In 2017, Emory honored seven individuals on campus who have played an integral role in helping take Emory’s sustainability initiatives to the next level. The Robert S. Hascall Sustainability Innovator Awards were selected through their affiliation with Emory as an employee, faculty member, student, sustainability representative and alum. Student Innovators Cassidy Schwartz and Olivia Morgan … Continue Reading →
On Monday, June 24th, 70+ medical organizations called the climate crisis “a health emergency” and put out a call for action for government, business, and civil society leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to recognize climate change as a health emergency and to work across government agencies and with communities and businesses to prioritize … Continue Reading →
This Spring semester, Emory students and staff engaged with the campus and community through events and activities that facilitate conversations and raise awareness about important sustainability-related topics.
The Office of Sustainability Initiatives and Procurement Services at Emory are excited to announce the next step toward the Emory Sustainability Vision goal: “All university events will be zero municipal landfill waste by 2020.”
By: Madi Mainman Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives The Emory Student Center, opening in May 2019, will be Emory’s most energy efficient building to date, incorporating sustainability features that Ben Perlman, Director of Student Operations and Events, calls “nothing short of revolutionary.” The building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI), which expresses energy use per square foot of … Continue Reading →
In their next meeting on June 19th, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners is voting on the resolution to phase out “single-use plastics” in all county-owned, -operated and -leased facilities. According to the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, the vast majority of plastics are not recycled, and much of it ends up in our waterways, including the Chattahoochee … Continue Reading →
Emory’s 2025 Sustainability Vision identified four main action arenas, including utilizing Emory’s landscape, buildings, and operations to model best practices. This past year, campus departments made important strides toward realizing Emory’s Sustainability Vision goals
WATER CONSERVATION AT THE EMORY UNIVERSITY CAMPUS IN ATLANTA, GA HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY BOLSTERED WITH A WATERHUB SYSTEM. Since 2015, the campus utilizes WaterHub, a water reclamation and reuse system that reduces Emory’s demand for potable water. Water use was 350 million gallons annually, which included operating five chiller plants and one steam plant. … Continue Reading →
Every year, Emory Recycles and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives hold a competition encouraging recycling efforts around campus. This contest, held throughout November, works to unite the actions of faculty, students and staff in order to demonstrate the largest comparative difference between buildings in recycling from the corresponding month of the previous year.
The Emory Student Center pulsed with music, lights and laughter, as the campus community came together Wednesday, Sept. 11, for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the innovative new space. Hundreds of students, faculty, staff and Emory Board of Trustees representatives — as well as members of the wider community — mingled about The Commons for an … Continue Reading →
By Kimber Williams | Emory Report | April 17, 2018 A public ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the grand opening of the PATH at Emory, a new bicycle and pedestrian trail that links Emory’s Clairmont Campus to Mason Mill Park and points beyond. The project, developed in partnership between Emory and the PATH Foundation, an … Continue Reading →
Energy Building Use 2015-2017
By: Jamie Lutz, Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives Emory students and staff have been growing food together for years through the Educational Gardens across campus, coordinated by the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. This past summer, Gardens Coordinator, Erik Edwards, introduced two new programs to engage a wider community with the campus gardens in new and … Continue Reading →
The Division of Animal Resources (DAR), headquartered in the Whitehead Biomedical Research Building, made strides in sustainability when they turned to recycling and composting laboratory materials and was recently recognized for its efforts.
Emory students participating in the “Don’t Dump It — Donate It” recycling program as they moved out of residence halls last month turned their used books, clothing, furniture and housewares into support for a local charitable non-profit, re:loom.
