy ourselves time to change mentalities while still preserving our natural resources. The amazing feature of aerators is that they reduce the actual amount of water being dispensed by adding air to the flow, while maintaining pressure. The key to the success of this program would be just that, retaining showerhead pressure so that next year, no one will notice that the school is reducing their water bill because they will not feel a change. The advantages of aerators are a reduction in water use, money saved, and the feeling of doing something good.

I know what the administration will say, "it is too expensive to replace all water outlets." Well, I'm sick of hearing that it's too expensive to care about the environment. If we were a school in the middle of a desert, this would have already been done, but since we live where there is water, no one thinks it will run out. As with most things, you have to spend money to save money. The money could be taken from another budget such as weed control, and in as little as a year, I'm sure the reduction in the water bill will make up for the money spent.

To me this is a simple, straightforward change that can be made now, not 10 years in the future. The reduction in water will begin immediately and the move toward a more sustainable campus will continue, in the right direction.

Aerators (without a bulk discount) cost $5-$10 and use 2.5GPM or less.

Idea #2

It is my hope that idea #1 gets done no matter what, but it would be cool if this idea were taken at least slightly seriously!

If anyone has walked on the green on the east side of Toll than they must have noticed what I did, that the ground is wet, really wet. So I ask myself, what good is a flat portion of the green if it is almost always soaking wet? Nothing, as I found out the other day while trying to use that patch of lawn! So, if it isn't good for much, why must we continue to spend money on it by seeding and mowing? My idea is to create an outdoor classroom that could be created as a class project and then used by classes in the future. Although this idea does not pertain exactly to campus sustainability, the final product will enhance the natural environment and lessen our impact on the environment surrounding the campus.

I propose creating a freshwater, wetland habitat in the campus green area from the front of Dunning to Campus Ave. The land is already saturated with moisture and this way, plants that are supposed to thrive in wetland landscapes, will. A freshwater wetland within hopping distance from the science buildings will create an amazing opportunity for research and study. As long as the habitat is well planned, it will naturally become home to wetland organisms that will find their way to a new home. The sustainability comes from the fact that wetlands act as a natural filtration system, and since we use pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on our campus, we could use a filtration system, or all that will eventually reach the river.

This "classroom" could have a boardwalk so that the vegetation will not be disturbed and it could even be a model for wetland restoration, incorporating different vegetation zones and species.

As far as sustainability is concerned, this idea does not involve reducing electricity or carbon dioxide, but it does involve creating a space where the future minds of the environment can learn hands-on the ecology of an ecosystem and perhaps entice others to begin to care about something much bigger than them, thus advancing our goals of sustainability.

Christina Bell '07

My idea for expansion of campus sustainability is to first expand the compost program. This would mean institutionalizing the system so that there are permanent bins in the front and back of the dining hall, and drop-off containers on campus so that off-campus students and faculty/employees can contribute scraps. Eventually, a system could be set-up so that local restaurants and institutions, like the hospital and nursing home could also easily contribute to the compost program. Another facet of this would be to spread awareness to the students from the top down, training of employees, and making it "mandatory."

Our facility could be expanded so that we would be able to process a wider variety of items, such as scraps of animal products. This would require financial investment by the college, in order that a building might be constructed, as well as equipment and a person to oversee operations, and may even include vermiculture. This would not only reduce the amount of toxic chemicals used by the dining hall/local institutions to process food waste, but will also reduce inputs to landfills, and create composted soil for use on campus. It is my hope that eventually the campus will generate its all of its own nutritious soil and mulch, and have no reason to purchase these items, or manufactured fertilizer.

Along these lines, other non-compostable waste and large items could be redirected to a biofuel operation, in which they are converted into energy to help power the campus, as a short term solution to fossil fuels. This could also incorporate waste from local farms. This system is designed to match local outputs with local inputs in a natural way so that waste and toxics are reduced, and local needs are being fulfilled.

Lindsey Bowman '07

I would propose that Washington College make a simple but powerful change by converting the roofs to the new dining hall facility and several of the smaller administrative buildings around campus, such as the former business office building on 213, into "Green Roofs."

A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and soil, or a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. All this could be done on top of the existing roof structure. It is an addition on top rather than a completely new roof, so the costs of the additions would not be overwhelming, and would in fact be more than made up for in costs saved by the green roofs.

Advantages of Green Roofs Include

Energy savings
Water runoff reduction
Increased roof lifespan
Environmental benefits
Aesthetic beauty

Green roofs reduce heating (by adding mass and thermal resistance value) and cooling (by evaporative cooling) loads on a building, and can even increase roof life span. They filter pollutants and CO2 out of the air and filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater.

I think that green roofs would serve as a visual reminder to everyone on campus that we are committed to sustainability!

Astra Haldeman '07

My idea is to combine sustainability with safety. To do so, I suggest obtaining solar panels with which to charge our lamps on campus. The panels can charge during the day and use the energy to power the lights at night, reducing the amount of electricity used on campus.

Additionally, small solar powered walkway lights should be installed along currently dark areas, such as: the brick walk along Washington Avenue (between 213 and the campus green), the pavements leading away from Martha Washington Square towards academic buildings that are currently not brightly lit, the walkway to Toll between the Green and Smith, Kent Circle and/or other residential areas that could use extra lighting, and the Washington College Waterfront. In this way, we could make our campus brighter and safer without using extra energy.

Meghan Livie

The idea that I have is simple but effective. Buy only local produce and dairy products to cut down on gas usage and emissions. Not only does this positive step make a greener campus, it also goes beyond Washington College to make the whole world greener. It is one of the most recommended ways to take action against global warming.

Cynthia Sebian-Lander '07 - Waste-Less Week

This is a week dedicated to wasting less. Each day will have a different theme or activity and there will be a couple of things going on throughout the week. These are:

There will be a competition between dorms to see who can produce the least amount of waste. This will be determined by how many trash bags are taken out of the dorms, and the winning dorm will get a prize (pizza or something easy like that).
The week will be a No Paper week, which means that everything should be done electronically. This could mean emailing professors paper or putting handouts on Blackboard rather than handing them out.
In the Dining Hall we will promote taking only what you can eat. To do this there will be suggested serving sizes under the food descriptions.
In the library and computer labs the print settings will be set to automatically print double sided, rather than single sided.

Daily Activities

Monday: Hand out reusable take out containers, both a container for food and a mug. Every student receives one.
Tuesday: Demonstrating the different stages of composting in Martha Washington Square, from the food right off the plate to totally broken down and ready to be placed in a garden.
Wednesday: Organic Night in the Dining Hall. All organic fruits and vegetables, and the meat will be organic and free range.
Thursday: A person dressed as the Lorax will walk around all day telling people the story of the Truffala trees as well as tips on how to use less.
Friday: Bringing back the orange bike campaign (which happened about 4 years ago), only this time painting the bikes green. The bikes can be used by any college student to ride around town instead of driving. To make sure that only college students use the bikes, each one will have a lock that only students have the combination to. Also, on this Friday there will be a bike ride around Chestertown to show off the bikes and get people using them.

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