Susie Choi, co-program coordinator for the Green Events Consulting team at Stanford University (CA), is featured in this installment of the AASHE Bulletin Sustainability Student Diary series. She shares why and how the team began working to green campus events, with a peek at their efforts to green the Stanford Association for International Development annual conference. AASHE welcomes questions and invites feedback on each Sustainability Student Diary entry. Submit diary entries of your own for consideration to bulletin@aashe.org.

Green Events Consulting (GEC) is a student initiative that was established in fall of 2010 under the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU), Stanford University’s student government. GEC’s goal is to promote sustainability on campus by helping student groups make their events as “green” as possible, focusing on the four major event-planning areas: advertising, food, purchasing and waste disposal.

We carry out our mission by assigning consultants, students we have recruited and trained for this position, to student groups participating in our program; these consultants take student groups step-by-step through the event-planning process so that they will make sustainable decisions and purchases. By advising these groups, we hope not only that their specific events will become cleaner, but also that the students themselves will learn about and understand the importance of sustainability.

GEC came about because we realized that although students are interested in hosting green events, they are unaware of the resources present on campus, the thought of implementing a more sustainable event is daunting, and they do not know where or how to start. We created our program to help students overcome these problems that we identified. GEC wants to serve the Stanford community and help students implement their ideal event, and we offer ourselves as an educational resource.

Student groups that are participating in our program include: Dance Marathon, Stanford Association for International Development, Alternative Spring Break, Relay for Life, Sigma Gamma Rho, Stanford Alpine Project, and Stanford Educational Studies Program.

We recently worked with the Stanford Association for International Development (SAID) to green its annual conference, which was on the topic of innovation in bottom-up development. There were approximately 300 attendees, and the conference was a half-day event. As mentioned earlier, we focus mainly on making the advertising, food, purchasing and waste disposal aspects of an event as sustainable as possible; in order to do so, we worked with SAID’s leadership team for the month and a half leading up to the event date.

Our work mostly involved gathering details about the event, learning what decisions if any had already been made by the team, and then pinpointing areas that could be improved. Some areas of focus included: purchasing compostable rather than disposable utensils, implementing composting at the event and purchasing organic food from local caterers. We also encouraged e-fliering and use of media outlets (e.g. Facebook and the student group’s website) as alternatives to paper fliering.

In order to come up with specific recommendations based on these general ideas, the consultants working on the SAID project conducted research and then found various options of compostable materials and caterers, as well as their prices and the cost differences between the sustainable and non-sustainable alternatives. With this data, the consultants then went back and forth with SAID’s leadership team to determine what options would be best for the event and to settle on the amount of food or the number of plates, for example, that SAID would purchase.

The bulk of GEC’s role involved pinpointing areas of the event to improve, conducting research to find sustainable alternatives, communicating with the student group regarding those alternatives and their implications, and then finalizing recommendations for the event based on what was agreed upon between SAID and GEC. The consultants also attended the event to ensure that all recommendations were implemented, to monitor waste stations and educate event attendees about the conference’s green status. The consultants also made note of any changes that could be made to next year’s event.

This account of GEC’s experience with SAID offers a glimpse into the program’s consulting process and how it assists student groups. We look forward to continuing to make a positive impact on our campus by helping other student groups on their path towards sustainability.

AASHE Note: For a comprehensive look at the team's green approaches to event planning, check out its 2011 Executive Summary Handbook of sustainable event recommendations for student groups. This guide brings additional student perspectives to Stanford’s official green event guidelines published by the Office of Sustainability in early 2010, Greening Events at Stanford: A Practice Guide for Sustainable Campus Events.

Below is the final installment of a four-blog mini-series, reposted from the Sustainability Education blog of Living Routes Director Daniel Greenberg.

While air travel certainly accounts for the lion’s share of environmental impacts associated with education abroad, if you’ve ever been to a study abroad fair you know there’s more to the story. In my last three blog posts I shared about how to green the field of study abroad in the following areas:

1. Program Design and Management
2. Student Learning
3. Staff Training and Office Management

To conclude this mini blog series, I will address the question of how study abroad organizations can minimize resource use and waste during promotion of their programs, using Living Routes, the nonprofit I direct, as a case study. As before, these recommendations stem from my work with The Forum on Education Abroad‘s Subcommittee on Sustainability Standards and our revisions to their Standards of Good Practice and Code of Ethics documents. We came up with three broad suggestions and lots of embedded ideas.

1. Direct students to websites whenever possible and create/use promotional brochures and giveaway items that are “resource-light” and made from recycled and/or compostable materials.