By Kristen Kaufman | May 27, 2018 On April 18th, members of the Clifton Corridor community convened at Emory Point to celebrate Earth Month with a recycling event. Earth Month Recycling Day at Emory Point is a daylong event that invites the public to dispose of unwanted household items, providing a chance for local community … Continue Reading →
EcoChemory: a Sustainability Project in the Department of Chemistry EcoChemory was created by Dr. Kevin Sullivan (Hill Lab, Dept. of Chemistry), Elena Jordanov (Saikawa Lab, Dept. of Environmental Health), and Rachel Bender (Heemstra Lab, Dept. of Chemistry). The overall goal of EcoChemory is to incorporate the culture of sustainability into chemistry labs. We aim to … Continue Reading →
By: Claire Dakhlia Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives As volunteers harvested greens, herbs and eggplant at a workday at the Cox Hall Educational Garden, a young boy and his dad walking by stopped to take a look at the garden. Within seconds, frequent volunteer Jamie Nadler (19C) invited them to tour the garden and gave the … Continue Reading →
By Taylor Spicer | Emory Report | Dec. 4, 2019 In fall 2018, Emory students, faculty and staff were involved in the midterm elections at higher rates than ever before: they registered to vote at campus events, submitted absentee ballots, boarded Emory Votes Cliff Shuttles and were walked by volunteers to nearby polls. These efforts … Continue Reading →
By Kristen Kaufman | May 30, 2018 On Friday, May 18th, Clifton community members arrived via bike to Emory Point, where they celebrated and learned about the benefits of biking. May is National Bike Month, and this event was part of the League of American Bicyclists’s National Bike to Work Week of National Bike Month. … Continue Reading →
As traffic spun past on North Decatur Road, members of the campus and neighboring communities gathered outside Emory’s Performing Arts Studio on Friday, Sept. 27, to celebrate the completion of two new sections of a multi-use trail system that expands safe, off-road options for cyclists and pedestrians. Created in partnership between Emory University and Atlanta’s … Continue Reading →
A year after its launch, Emory’s 2018 Waste Management Policy has already led to a measurable increase in the amount of campus waste that is diverted from area landfills. Emory seeks to divert 95 percent of campus waste from municipal landfills by 2025 through standardization of all indoor and outdoor waste bins, removal of desk-side waste service, … Continue Reading →
By: Katelyn Boisvert Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives With the introduction of Emory’s new Waste Policy in January of this year, Emory Dining plays a very important role in helping the University achieve its goal to divert 95% of all waste from landfills by 2025. Emory Dining has recently implemented a number of waste reduction … Continue Reading →
Emory Report | Feb. 26, 2018 Emory University has once again received a Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its leadership and innovation in university sustainability. With this Gold rating, awarded through AASHE’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), Emory maintains its status since … Continue Reading →
Emory University’s efforts surrounding recycling and sustainability continue to earn notice. The latest recognition is from the Georgia Recycling Coalition (GRC), which gave Emory its Spirit of Green Award for 2019 Outstanding Institutional Recycling Program. This award is given to Georgia colleges, universities, military installations or other institutional campus or industrial entities at the GRC’s … Continue Reading →
The Emory Farmers Market has been a staple of the community since 2008 when it opened on the campus with its original seven vendors. The market was envisioned as part of Emory’s Sustainable Food Initiative, bringing the Emory community the opportunity to build relationships with farmers and producers who grow and make their food.
Woodruff Health Sciences Center | May 25, 2018 Emory Healthcare is partnering with Sharecare to create the Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub. Sharecare’s extensive network will be paired with Emory Healthcare’s professional expertise to place patients at the center of attention. The Emory Healthcare Innovation Hub will primarily allow patients’ needs to be identified and tested in one place, making healthcare more … Continue Reading →
ATLANTA, GA – Emory Healthcare celebrated today the groundbreaking of the new Emory Musculoskeletal Institute, located in Brookhaven, Georgia, to continue its commitment to develop innovative treatments and provide solutions for health care challenges facing the local communities. As the newest addition to Emory’s Executive Park health innovation district, the approximately 180,000-square-foot, LEED-certified building will … Continue Reading →
Emory University has been recognized by the City of Atlanta for its commitment to energy and water conservation through the 2016-2017 Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge.
