By Meaghan Smith
CSU Capital Planning, Design and Construction

On May 1, CSU Dominguez Hills students in Earth Sciences Professor Judy King’s Natural Resources class were recognized for their achievements in energy efficiency. The GEO 420 students collaborated with campus facilities staff and industry partners in finding ways to reduce energy use in SAC – 2, the building where they held class this semester.

Professor King’s pride in her students was obvious as she gave out the awards.

Students showed off their work in a poster summarizing a portion of the study.

By Erik Fallis
CSU Public Affairs

The California State University is funding grants to encourage innovative thinking in the merging of academics and facilities management. The “Campus as a Living Lab” Grant Program combines the CSU’s principle of sustainability with “hands-on” applied learning designed to prepare students to excel in a modern workforce.

The awards will be broken down into individual grants of $12,000 for projects that best demonstrate:

• Development or redesign of a course that ties elements of sustainability into opportunities for learning using the campus physical plant.
• Creation of an interdisciplinary Learning Community, focused on campus sustainability and comprised of faculty, staff, students, and/or community college partners.

Participants are strongly encouraged to incorporate at least one high-impact practice into their proposal. These practices include for-credit internships, service-learning courses, undergraduate research opportunities, student learning communities and first year or capstone programs. More »

The campus community has reduced its waste in recent months with the help of new compost and recycling bins. Since the new bins were introduced in September, the campus has doubled its composting rate and increased the recycling rate by ten percent.

“It’s a wonderful result, especially to see composting doubling so quickly,” said Sustainability Programs Manager Caitlin Steele. “The waste diversion we’ve measured is far above what we expected with the new bin system.”

The bins were installed at 120 locations throughout campus, and provide disposal for compost, recycling and waste materials. The metal bins and new signage replace older concrete bins and provide campus-wide composting for the first time.
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Humboldt State Now

Humboldt State University is reinforcing its commitment to sustainability to carry on the school’s 40-year role in fostering resource-friendly practices and curriculum campus-wide.

The university is conducting a comprehensive sustainability assessment of all of its functions and facilities this academic year, using STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System. It is a self-reporting framework for measuring progress that is managed by HSU’s Office of Sustainability.
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PolyCentric News

At Los Olivos, trash isn’t simply trash. It falls into one of three categories: There’s cardboard for recycling, miscellaneous trash and now, food scraps.

All food — fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, bones and dairy — can be composted by the campus’ trash hauler, Burrtec. Kitchen scraps from food preparation, uneaten food and leftover food from diners are thrown into biodegradable trash bags and a separate outdoor bin. More…