By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office What is the role of the university in addressing the climate crisis? How can academics engage proactively in environmental and social justice work? How can we transform our institutions to meet this political moment with the urgency it demands? In her upcoming Global Change & Sustainability Center talk, “Interdisciplinarity, Intersectionality […]
All Articles
GCSC Seminar: Reframing the Story of Environmentalism to Highlight Inequality, Justice
Growing food and community in a pandemic
By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office Originally published in @theU Breakfast or textbooks? Dinner or rent? Even before COVID-19, food insecurity was rife on college campuses across America, leaving students with difficult choices to make. As the cost of living rises and college tuition plunges a generation of young people into debt, some students are opting to […]
GCSC SEMINAR: DISASTER RESILIENCE IN AN UNJUST WORLD
By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office As climate-induced wildfires rage across the West and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten our communities, many of us have disaster on the mind. How will we respond when disaster strikes close to home? How will we recover? How can we build our communities to be resilient in the face […]
Sustainability Office hiring student employees
By the Sustainability Office Work on campus to help make the U more sustainable! Help the Sustainability Office in its mission to integrate sustainability—the integrated pursuit of social equity, environmental integrity and economic security—across campus departments and operations. All undergraduate positions are 10 hours per week and pay $10 per hour. Open to U students […]
Sustainability Office Cancels 2020 U Farmers Market
By the Sustainability Office The Sustainability Office has come to the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 U Farmers Market. We felt it wasn’t possible to move forward safely, and the health of our community must be a top priority. We value the community space created by the U Farmers Market, and we hope it […]
Sustainability team boosts access to air quality education
By Meghan Burrows and Ayrel Clark-Proffitt, Sustainability Office The Sustainability Office created a suite of initiatives this past year aimed at one of our valley’s most significant problems: air pollution. The Sustainability Education team developed several pathways to enhance interdisciplinary air quality education at the University of Utah. Those pathways include efforts to identify and […]
Sustainability Leaders Recommit to Centering Equity and Justice
Along with many of you, we spent this past week filled with grief. These feelings are tragically familiar, as is their cause. The legacy of racial oppression played out on city streets around the country and right here in Salt Lake City. We all must play a role in demanding justice in our communities and […]
Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund: Year in Review (2019-20)
By Emerson Andrews, Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund manager During the 2019-2020 academic year, the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund (SCIF) provided more than $100,000 to 19 projects designed by University of Utah community members. The projects covered a range of issues, from concerns about equity and accessibility, to water-use reduction, air-pollution awareness, and more. Project funding […]
Student project: Small thermostat changes lead to big change
By Kelsie Rae Patten, student in the Anthropocene Now Honors Praxis Lab We’re all familiar with the need to reduce carbon emissions in our warming world. We’re told to get solar panels on our homes, drive less, and eat fewer carbon-intensive foods. These changes can require a lot of effort for small individual impacts, so […]
How to safely recreate now
By Ayrel Clark-Proffitt, Sustainability Engagement Manager We could all use a little adventure, especially after strictly following the State of Utah “Stay Safe, Stay Home” directive. But just as our everyday lives have changed in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the way we recreate must necessarily be different, too. But that doesn’t mean […]