From Climate@Emory | July 31, 2018 To help accelerate the smart growth of solar in Georgia, representatives from Emory Law School’s Turner Environmental Law Clinic, Georgia Institute of Technology’s Strategic Energy Institute, and the University of Georgia have published the Georgia Model Solar Zoning Ordinance and accompanying explanatory guide. The ordinance strikes an important balance … Continue Reading →
Photo: Kay Hinton Article By Nedra Rhone, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution The whims of Mother Nature have weighed heavily on Georgia farmers in recent years, but weather isn’t the only challenge they face. Developers have increasingly encroached on farmland, leaving farms vulnerable to the highest bidder and gradually reducing the amount of prime agricultural land in the … Continue Reading →
Emory School of Medicine pediatrics faculty member Dr. Rebecca Pass Philipsborn co-authored a new paper released today that provides evidence that “climate change threatens to reverse the gains in global child health and the reductions in global child mortality made over the past 25 years . . . With implications for all of humanity, climate … Continue Reading →
The 2016 Sustainable Campus Index, a publication of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), highlights top-performing colleges and universities in 17 areas and overall by institution type, as measured by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).
An Emory University collaboration with members of Atlanta’s Westside community, to test urban soil for contaminants, has led to a site investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The ongoing community collaboration is funded by Emory’s HERCULES Exposome Research Center, dedicated to understanding how environmental exposures affect health and community well-being. The EPA told the … Continue Reading →
A class of Emory College students invites the entire Emory community to come out Friday to learn about sustainable food practices — and sample some tasty treats — at the 12th annual Sustainable Food Fair.
A new technology employed by Emory University to move toward a more efficient and sustainable electrical system has arrived on campus: Cogeneration or Combined Heat and Power (CHP), which will produce one megawatt of clean power for the campus.
From The Emory Report, Woodruff Health Sciences Center | Apr. 10, 2019 ATLANTA – The Emory University Hospital Tower has been awarded LEED Silver certification(Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first Emory Healthcare building to be LEED certified at Emory. Known as the most widely used green … Continue Reading →
Emory University’s sustainability initiatives illustrate the University’s long-standing commitment to sound environmental policies. Built around development of a model for healthy living on campus that translates to communities around the globe, Emory’s initiatives set an example for an ethical approach to creating a healthy and productive place to live, learn and work.
The International District Energy Association (IDEA) has recognized Emory University with the 2018 IDEA Innovation Award for the WaterHub, made possible by a collaboration with IDEA member Sustainable Water. You can read more about about the award and the association here.
Emory University ranked fifth nationwide in a “Campus Score” to measure the “urbanism, greenness and on-campus living” of 103 research-intensive universities in the US. Emory ranked first for the most greenspace of the campuses surveyed.
As a part of the Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan, Emory has committed to reducing energy use per square foot by 50 percent by 2025 and total energy use by 25 percent.
By Claire Dakhlia | June 29, 2018 The importance of agriculture is emphasized all over Emory, whether in the Educational Gardens on the Druid Hills campus or at the Oxford Organic Farm on Emory’s Oxford campus. Students, faculty and staff have been involved in these initiatives on campus, but until recently, similar initiatives did not … Continue Reading →
From https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/food-pros-learn-how-to-make-breakfast-meat-free-and-tasty By Beth Galvin ATLANTA – Emory University Hospital Executive Chef Mike Bacha is working quickly, knowing he will soon have a crowd lining up for breakfast. “We’re feeding about 100 people today,” Bacha says. Breakfast in the South usually means eggs, sausage, bacon and grits. But the Humane Society of the United States is teaching … Continue Reading →
From Emory News Center – read original article here. Joe Reynolds wasn’t born into a farming family. But that didn’t stop him from finding his way to a life deeply rooted in the rusty Georgia soil. For the past 12 years, Reynolds and his partner, Judith Winfrey, have been raising organic crops on leased land … Continue Reading →
By Austin Lai, Yuhgene Liu and Miranda Mitchell Any farmer, gardener or sustainability-minded citizen who composts organic matter might notice that their compost pile generates a substantial amount of heat over the course of a few weeks to months. However, the concept of capitalizing on the thermal energy generated from these compost piles to produce electricity … Continue Reading →
Scientists, researchers and environmental experts from across the state convened at Emory last week to draft the “Georgia Climate Research Roadmap” — a set of targeted research questions that could help Georgia better understand and address one of the century’s defining challenges.
