Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.06
Liaison Allie Schwartz
Submission Date April 14, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Columbia University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Allie Schwartz
Assistant Director, Planning and Outreach
Environmental Stewardship, Columbia University Facilities and Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign directed at students within the previous three years that has yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign directed at employees within the previous three years that has yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

The name of the campaign (1st campaign):
Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN)

A brief description of the campaign (1st campaign):

Columbia participated in CCN in 2013 and 2014, and has registered again for the 2015 competition. Campus Conservation Nationals is a nationwide resource use reduction competition that challenges college and university campuses to achieve the greatest electricity and water use reductions during a 3-week period. The Campus Conservation Nationals utilizes Lucid Design Group's Building Dashboard® to track progress.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (1st campaign):

CCN's goals are to:
1. Engage, educate, motivate, and empower students to conserve resources in their residences
2. Achieve measurable reductions in electricity and water use in the residences, and prevent the associated carbon dioxide emissions
3. Save money on utility bills
4. Foster a culture of conservation within campus communities
5. Participate in a program that enables students to teach themselves conservation behaviors that they can employ in the home and workplace in the future
6. Enable students to develop leadership and community organizing skills

Additionally, in 2014 Columbia University won the Campus Conservation Nationals poster challenge.


The website URL where information about the campaign is available (1st campaign):
The name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
Green Monday

A brief description of the campaign (2nd campaign):

Green Monday is a global sustainability initiative that is designed to promote green lifestyle choices. At Columbia, Green Monday focuses on four themes: recycling, food and nutrition, paper waste reduction, and energy conservation. Weekly tips and challenges for our undergraduate residential community make it easy and fun to incorporate environmentally-friendly habits into your daily routine.


A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):

To date, over 500 students have taken the Green Monday pledge. The initiative has helped to reduce paper printing around campus by about 25 pounds since the initial launch of Green Monday. Additionally, the EcoReps collected over 500 pounds in food waste by conducting plate scrapings on two different days in the dining halls


The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):
A brief description of other outreach campaigns, including measured positive impacts:

The Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia University Facilities and Operations teams volunteered to roll out a one year pilot project targeted at reducing paper consumption, directly from the source. The two pilot groups are working to develop innovative technological, policy-driven and behavior-oriented solutions for paper reduction. The goal of this initiative is to identify and implement strategies to reduce paper entering the waste-stream. The initiative will explore ways in which we can reduce consumption thus reducing paper entering the waste-stream.


Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Columbia has also rolled out Cool Columbia, which is a campaign and case study, aimed at creating a culture of conservation at the University. Residents who participate in this program are provided with tools and tips to help them reduce their energy consumption, thus reducing their environmental impact at the University.


Columbia has also rolled out Cool Columbia, which is a campaign and case study, aimed at creating a culture of conservation at the University. Residents who participate in this program are provided with tools and tips to help them reduce their energy consumption, thus reducing their environmental impact at the University.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.