Sustainability

SCIF Survey

GCSC seminars: spring 2021 sneak peak

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office   The Global Change & Sustainability Center (GCSC) kicks off its spring 2021 seminar series on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Brenda Bowen, director of the GCSC, encourages everyone—students, staff, faculty, and community members alike—to tune in. The 2021 spring series features a different speaker on every Tuesday of the spring semester. […]

University earns gold in sustainability assessment

By Ayrel Clark-Proffitt, Sustainability Office Originally published in @theU The University of Utah has spent more than a decade building a robust campus sustainability program. Those efforts are paying off: This month, the University of Utah earned a STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). STARS, the […]

Thank You President Watkins

By the Sustainability Office  In a 2019 statement, University of Utah President Ruth Watkins told our community that the University of Utah is “committed to generating new knowledge in areas relating to sustainability, and to implementing best practices in university operations.” Yesterday, President Watkins announced she will be leaving the university this April. Looking back […]

Letter from the Chief Sustainability Officer

Kerry Case, University of Utah Chief Sustainability Officer The past year was unprecedented in terms of grief, pain, and fear, but it also has much to teach us about how to build a better future. Systems of oppression and extraction that have shaped our country for hundreds of years were exposed in new and important […]

Planting seeds of food justice in the edible campus gardens

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office   As the seasons change and snow dusts the ground, many plants are tucking themselves away for a long winter’s nap. But at the Edible Campus Gardens, student garden stewards are keeping busy—working in the soil and building community spaces that are anti-racist, inclusive, equitable, and just. Earlier this year, […]

GCSC Seminar: Connecting aesthetic and environmental value

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office In her upcoming Global Change & Sustainability Center (GCSC) seminar, Dr. Joan Nassauer, a professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, will explore the relationship between ecological landscape design and social science. Her talk, “Cues to care in socio-hydro-ecological systems,” will discuss her cues to care […]

Opt outside with active transportation

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office   Are you looking for ways to improve your physical and mental health? Wishing you had more time to exercise and enjoy the outdoors? Try activating your commute to campus, and you may find that you feel healthier and happier. The weather is beginning to change, but don’t let that […]

GCSC Seminar: Our campus as a living laboratory

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office   Sarah Jack Hinners derives her passion for the environment from her childhood and an upbringing that nurtured her connection to the natural world. In her upcoming Global Change & Sustainability Center (GCSC) seminar, “Campus as a Living Lab: Embedded Research for Sustainability Innovation in the Built Environment,” Dr. Hinners […]

SCIF grants still available during COVID-19

By Maria Archibald, Sustainability Office   Have you ever looked around campus and had a creative idea, perhaps for an art installation or a landscaping initiative? A green building feature or collaborative research project? Or maybe an educational opportunity for students to learn about environmental justice and build appreciation for the natural world? Fortunately, there […]