Projects will advance Trinity’s Goal as an Environmentally Friendly College
Three sustainability mini-grants have been awarded to Trinity students with the goal of turning Trinity into a more environmentally friendly campus. The grants are part of a $10,000 pool of money that was made available for that purpose by President James F. Jones, Jr., in the fall of 2008.
The over-arching objective of the program is to enable members of the Trinity community to undertake relatively small-scale projects that will conform to the College’s desire to reduce its carbon footprint and propel Trinity towards its goal of becoming a “green” campus.
The three projects were chosen from among five applications. One of the projects is already underway; the second will get going shortly; and the third will begin once the weather cooperates and warms up.
The fund is administered by the Trinity Sustainability Task Force, a committee of faculty, staff and students formed by Jones at the start of the 2007-2008 academic year.The grants can be used for labor, materials, and/or supplies.
The successful proposals had to meet the following criteria: A commitment to campus greening and environmental sustainability; the potential to achieve substantive “green” results; relevant work or volunteer experience; cost effective use of funds; and measurable benefits. The three grantees are required to present the results of their projects by late April to the Sustainability Task Force.
The project that began in February is the brainchild of Jacob Prosnit ’12, who worked with the information technology department to develop and launch an electronic ride board. It is already functioning and can be accessed through the Trinity portal at: http://internet2.trincoll.edu/RideBoard/default.aspx. Prosnit was awarded a $300 grant that is being used for marketing materials and gas card incentives.
In his proposal, Prosnit wrote, “Not only will students sharing rides allow for new acquaintances, easier accessibility and less cost for students (rather than a $40 Amtrak ticket) but it also shows Trinity’s commitment to environmental sustainability and ‘greener’ results. Hopefully, the Ride Board can be a lasting project that not only helps students but also promotes carpooling and more sustainable transportation.”
The second mini-grant went to Emily Quinton ’11, and Elisabeth Cianciola ’10, who are representing Green Campus. They were awarded $1,800 for a bag-sharing program to be utilized at two of Trinity’s dining facilities.
Currently, students use plastic bags at The Cave and The Bistro for take-out items. The trend at supermarkets and other stores nowadays is to eliminate plastic bags in favor of cloth, canvas, linen and other types of bags that are reusable.
In their proposal, Quinton and Cianciola wrote, “Plastic bags, for how little they are recycled or reused, take a lot of energy to produce from oil, a non-renewable resource, and then sit in landfills….Reusable bags are really the way to go because not only do they simply reduce waste as far as the number of bags used, they eliminate shipping costs and emissions.”
Under their program, canvas and linen bags will be made available on racks in The Cave and The Bistro. Students can either return the bags when they’re done or leave them in drop boxes in their residence halls. Plastic bags will not be eliminated but rather put in locations where students either will have to ask for them or where they are inconspicuous. The reusable bags and racks should be on campus sometime this month.
Colby Tucker ’09, and Maggie Thomas ’10, were awarded the third mini-grant in the amount of $1,250 to purchase and install two umbrella clotheslines on the Summit Quad, eight indoor drying racks in the Summit and High Rise laundry rooms, and to purchase carbon credits to offset one load of laundry per Trinity student. They hope to reduce energy usage and reduce Trinity’s carbon footprint by providing students with alternative ways of drying their clothes.
In applying for the mini-grant, Tucker and Thomas said they would post information in the laundry rooms of every residence hall on campus on the “current excessive energy use of our dryers in the context of energy conservation.” They went on to say, “not only is the goal of this endeavor to make Trinity College a greener place, but we also mean to change the lifelong habits of Trinity students.”
In addition, the clotheslines and drying racks will be beneficial in that they will lower the maintenance costs for the dryers, be more reliable and easier to fix than the dryers, and reduce the cost to students of doing their laundry. The clotheslines and drying racks will be available when the weather warms up.
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