By Leslie King | July 31, 2018 Emory Transportation and Parking Services offers a Commute Alternatives Program (CAP) that saves employees money and links to the state’s Georgia Commute Options program for even more financial incentives to give up driving solo to work. “Whether you carpool, vanpool, take public transit or one of our Emory … Continue Reading →
Nathan Lindsey and Jennifer Hirsch from Georgia Tech: As part of RCE Greater Altanta, the RCE Youth Network is in full swing and recently held a back-to-school event at the Atlanta Beltline. Read an account of that event by Nathan Lindsey, Graduate Student, Emory University. Back to School Event at the Beltline The Back to School Event was the … Continue Reading →
Everyday choices by students, faculty and staff are key to reaching Emory’s goal of diverting 95 percent of waste from landfills by 2025. The impact of those individual efforts is highlighted each year with the November Recycling Competition, which kicks off Friday. The competition, held by Emory Recycles and the Office of Sustainability, encourages faculty, … Continue Reading →
By: Madi Mainman Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives Laura Hunt, the Program Coordinator for the department of Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures (REALC), and Terez Whatley, the Academic Department Administrator for German Studies, have teamed up to enhance sustainability in their offices at Emory’s Modern Languages Building. Whatley serves as the Sustainability chair for … Continue Reading →
Emory senior Rebecca Park looked across a sprawling field of shallow plastic trays carpeting a flat, open-air swath of rooftop on the Math and Science Center and saw real estate ripe for rebirth.
By Nedra Rhone, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution From https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/green-school-buildings-put-metro-atlanta-design-spotlight/KWGNtVKVZE1dIWK8N1o2YK/ When Scott Starowicz was in elementary school, things like iPads and iPhones didn’t exist. “I had to go outside. We are bringing that back,” said Starowicz, CFO of the SAE School in Mableton, a year-round project-based learning school founded in 2011. SAE students spend more time outdoors … Continue Reading →
By: Neha Pathak, MD | Sept. 11, 2019 If the global healthcare sector were a country, it would be the fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet, a new international report shows. This is one of the major findings from the 48-page report by the nongovernmental organization Health Care Without Harm in collaboration with technical advisor … Continue Reading →
During the 2016 fiscal year, Emory successfully diverted 55 percent of waste materials from the landfill. With an almost 5 percent increase from 2015, the University is making progress toward achieving the goal of 95 percent diversion by 2025.
In the summer of 2016, the Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) announced the recipients of its inaugural Green Offices at Emory and Green Labs at Emory Incentives Fund programs, created to encourage students, faculty, and staff to contribute innovative ideas for achieving the goals outlined in Emory’s 2025 Sustainability Vision.
Office of Sustainability Initiatives | July 24, 2018 As synthetic chemists, much of the Jui Research Group’s time is spent gently removing solvent from samples by evaporation using a device called a rotary evaporator—or rotovap, for short. Currently, their lab is set up with seven rotovaps. This means their lab uses a total of about … Continue Reading →
Emory Campus Services – Emory Recycles and the Office of Sustainability Initiatives are hosting monthly meetings to answer questions about the University’s new.
Transportation and Parking Services recently announced the installation of a new EV charging station located on Oxford Road, directly outside of the Barnes and Noble on Emory’s main campus. Now the fourth EV charger on main campus, this station is equipped with two ports and offers fast charging capabilities. The charger—known as a CPE250 … Continue Reading →
Emory is currently using MERV 13 High capacity Bag filters on several of the larger lab buildings, including Atwood Chemistry Building. There are 3 advantages to these new filters. Saves fan energy through a lower pressure drop; it’s small at 59234 KW/yr. Saves labor, as they last 1.5 yrs. Reducing about 4 trips by the … Continue Reading →
When Emory crafted its current Sustainability Vision, one of the University’s most transformative — and ambitious — goals was a commitment to divert 95 percent of campus waste from municipal landfills by 2025, effectively a zero-waste policy.
