On May 10, the Tufts Climate Initiative (TCI) received the 2005 Climate Protection Award from the New England Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Usually, the award goes to corporations: Tufts is only the second university to receive this honor in the eight years that it has been awarded.
Tufts first promoted environmental awareness in the academic arena. Eve Schluter, a program administrator for Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE), points to the year 1963 as the dawn of Tufts' legacy in environmental education.
"Tufts University's rich environmental history began in 1963 with a sanitary engineering degree offered by the department of civil engineering," Schluter said. Nearly 20 years later, the University opened an undergraduate environmental studies program as a possible second major.
"The environmental studies program grew out of an especially popular Biology 7 course taught by [Professor Norton] Nickerson," Associate Biology Professor George Ellmore said. "Nickerson found the class to be so popular that he went on to put together an interdisciplinary major, which was way ahead of its time. Very few science majors crossed disciplines in the early '80s."
Four students graduated in the environmental studies program the first year in which it was offered. Since 2000, the program has graduated about 40 students each year. When environmental studies was first offered as an optional second major, 70 percent of environmental studies majors were also majoring in a natural science.
Now, students from 23 different primary majors including psychology, political science, economics and anthropology are also majoring in environmental studies.
"The Tufts community has been very supportive of the program," Ellmore said. "We're now working with associated departments towards making the environmental studies major a free-standing major at Tufts. We think we have enough professors in different departments to give the program enough depth."
Tufts' early involvement in the environmental movement was motivated in part by the threat of environmental health hazards. Tufts' Center for Environmental Management (CEM), established in 1984, trained more than 7,000 workers and inspectors to handle and remove asbestos and lead-based paint.
In 1990, Tufts signed the Talloires Declaration, "a 10-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy into campus teaching, research, operations and outreach," Schluter said. Initially, only 35 schools signed the Talloires Declaration. Now 300 universities from 40 different countries have pledged their commitment.
The environmental movement at Tufts gained momentum in the 1990s. Throughout the first half of the decade, the University created several interdisciplinary programs with an environmental focus. The Tufts Environmental Literacy Institute was founded in 1990 to help faculty integrate environmental concepts into curricula, paving the way for new degree options.
In 1998, TIE emerged. "TIE is an interdisciplinary, University-wide education and research institute, devoted to advancing and disseminating knowledge about the many ways human interactions affect the environment, and ways in which people can meet their needs in an environmentally sustainable manner," Schluter said.
A year after the creation of TIE, then Tufts President John DiBiaggio committed Tufts to meeting or exceeding the greenhouse gas emission targets specified by the Kyoto Protocol. During the same year, Tufts trustees created the University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS).
"From the start, environmental citizenship has been a major focus of the University College," UCCPS Dean Robert Hollister said. "Many significant public issues combine environmental and community aspects - they are one and the same."
"An extraordinary environmental leader named Nancy Anderson created the environmental citizenship program to support the work of environmental activists," he added. "Nancy was gifted at linking environmental activists with academic specialists, at Tufts and at other universities."
UCCPS has supported major environmental projects, including the Mystic River Watershed Collaborative. It has also assisted faculty fellows working on environmental issues and offered seed grants for curriculum development. One of these grants helped to launch Associate Economics Professor Jeff Zabel's popular environmental economics class. Another supported Associate Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Chris Swan's course on soil remediation.
The University College has also funded several student projects through Active Citizenship summer grants and other awards supporting community development.
"This past year, [UCCPS] supported my efforts both to bring environmental education to urban schools with the maple syrup project, as well as to create a stronger connection between Tufts students and the Somerville Community Growing Center, an outdoor community center and organic garden," junior Maisie Ganz said.
The Tufts division of Water Watch has been planning for the future.
"Our focus was not only on what could be achieved this year, but what we could help others achieve in the future," 2005 Water Watch Coordinator Zachary Harlow-Nash said. "We went from no long-term stream monitoring projects to three projects, which will likely resume in the fall."
"Starting in the fall, Water Watch has also established a partnership with WSSS [the interdisciplinary Water: Systems, Science, and Society Ph.D. and MS Program] and UCCPS that will provide graduate students and some undergrads with the opportunity to present their research to others," Harlow-Nash said.
"We received a lot of support from the schools and we were able to give several presentations to students ranging from first graders to sixth graders," Water Watch education intern sophomore Deirdre Cannell said. "We were really pleased with the progress we made this semester as far as communicating with a larger base of schools, presenting to over 1,500 students, and creating important curricula that cover topics from the water cycle to the watershed ecosystem."
TIE and the Tufts Climate Initiative have also found success through partnerships. "Buildings are a huge source of emissions, and in order to build them with sound insulation and other mechanisms that will increase energy efficiency, we must have the cooperation of the builders," TIE Project Manager Sarah Creighton said. "We couldn't work effectively without the help of the Tufts Operations Division." Tufts' new dorm, Sophia Gordon Hall, will have solar-powered hot water and solar panels on the roof.
Over the past few years, the University has taken great strides in increasing energy efficiency and using cleaner forms of energy.
"Tufts has invested in a lot of energy efficiency upgrades, especially lighting upgrades," TIE Project Coordinator Anja Kollmuss said. Over the past 15 years, Tufts has reduced its net water use by 20 percent by installing more efficient toilets, showers and faucets.
Currently, the Schmalz House has solar hot water and the Fairmont House has 500 watts of photovoltaics on the roof. This year, ECO has taken another step in converting Tufts to cleaner energy. Due to the efforts of ECO members and the support of student voters, a fee of $20 or less will be added to tuition charges starting next year in order to enable Tufts to purchase between 25 and 50 percent of its energy from wind power.
Tufts Recycles has also been on the upswing this year. "Recycling used to be an aside," Kollmuss said. "But now the University has created a full time position for Recycling Coordinator."
"Projects in the future will focus on waste reduction, improving recycling on the Boston campus, and working more closely with Dining Services," current Recycling Coordinator Dawn Quirk said.