I find it sad when students leave study abroad fairs laden with reams of program materials and pockets bulging with plastic schwag, most of which will end up in the trash before the week is over. While offering boxes at the exits for students to deposit materials for re-use and recycling is helpful, the best strategy is to reduce these materials at the source. Most students research their options online anyway, so all they really need to walk away with is a bunch of URLs. Also, if your office or organization does not yet have a Facebook Page, it’s time to consider creating one.

At Living Routes, we’ve pared our marketing materials down to a tri-fold brochure and half-sheets on each of our programs. But I’m most proud of our “Sustainable Schwag.” Since, 2007, we’ve been working with Upasana Design Studio in Auroville, an international “ecovillage” in South India where Living Routes runs semester and January programs. After the tsunami in 2004, members of Upasana worked with village women to develop the Tsunamika doll, which is hand-made from scrap fabric and is a symbol of hope and resilience. We attach a small card (100 percent recycled, of course) with basic information about the dolls and Living Routes programs and have given thousands away at fairs and events. People love them because they’re so beautiful and unique and we love supporting this great organization doing really valuable village development work.

2. Practice sustainable event management.

Study abroad fairs, conferences, even information sessions can all benefit from considering their environmental impacts. A few good resources to get you started include Yale’s Office of Sustainability’s Sustainable Event Guidelines and Sustainable Communities' downloadable brochure on How to Plan a Sustainable Event. Here’s a few ideas from these resources:

• Choose a site that people can walk, bike or take a bus to.
• Work with suppliers that are committed to sustainable practices.
• Hold the event during the day to utilize natural lighting.
• Promote the event electronically and offer online registration.
• Create name tags and signage that are re-usable.
• Use local foods, provide vegan/vegetarian options, and compost organic waste.
• Educate participants and vendors about the event’s sustainability practices.

3. Seek ways to minimize the environmental impacts of staff travel.

While it is unreasonable to expect education abroad professionals not to travel, we should always be careful to minimize non-essential travel and to combine trips whenever possible. Consider virtual meetings via teleconferences, Skype, and webinars, especially in lieu of long-haul flights. And when you do travel, measure your carbon footprint and consider purchasing carbon offsets to address these impacts. While there are dozens of carbon calculators to choose from, for air travel, I recommend the ICAO’s recently released Carbon Emissions Calculator. I will address carbon offsetting in a future post, but there are many options for offsetting carbon emissions if you choose to go this route. I also found some good ideas in Taiga Company’s blog post on green travel.

In addition to being Skype addicts and using webinars to offer virtual information, orientation, and re-entry sessions about our programs, Living Routes has pioneered the practice of virtual tabling at study abroad fairs. I will offer a how-to guide in a later post, but the basic idea is to set up a computer through which students can videoconference with staff members in our office in Amherst, MA. It does have a habit of freaking out some students (Agh! You can see me?!), but we have found it to be a fun way to connect with potential students, reduce our environmental impacts, and save time and money to boot!

I hope you have enjoyed this blog series about sustainability in study abroad and have found some of these ideas useful. I’m always interested in further developing this topic so please add your ideas, suggestions and questions in the comments. Thanks!

In community,
- Daniel

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Mother Nature delivers a HUGE one-two punch to Japan: 8.9-magnitude earthquake followed by massive tsunami…50 countries on high alert.

I just bought the last one…the iPad 2 is here!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Supreme Court Justice! Antonin Scalia turns 75!

Ladies, want to avoid a stroke? Drink your coffee.

And, are Gallagher’s watermelon smashing days over?

The War In Afghanistan, remember that?

The New York Times has an article on how the US strategy has shifted.

There has been a concerted attempt to move away from the conventional style of warfare, occupying/securing major cities, key valleys, and roads, to fanning out across the  sparse county.

“Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the United States military has settled into a campaign for scattered villages and bits of terrain that few people beyond their immediate environs have heard of.”

The fighting is slow, with soldiers moving from village to village in an attempt to root out Taliban insurgents.

“Officially, Mr. Obama’s Afghan buildup shows signs of success, demonstrating both American military capabilities and the revival of a campaign that had been neglected for years. But in the rank and file, there has been little triumphalism as the administration’s plan has crested.

With the spring thaw approaching, officers and enlisted troops alike say they anticipate another bloody year. And as so-called surge units complete their tours, to be replaced by fresh battalions, many soldiers, now seasoned with Afghan experience, express doubts about the prospects of the larger campaign.”

There is little certainty whether or not the strategy is working, but what does seem to be sure is that as time drags on the forces on the ground are losing patience and faith in the War.