Throughout November, Emory buildings will compete to increase landfill waste diversion weights during this November compared to the previous November. Occupants of the winning building will receive $3,000 to spend on an innovative project aimed at increasing landfill diversion in the building.
December 12, 2019 By: Franzene Minott Published Originally in Georgia Social Impact In 2015, Emory solidified its position as a sustainability pioneer after their Strategic Vision outlined the ambitious goal that 75% of food served in the university—and 25% in the hospitals—would be locally or sustainably sourced by 2025. Reaching this target would require an ambitious and innovative … Continue Reading →
Plans to develop a new bicycle/pedestrian trail that would link Emory’s Clairmont Campus to Mason Mill Park — and points beyond — are rolling forward, according to the PATH Foundation, an Atlanta nonprofit dedicated to developing public greenway trails.
By Ramsey Baden | July 29, 2018 Discovery is part of the fabric of chemistry at Emory, and Dr. Simon Blakey’s lab pushes for discovery every day. Some of his team’s most innovative practices are rooted in sustainability. In Blakey’s words, his lab practices “sustainability on a molecular level.” Blakey’s lab seeks to create methods that reduce the … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | August 27th, 2018 The Emory Dance & Movement Studies Program places great value on our relationship with our surroundings. In the words of Director Lori Teague, “the fundamentals of dance are body, energy, space, and time.” It is fitting, then, that Emory Dance’s office is a Gold-certified Green Office. The office takes a number of … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | August 26, 2018 Emory’s Department of Biology is one of the most active in the country for a reason – there will always be questions waiting to be answered in the life sciences! The Hickman Lab is a biology lab that focuses on fungi: how they reproduce and how they respond … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | July 22, 2018 On the fourth floor of the Modern Languages Building at Emory, the Institute of Quantitative Theory & Methods has been innovating for six years in the field of data science. The office’s goal is to collaborate with everyone to bring data science skills into every field, from the natural sciences … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | July 8, 2018 In the Center for Drug Discovery at Emory, Dr. Baek Kim and his team are working hard to uncover and fight weaknesses in HIV and flu viruses. In the world of molecular research, plenty of plastic is used once and discarded without any possibility for recycling. Thankfully, Green Labs like Dr. … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | July 15, 2018 At the Emory School of Medicine, Dr. Shonna McBride and her team of researchers are hard at work learning how the pathogen Clostridium difficile survives in mammalian intestines and spreads to infect others. C. difficile is a pathogen that causes diarrhea, nausea, and fever. According to Dr. McBride, “you definitely want to make sure … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | August 19, 2018 The Morran Lab is an Emory Biology lab that studies coevolution (which accounts for much of the evolution that occurs in nature) and mating systems (which account for the distribution of genetic variation). To do this, it looks at worms like the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. As a certified Green Lab, … Continue Reading →
By Ramsey Baden | August 12, 2018 The Steinhauer Lab is a microbiology and immunology lab at Emory, and it is on the front lines against influenza. Their study of the structure and functions of the virus HA (hemagglutinin glycoprotein) is directly related to the development of vaccines. Sustainability was already practiced at the Steinhauer Lab when they … Continue Reading →
The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) has officially acknowledged a new regional sustainability network, RCE Greater Atlanta. RCEs are Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development. The designation makes Atlanta one of only six Regional Centres of Expertise in the U.S.
