With recycle bins in every hallway, hybrid cars zipping across campus and solar panels on the roof of Sophia Gordon, it's no secret to Tufts students that the university puts a lot of emphasis on environmental issues.
This August, Tufts got some national recognition for its commitment to ecological responsibility from Grist, a well-known online environmental news magazine.
Tufts was listed as No. 9 on a list put together by Grist of the top 15 "Green Colleges and Universities" worldwide, alongside schools like Middlebury College, Oberlin and Harvard. EARTH University, a Costa Rican school that focuses on sustainable development in the tropics, took the No. 3 spot, while the College of the Atlantic, a school where the only major offered is human ecology, was at the top of the list.
Sarah Hammond Creighton, program director for Tufts Institute for the Environment was pleased but not surprised, to find Tufts included on the list.
"We were psyched to be on the list, but we would expect to be on the list," Creighton said. "We've been working on 'greening' the campus for many years. Since 1990, we've done things that are significant, rather than symbolic."
On its Web site, Grist had this to say about Tufts: "Tufts is getting tough on climate change. It has committed to meeting or exceeding the Kyoto target for emissions reductions, and it was the first university to join the Chicago Climate Exchange. The Tufts Climate Initiative won the U.S. EPA Climate Protection Award in 2005. The university has a strong history of incorporating sustainability throughout its operations and campuses."
According to Creighton, this description only begins to scratch the surface of the work that Tufts is doing.
"We have a very well-established recycling program, and that's on all three campuses," Creighton said. She also cited Tufts' composting program, commitment to purchasing paper made of recycled content and energy efficiency upgrades, among other things, as further examples of the environmental work being done.
Creighton added that Tufts is also trying to help reduce emissions by helping students find more ecologically sound transportation. Creighton said that services like Zipcar, which offers rental cars that are generally more efficient, and goloco.com, which helps students organize carpools and find rides, are good resources for students who need to travel.
Junior Mara Gittleman, an officer with Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach, agreed that Tufts has done a lot to become environmentally friendly.
"We're on a grid that uses 80 percent hydro and 20 percent natural gas," Gittleman said, adding that 'green' buildings like Sophia Gordon Hall are an essential part of an environmentally friendly campus.
Sophia Gordon, erected before the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, was built in accordance with Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) energy standards and is made from 85 percent recycled steel. Its flooring and carpeting were made from recycled or renewable materials. To help preserve energy, it includes louvered glass panels on the building's corners which reflect sunlight toward the building during the winter and away from it during the summer.
Gittleman said that ECO hopes to use Sophia Gordon as a model for all future building projects at Tufts.
"We want to try to draft some sort of document or pledge that Bacow or the trustees will sign, saying that all future buildings will be green," Gittleman said.
Gittleman said the focus should be on building efficient buildings, as most advanced environmental equipment is costly.
"Solar panes everywhere would be way too expensive," Gittleman said. "It'd be better to have efficiency."
Creighton agreed that efficiency is a key part of reducing Tufts' consumption of energy and praised Tufts' Facilities Department for its efforts to that end. According to Creighton, their work on the details of upgrading infrastructure items like boilers and coolers is "critically important, but not very glamorous."
Senior and ECO officer Carrie Jones agreed that Tufts was deserving of praise, but said that many more improvements are possible.
"Tufts is on the forefront of environmental activism on campus," Jones said. "[But] there's still a lot of work to be done."
ECO is looking to further Tufts' reputation by "getting all the paper that all the departments use to be 100 percent recycled," Gittleman said, and filling the dining halls with "a lot more local food."
She said ECO is also interested in switching to the green cleaning service offered by OneSource, as well as getting "some sort of Joey-type vehicle that runs on diesel."
Another key to Tufts' continuing success in the environmental field is to increase students' awareness of environmental issues and ways they can help.
"The average Tufts student is aware [of environmental issues] to some extent, but doesn't incorporate environmentally conscious actions in [his or her] daily life," Jones said. "Looking at the broad issues and connecting [those issues] to their personal life is something that still needs to happen."
Creighton said that while it's nice to be praised, that doesn't mean environmental concerns can now take a backseat to other issues facing the university.
"Nobody can rest on their laurels - there's still a lot more work to do," Creighton said. "That goes for Tufts as well as for everybody."
