On Wednesday, May 28th UMBC's Green Office Program launched after a year of development and piloting. Each of the 30 seats were filled with staff and faculty for a training on how to implement the program in offices across campus. The training emphasized not only adopting green practices, but also how individuals can serve as trained liaisons and secure commitments from their offices to sustainable practices.
The Green Office Program is modeled from existing programs at many other higher ed institutions and has been developed by UMBC's sustainability coordinator, sustainability interns, and a Green Office Work Group under the oversight of the UMBC Climate Change Task Force.
The Green Office Program was designed to support sustainability champions who are motivated to follow best practices in energy conservation, waste minimization, and sustainable transportation. These champions are trained and equipped with a checklist, toolkit and support.
The goals of the Green Office launch and luncheon were to introduce liaisons, recognize the efforts UMBC has been making towards a greener campus, explain the steps to green office certification, review the green office checklist and toolkit, and to discuss the purpose of the program.
Because so many of our habits and shaped by our peers and our personal self- perception/identity, making a public commitment such as that of the green office program offers a catalyst for lasting change. Not only that, many of the steps in the green office checklist are one-time actions that have long term benefits, such as removing barriers, inserting prompts, and updating settings to easily establish environmentally responsible practices consistently throughout departments. The checklist included three categories: saving energy, reducing waste and driving less.
The program is designed to be short, simple and easy to implement as a basic first step, all while still making a huge difference in our campus footprint. In the future, UMBC plans to add higher levels of Green Office certification for those willing to adopt even greener practices, says Tanvi Gadhia, UMBC's sustainability coordinator.
In 2007, President Hrabowski first signed the American Colleges and Universities Climate Commitment, with the goal of carbon neutrality. Bold steps have been taken from improving efficiency, designing green buildings and investing in renewable energy. However, an estimated 40% of energy is used in our buildings and 15% on lighting alone. By taking short and simple steps such as turning off lights each night in our offices, using hibernate setting on our computers and equipment, offices across campus can help make a difference together.
Please join us in thanking and congratulating the many diverse offices that were represented at our Green Office Program Launch, and those who participated in the pilot program:
The Green Office Program is modeled from existing programs at many other higher ed institutions and has been developed by UMBC's sustainability coordinator, sustainability interns, and a Green Office Work Group under the oversight of the UMBC Climate Change Task Force.
The Green Office Program was designed to support sustainability champions who are motivated to follow best practices in energy conservation, waste minimization, and sustainable transportation. These champions are trained and equipped with a checklist, toolkit and support.
The goals of the Green Office launch and luncheon were to introduce liaisons, recognize the efforts UMBC has been making towards a greener campus, explain the steps to green office certification, review the green office checklist and toolkit, and to discuss the purpose of the program.
Because so many of our habits and shaped by our peers and our personal self- perception/identity, making a public commitment such as that of the green office program offers a catalyst for lasting change. Not only that, many of the steps in the green office checklist are one-time actions that have long term benefits, such as removing barriers, inserting prompts, and updating settings to easily establish environmentally responsible practices consistently throughout departments. The checklist included three categories: saving energy, reducing waste and driving less.
The program is designed to be short, simple and easy to implement as a basic first step, all while still making a huge difference in our campus footprint. In the future, UMBC plans to add higher levels of Green Office certification for those willing to adopt even greener practices, says Tanvi Gadhia, UMBC's sustainability coordinator.
In 2007, President Hrabowski first signed the American Colleges and Universities Climate Commitment, with the goal of carbon neutrality. Bold steps have been taken from improving efficiency, designing green buildings and investing in renewable energy. However, an estimated 40% of energy is used in our buildings and 15% on lighting alone. By taking short and simple steps such as turning off lights each night in our offices, using hibernate setting on our computers and equipment, offices across campus can help make a difference together.
Please join us in thanking and congratulating the many diverse offices that were represented at our Green Office Program Launch, and those who participated in the pilot program:
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