Sustainability 2023 Year in Review
The ECU Sustainability Program had quite a year in 2023. Here are some of our most notable accomplishments:
Service Opportunities
- Hosted 8 volunteer workdays at the Greenville Community Garden and Orchard
- Harvested and donated over 800 pounds of food from the garden and orchard
- Hosted 6 litter cleanups at Town Creek Culvert, keeping hundreds of pounds of trash out of the Tar River
- Hosted 6 trail maintenance work sessions at Otter Creek Natural Area so that classes and other groups could hike at the site
- Co-hosted Yam Jam, sorting and donating over 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to families in need throughout Eastern NC
- Assisted Veggies for Vets and Love A Sea Turtle with the installation of vegetable and herb gardens at the VA Medical Center
- Co-hosted Metallix Day for the Environment, facilitating tree plantings, mulching Town Common Park, and picking up litter in Downtown Greenville for over 200 volunteers
- Co-hosted the 4th Annual Splash for Trash Tar River Cleanup in collaboration with the Greenville Noon Rotary Club, Love A Sea Turtle, ECU Adventure Program, and City of Greenville
Outreach and Education
- Hosted 23 guest lectures, educating 720 students about campus sustainability efforts
- Certified 2 offices in the Green Office Program: Honors College and the Diabetes and Obesity Institute
- Hosted the Watt Watch Energy Challenge in the Residence Halls in Spring 2023
- Hosted a Smart Cycling Course, certifying 4 participants
- Hosted Bike Repair Clinics weekly, serving over 50 campus cycling commuters
- Worked with the University Environment Committee to establish a Sustainability Course Designation
- Advised Brewster Early College class working on projects related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Hosted 11 events for Earth Week 2023 and Campus Sustainability Day 2023 with the theme of the 17 SDGs
- Sustainability Student Organizations hosted the 2nd Annual Sustainability Ball in spring 2023 and the first Sustainability Fall Festival in fall 2023
- Advised multiple Honors College project teams and an engineering capstone team working on a Solar PV Feasibility Study for ECU
- Hosted a table, educating thousands of incoming freshmen at the weekly New Student Orientation Fairs
- Participated in the Strategic Plan Refresh process, advocating for the inclusion of sustainability at a high level
Administration, Operations, and Grounds
- Maintained 5 beehives on campus
- Installed medicinal plant raised garden beds outside of Laupus Library on the Health Sciences Campus
- Passed a joint resolution by the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student Government Association in support of Fossil Fuel Divestment and Renewable Energy Investments
- Reestablished a native pollinator meadow at West Research Campus
- Completed the first-ever Campus Tree Inventory, mapping and identifying thousands of trees on ECU properties
- Attended Clean Transportation Demo Day, State Energy Conference, Appalachian Energy Summit, AASHE Conference, and APPA Leadership Academy
- Hired Kim Fox for the new Sustainability Outreach Specialist position and doubled the capacity of the ECU Sustainability Program after 7 years!
(ECU Photo by Cliff Hollis)
Awards and Metrics
- Renewed:
- Completed the FY2023 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory
- Submitted ECU’s third Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) Report, earning the University a Silver Rating
- Included in the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges and their Guide to the Best 389 Colleges lists for the 5th year in a row
- Sustainability Student Organizations won multiple awards:
- Pirate Swap won “Outstanding New Organization of the Year”
- Sustainabilibees won “Most Outstanding Officer of the Year”
- ReLeaf won “Best Marketing Piece of the Year”
- Sustainability Manager received the award for “Student Organization Advisor of the Year” in spring 2023
- Won our second Volkswagen Settlement Fund Rebate Grant to purchase and install an additional 3 Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations on campus
