Jamie Howell
   Staff Writer

Sustainability efforts at UNC-Greensboro benefitted this past week as the campus’s first ever Green Fund Committee held its inaugural meeting.

The meeting, which included a mix of 13 students, faculty and staff members, discussed procedural issues that the committee would need to resolve  before reviewing project proposals.

The committee includes three At-Large members, the Executive Council of the university’s Sustainability Council, a Student-Government Association representative, a Graduate Student Association representative and a representative from the environmental club, UNCGreen.

The Green Fund Committee comes as part of a longer string of measures, including the Green Fund as well as the Climate Action Plan, to expand sustainability programs on campus.

Trey McDonald, UNCG’s Sustainability Coordinator noted the university’s definition of sustainability: “Academics, operations, and outreach… conducted with careful attention to the enduring interconnectedness of social equity, the environment, the economy, and aesthetics.”

McDonald says that UNCG’s definition is different from most campuses in that it includes aesthetics.

He says that this is important because it brings people, such as people from the art department, into the effort who might not normally be involved. McDonald says that the aesthetic aspect of UNCG’s sustainability program helps “give the school its own identity.”

McDonald hopes that growing the UNCG Sustainability program will make the university a leader in environmental protection. One of the ways this is being accomplished is through the Green Fund.

According to Gray Williams, former Chair of UNCGreen, this semester full-time students will be charged $2.22 as a part of their fees, and the green fund committee will oversee that money.

Williams wrote in an email to The Carolinian that any money coming out of the Green Fund must be spent on sustainability on campus.

“I just hope the money can be spent on something that makes a difference,” Williams wrote. He continued, saying that he hopes “it will be managed by talented people who really care about the environment.”

According to the UNCGreen website, the money will be used to provide grants for student projects as well as funding and development for other sustainability projects around campus.

Chad Carwein, sustainability education and outreach specialist for the Office of Sustainability, explained that the Green Fund gives students real world experiences, which set them apart from the rest.

He also says that it gives students a chance to make things happen outside of the classroom.

“It’s about galvanizing students around sustainability issues,” McDonald said.

He says that he hopes the Green Fund will change attitudes about environmental issues.

“I can’t wait to see what it does to the culture,” McDonald said.

He hopes that students will take what they’ve done and learned and apply it to the real world to create a culture aware of the importance of environmental care.

The Climate Action Plan is another way that UNCG has expanded its sustainability efforts.

According to UNCG’s Office of Sustainability website, the Climate Action Plan was developed in response to former chancellor Brady signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

The website says that the Climate Action Plan will help the university achieve climate neutrality.

The UNC System pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050.

According to McDonald, they’ve had to start with smaller projects simply because of budgeting issues but they are making progress.

Carwein says that over the summer they installed a cistern which collects rainwater to be used on campus instead of wasted.

McDonald also says that the Climate Action Plan helped to build and bring attention to programs which already existed such as the Vampire Energy Slayers, which helps educate staff and faculty about how to avoid wasting energy.

Carwein says that the Climate Action Plan helped them to expand programs involving materials management as well, for example the green purchasing initiative which encourages and teaches people how to buy environmentally-friendly products.

Carwein says that community outreach is an important aspect of their sustainability efforts.

One very popular program on campus is the sustainability discussion and film series, held at the Weatherspoon art museum.

McDonald adds that he has worked with Dr. Aaron Allen, the head of UNCG’s Environmental Studies department to create courses such as Introduction to Sustainability Studies and Introduction to Environmental Studies.

McDonald also says that Dr. Allen holds workshops for professors, teaching them how to incorporate sustainability into their classes.

McDonald said that in the early 1990s, students started calling for recycling on campus and they worked with the head of the grounds department at the time, Chris Fay, to establish a program.

Eventually, the program grew enough that UNCG needed a permanent person in charge of recycling on campus, and it continued to grow until they needed a position for educational outreach.

Carwein said that they call recycling “the gateway drug to sustainability.” According to McDonald, 2006 saw the creation of the Sustainability Committee, made up entirely of volunteers and spearheaded by Dr. Anna Baker and Dr. Sarah Dorsey.

“It was a huge group of people,” McDonald said. “But it began to fade after about a year.”

He says that in 2011, the Sustainability Council was created to advise the chancellor on sustainability issues.

According to McDonald, in January 201,2 the position of Academic Sustainability Coordinator was given to Dr. Aaron Allen, who is now the head of the Environmental Studies program.

Dr. Marianne Legreco, the associate professor of communication studies, replaced Dr. Allen this academic year as Academic Sustainability Coordinator.

The Academic Sustainability Coordinator’s job includes a wide range of tasks.

The role includes many tasks, including “administrative and service activities, community outreach and collaboration, cooperative initiatives with staff and administration, faculty development, scholarly and creative activity, student-centered programming, and teaching and curricular activity.”

UNCGreen proposed the new student Green Fee to the Student Fee Committee in 2014, receiving confirmation in 2015 that the fee would be enacted at $2.22 per student per semester beginning in the 2015-16 academic year.

The Green Fund Committee will begin accepting project proposals in the coming weeks.