the Informer

The success of the “Our Campus, Our Planet” initiative will be seen throughout the rest of the year with ongoing projects aimed at making the Hartford campus that much more environmentally sound.

“Our Campus, Our Planet” was held for the first time on the last day of Liftoff this year, and got students involved with programs such as “River History and Ecology,” “River Art” and “Meet the Trees,” all intended to influence the campus to become a cleaner, greener place to live and learn.

The impact of this single day can now be seen throughout the year as campus wide programs are taking place as a result.

A step forward in becoming more energy efficient will be seen with dorm competitions. Facilities and Residential Life are currently working on plans to have a competition between dorms with the intention of becoming more energy efficient.

Complexes A through D will be competing to see who can lower their carbon footprint by the greatest amount. In order to do this, residents will hopefully receive more energy efficient light bulbs as a first step.

“The plan is that for residence halls that reach a certain minimum level of energy reduction, they will receive a share of the financial savings,” said Dr. Laura E. Pence, co-sustainability coordinator for the University. Though the details are still in the works, the program will be taking place in October.

Other measures are also being extended since the “Our Campus, Our Planet” day in order to maintain the clean environment the program intended to introduce.

“The idea was that “Our Campus, Our Planet” was a way to kick off further environmental initiatives, and get people thinking about it on campus,” said Dave Isgur, the Director of Media Relations on campus.

A program that day devoted to enhancing the one body of water this campus has to enjoy and maintain was entitled “Water Quality and Invasive Plants: Exploring the Campus River and Pond.”

This program taught students about the importance of these bodies of water, their ecology, and the types of pollutants that are harming it.
With the success of this particular program, faculty members plan to continue working with the river by holding cleanups, river art, and water testing throughout the year.

Specifically the “River Art” program is also being continued throughout the upcoming year with Professor Sherry Buckberrough, who plans to use waste from the river cleanup to make art.

With success of green initiatives such as this, the university intends to influence students to continue doing their part as well, and is well on it’s way to being as green as the grass on the other side.