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Earth Day - April 22, 2010
Students, staff, and faculty celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day with a variety of events.
- The Garret Mountain Campus observed Earth Day with a "Recycle Your Style" event. Studentst tie-dyed T-shirts and painted flower pots on Wednesday, April 21, 11:00 am-12:00 pm outside the Student Center, during activity period.
 On Earth Day, Middlesex Campus students cleaned up around the campus, both inside and out. Those students who participated by collecting trash and recycling materials received a small gift. In addition, the library celebrated Earth Day with a special display of sustainability resources, a raffle, a student survey, and refreshments.- The Online Campus held a discussion on "Going Green" the week of April 19-23. Information explaining what Earth Day is and how it started was available, as well as resources about community initiatives in the New York and New Jersey area, conserving energy, recycling, and general conservation.
- During the week of April 12-19, staff, faculty, and students at the Bergen Campus and BES were invited to donate clothing in good condition to be repurposed as new outfits. A Fashion Show of the repurposed designs was held on Wednesday, May 12 at 11:00 am, followed by lunch. Audience members voted on prizes for the designs.
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Bergen Campus student models pose with their classmates who created new fashions from recycled clothing. Pictured left to right: Julianne Campbell (designer/model), Michael Santiago (designer), Brittany Rittenbacker (model), Chrissy Prager, (designer/model), Cassandra Jackson, (model),
Valerie Flint (designer/model), Tensiha Peterson-(designer/model), Ana Marette (designer). |
- Westchester Campus students, faculty, and staff were invited to the theater on April 22 for a video screening, a presentation by Professor Laura Harste on environmental issues, a give-away of enviro-friendly prizes, and refreshments.
- An Inconvenient Truth played in the Newark Campus student lounge on April 22, at 11:00 am.
- Students at the New York City Campus participated in the "Be the E" campaign, a project of Earth Day New York, at Grand Central Terminal and Times Square.
| Earth Day Sustainability Tips* |
- Reduce engine idling.
- Buying a car? Think about an energy efficient or hybrid model.
- Don't top off your gas tank. Every drop of spilled gas adds to air pollution and wastes fuel.
- Walk or cycle instead of drive. Save the planet AND your waistline.
- Check with your supervisor about working from home one day a week to reduce commuting emissions.
- Carpool when possible, or use public transportation when available.
- Use timers on your thermostats for heat and air conditioning.
- Install a water-efficient shower head and reduce your time in the shower.
- Fix your leaks! Leaky faucets can waste thousands of gallons of water each year.
- When possible, wash laundry when you have a full load, or choose the appropriate load size on the washing machine.
- Buy water- and energy-efficient appliances and products. Look for the WaterSense and EnergyStar labels when shopping
- Replace incandescent light bulbs in your home with new energy efficient compact fluorescents or LEDs.
- Support the Great American Clean Up! Visit the Keep America Beautiful website and join a local effort, or start your own volunteer group.
- Allow grass clippings to stay on the lawn instead of bagging them. The cut grass decomposes and returns to the soil.
- Start an organic kitchen garden. Locally grown fruits and vegetables are fresher and taste better.
- Compost organic waste and use it to enrich your garden soil.
- Use nontoxic household cleaning products. Many green cleaning products are available now, or try the tips from Blisstree for making your own.
- Dispose of hazardous waste (cleaning solvents, paints, used oil, etc.) properly. Contact your local environmental or sanitation office for more information.
- Make Earth Day a "Go Veggie Day." Bring in a vegetarian snack or lunch to share with others.
- Use a reusable coffee cup and water bottle!
- Go paperless: bills, newspapers, magazines.
- Whenever possible, scan and file documents instead of printing and copying them.
- Share instead of buy: Go to the library for books, magazines, movies, and more.
- BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag! They come in fun sizes and shapes so you can always bring your own.
- Ecycle your old computer, DVD player, or other electronics to an electronics recycling center.
- Bring your own lunch to work (saves packaging and waste). Make it a vegetarian meal to further reduce your carbon footprint.
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| *suggestions from the Project GreenPath Committee and Berkeley College community |
Earth Hour 2010 - March 27, 8:30 pm
People in communities around the world switched off their lights for one hour on March 27, 2010 as a call to action to address climate change. Visit earthhour.org for more information about this global initiative and to view highlights from this year's events. Earth Hour is sponsored annually by WWF.
Berkeley College Joins Other Colleges in Climate Commitment
In July 2009. Berkeley College President Dr. Dario A. Cortes signed the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment, which commits the College to developing a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality. The commitment calls for Berkeley College to
- create institutional structures to guide the development and implementation of the plan
- complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions
- initiate interim actions to reduce greenhouse gases while developing the comprehensive plan.
The Project GreenPath Committee has identified two tangible actions to begin the work of moving toward climate neutrality while in the process of measuring the College's carbon footprint and preparing the initial greenhouse gas report. More news on these two actions will be forthcoming.
Berkeley's action plan, inventory, and periodic progress reports will be posted here and on the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment website.
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Click here to email your "green" suggestions to Project GreenPath!!
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Sustainability at Berkeley College |
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The Berkeley College libraries have expanded their collections with new resources on environmental sustainability. Click to see the list. |
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Berkeley academic offerings are going green. A new degree program, B.S., Management - Environmental Management, is offered online and at the Garret Mountain, Middlesex, Bergen, and Newark Campuses. New courses, including MGT 260 Environmental Management, MGT 316 Sustainable Enterprise Management, MGT 317 Environmental Regulations and Policy, and MGT 318 Environmental Ethics in Business have been added to the course listings. In addition, the Project GreenPath Curriculum Subcommittee has prepared a tip sheet for greening the classroom. |
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Automatic paper towel dispensers and foam soap dispensers can now be found in all campus restrooms, and are helping to reduce resources and eliminate waste. Berkeley College is using paper towels made from recycled paper. All faucets that have been replaced are either automatic faucets or run only for a short time. |
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Berkeley has been successfully using Pharos Systems print management and copy control software at each campus to help reduce paper waste. Since January 2005, we have cut paper use in the classrooms by over 60% and have saved more than one million pages per year. |
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Videoconference facilities are available at the Garret Mountain, Westchester, NYC Midtown, Bergen, Middlesex, and Newark campuses. The Project GreenPath committee meets via videoconference to avoid as much as possible creating fossil fuel emissions in transit. |
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Air conditioning thermostats are reset in the evenings and on weekends. |
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Office paper that is shredded by an outside vendor is then recycled. |
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The Newark Campus installed energy saving water chillers, heaters, boilers, and other HVAC equipment, as well as energy efficient lighting for classrooms and offices, and a gas generator. Many of these features were approved through the PSEG Energy SmartStart Program. |
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Green flooring was installed in the NYC Midtown Campus elevator. |
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The Westchester Campus installed motion sensors for lighting. |
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