As a nationally recognized leader in scientific education and research, Emory University has hundreds of teaching and research labs throughout its campuses. Beginning in the Summer of 2019, labs will now be included in Emory’s mission towards 95% landfill waste diversion. Launching in the Rollins School of Public Health in May 2019, Emory’s Laboratory Landfill … Continue Reading →
Todd Doyle | July 18, 2018 Author’s note: This is a follow up to http://news.emory.edu/stories/2016/09/er_duc_interim_dining_facility/campus.html. Opening in summer of 2017, the DUC-ling staff has served a year’s worth of meals to members of the Emory community. The interim dining hall project enters its second and final academic term with Emory, as construction of the CLC … Continue Reading →
By Ayla Ekici At the end of the academic year, Emory’s thousands of student-residents moved out of the residence halls, requiring them to make choices about what to keep and what to discard and how. Housing, ResLife, Building and Residential Services and the Office of Sustainability once again teamed up for the “Don’t Dump It, … Continue Reading →
From educational gardens to research labs, projects funded by the latest round of grants from Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) hope to support pollinators, improve energy use and reduce waste across the University.
By: Kryn Dykema Intern, Office of Sustainability Initiatives From creating fun events to motivate students to take MARTA to piloting reusable metal needles in a Chemistry lab, projects funded by the latest round of grants from Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) support research, campus-based projects, and the development of new rituals to promote sustainability and social … Continue Reading →
By Rachel Musetti, Emory Report, 12/3/19 Every year, Emory’s campus is enlivened with new ideas proposed and executed by students, faculty and staff seeking creative ways to participate in sustainability initiatives. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives’ annual incentives funds programs seek new knowledge, support new behavior patterns and foster cultural change toward social justice and … Continue Reading →
By Kimber Williams | Emory ReportEmory kicked off Earth Day weekend Friday with a ceremony to mark the grand opening of the PATH at Emory, a new bicycle and pedestrian trail that will eventually link Emory’s Clairmont Campus to a scenic, off-road trail system that stretches to North Druid Hills Road. Developed through a … Continue Reading →
Theater Emory presents several productions each year and with every new program, old scenery materials are replaced by new pieces for current performances. Instead of dumping previous set pieces into a landfill, Theater Emory has found innovative and creative ways to divert about 95% of its waste.
By: Mary Caldwell for the AJC Part of a nurse’s job is to learn about issues that can affect patients’ health, and the importance of climate change has gained increased attention in recent years. With 18 of the 19 warmest years on record occurring since 2001, according to the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, … Continue Reading →
More than 40 species of elm are native to the Netherlands, the birthplace of Emory President Claire E. Sterk. As part of Sterk’s formal inauguration program Wednesday, she planted the Ulmus Americana, or American elm, on the Quad.
By Kimber Williams | Emory Report | Jan. 10, 2019 The final section of the South Peachtree Creek Trail opened in October, linking Emory’s Clairmont Campus with Medlock Park, Mason Mill Park and nearby neighborhoods. This spring, Emory will begin constructing two new bicycle-pedestrian pathways that will help connect this system to the heart of … Continue Reading →
By Nathan Lindsey | June 20, 2018 On Friday, Jun. 8, I had the privilege of attending the Regional Center for Expertise (RCE) Quarterly Meeting, in downtown Atlanta, at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) office. At the meeting, professionals from higher education (Emory, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Georgia State, Spelman, Agnes Scott, University of … Continue Reading →
For the third year, a group of Emory students coordinated the Emory Sustainability Case Competition, which asks student teams to come up with an innovative and practical solution to a real-world energy issue for the United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise (UN RCE) Greater Atlanta on Education for Sustainable Development and the City of Atlanta.
Nestled in the acreage behind Emory University Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital (EUOSH), this small yet mighty garden provides an amazing bounty of organic, sustainably raised produce used in the preparation of patient meals.
The Office of Sustainability Initiatives (OSI) invited Emory students, faculty and staff to submit a two-minute video that creatively and effectively educated about the importance of landfill waste diversion, including the social and environmental impacts of landfills.
By Monica Lefton Apr 04, 2018 Each American produced an average of 30 pounds of trash per week in 2014, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Applying that statistic to the undergraduate population at Emory, students would theoretically produce a whopping total of 237,480 pounds of trash per week. Hopefully we don’t produce quite that much … Continue Reading →
