Adam Hg, from the Retriever Weekly, interviewed Tanvi Gadhia, UMBC's Sustainability Coordinator, about the Green Office Program.
1) Why is it important to maintain a green work environment and what benefits does it provide to both the worker and to our world?
Literally everything we interact with is a result of the environment. Every product and every technology, every piece of paper and every power outlet, every car ride and every meal, every breath we take and drop we drink, are all available to sustain us thanks to a globally interconnected ecosystem. It is all too easy to forget, in a culture where almost everything we need is purchased from someone else, that the root source for everything is ecologcically based. As population increases exponentially, and our lifestyles and habits consume more an more resources, we are loosing ecological balance. We are leaving communities without food, without fertile land, without clean drinking water, without safe air to breathe. We are stripping so many of the basics- from communities around the world, to species being wiped off the planet. The American culture and way of life is known and recognized and calculated to be far more consumptive and wasteful than most around the world. Universities can influence policies, conduct groundbreaking research, and educate students, and thus are an essential player in the effort towards building a more sustainable society. By greening our practices, policies, and infrastructure, we can develop a model of how we would like to see the community at large become in order to protect a healthy environment that can sustain healthy lives. We can do innovate research and experiment with solutions, and equip students with the knowledge, skills and experience to do the same throughout the rest of their lives. At UMBC, we are committed to having a positive impact on students, the surrounding community, and the world at large. In order to fulfill that goal, it is essential that we prioritize sustainability, make smart and compassionate decisions that help us and others over the long term, and set an example for our students and society. The Green Office program provides a low cost way to encourage our community to adopt and showcase sustainable choices, all day every day. It also gives us as a community of staff committed to the campus, a deeper sense of purpose and the joy of taking action to benefit others.
2) What is the best way to develop a green lifestyle?
I believe one of the best ways to adopt a green lifestyle is to set up defaults in your daily routine at work and home to make the more sustainable option easier for you. Once you have adopted conservation personally, it's also important to encourage your family, roommates, and/or colleagues to adopt these changes as well. Beyond building a supportive community, it's also important that we promote systemic change- this may be through policies, infrastructure or teaching and research, but creating changes in our system to progress towards resource conservation, efficiency, and renewables is the best way to make greener lifestyles that we can all adopt with ease, improving our environment, reputation, and bottom line all at once.
3) The event description mentions "our commitment to addressing climate change." Is this referring to any specific commitment that the UMBC campus and the Sustainability Matters organization has and if so what is the commitment?
In 2007 President Hrabowski joined the American Colleges and Universities' President's Climate Commitment, and committed to Carbon Neutrality. You can learn more at http://sustainability.umbc.edu/energy-climate/. The state of Maryland and the University System of Maryland share UMBC's commitment to addressing climate change, and these efforts are addressed jointly with these partners.
4) Although this event is heard towards faculty and staff, what ways can students work to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle?
Absolutely. Everything, every choice we make, all things we do, buy, or throw away, regardless of our role on campus, has environmental consequences. It takes so many resources to power our buildings, manufacture our goods, grow our food, etc. Especially when you consider the life cycle of the things we consume- the extraction of raw resources such as forestry and mining, the pollution and consumption that goes into manufacturing and packaging, and finally after we are done using an item- whether a disposable item we used only briefly or a durable reusable item that was useful for a longer period of time, where and low are we disposing of our waste, and where does it end up? We all depend on the global ecosystem for every single thing- from the air we breath, the food we eat, and the phones in our pockets. The more we resources we protect and conserve, the better the health of our ecosystems, and in turn all life which depends on them. It's cost efficient, direct, and easier than investing in, and manufacturing, new green technologies, which is a long term goal for the university but takes a lot more time to enact. There are many student organizations which strive to raise awareness on ways students can live an environmentally friendly lifestyle, and we created eco-ambassadors program to support this important goal of raising awareness and building a culture of sustainability at UMBC.
5) Lastly, what is your role in Sustainability matters and this event?
My role is the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator. I work in Administration and Finance with Lynne Schaefer. I work to support UMBC's goals to have a beneficial impact on our environment and continually innovate and improve. In addition to tracking, reporting, and communicating about the environmental efforts happening across campus, I worked to develop the Green Office program and the Eco-Ambassador programs and an array of workshops and trainings to build capacity, involvement and support campus wide progress towards a more sustainable UMBC.
