Office of Sustainability

SDG11 SDG13 SDG3 SDG7 STARS Updates

Emissions Assessment: Auburn University’s STARS Report

By Randy Martin, Office of Sustainability The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its latest report assessing the current status and trends of climate change, future risks and the long- and near-term responses. This report contained a sentence that has stuck with me since I first read it: …

ContributorApril 6, 2023

Guest Posts SDG17 SDG2 Updates

Introducing Food U: The Future of Food

By Molly Thornton Food U is here to bring a fresh new vision to Auburn Campus Dining. In collaboration with local partners, Food U is committed to bringing locally grown, sustainable food to Auburn's Campus. What makes them stand out? They’re developing students along the way, too. Food U encompasses…

ContributorApril 4, 2023

Guest Posts SDG14 Updates

A DARKER SHADE OF GREEN

By Savanna Wooten In many ways Earth Day celebrations invite us to think of green: tree plantings, the advent of spring, conversations about renewable energy, convening at green spaces. And they should. Green – shown to benefit us mentally and physically – is, generally, good for us. But… is it…

ContributorApril 3, 2023

Guest Posts SDG3 Updates

Walk @ lunch!

By Patrick Johnston “Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.” – Henry David Thoreau If you’re an Auburn employee who enjoys walking or spending time with your co-workers, then mark your calendars for April 26. That’s when Walk @ Lunch will occur across…

ContributorApril 3, 2023

Director's Corner SDG11 SDG3 SDG9 Updates

Director’s corner: Green Certified Buildings Are Good For You!

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” Winston Churchill The M. Miller Gorrie Center received LEED certification in 2008. Photo credit: Jen Morse. Modern humans in modern surroundings spend almost all of their time indoors. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), North Americans, on average, spend…

Mike KenslerApril 3, 2023

SDG13 SDG15 SDG16 SDG4 Sustainability in Action Updates

Campus Changemaker: Karen McNeal

Karen on a hike with her family By Camille Colter, Office of Sustainability Karen McNeal is a professor of Geosciences within the College of Sciences and Mathematics, hired as one of the first disciple-based education researchers (DBERs). DBERs conduct nontraditional disciplinary research on education. Karen’s work focuses on understanding how…

ContributorMarch 31, 2023

Guest Posts SDG12 Updates

“Handprint” Your Way to A Better World

By Mike Buhmann and Stephanie Richardson In 2021, Auburn University purchased over 800 chairs from Humanscale (the premier designer and manufacturer of ergonomic and sustainable furniture) for use in several departments around campus. This leaves the world better off by conserving and returning: 3,611 kg of CO2, which equates to…

ContributorMarch 31, 2023

Guest Posts SDG13 SDG16 SDG17 Updates

The Weather is More than Small Talk: What I Learned from Climate Scientists on a Trip to the Southeast

By Sabrina De Los Santos Rodríguez Dark clouds over the Week's Bay boat. Photo credits: Sabrina De Los Santos Rodríguez On Sunday, August 7th, 2022 I was on a white van with seven other people - all climate science graduate students and professors with diverse specialties. We were leading the…

ContributorMarch 27, 2023

Guest Posts SDG1 SDG10 SDG13 SDG16 SDG17 SDG5 SDG6 Updates

Climate Change: An Issue of Climate Justice

by Ghanashyam Khanal and Nabin Bhandari While about two frenetic weeks of discussions and negotiations on climate change, damage and loss, and climate finance were going on at COP27 in Egypt, a documentary that depicted the impact of climate change on women and children in the Himalayan regions of Nepal…

ContributorMarch 13, 2023

Guest Posts SDG13 SDG14 SDG15 Updates

The Big and Small ways to Celebrate Earth Day

by Becki Retzlaff Every Earth Day I am reminded of two things. The first is when I was a teenager, and my friends and I volunteered to plant trees at a park near my home in Michigan. We labored all day to carefully plant little pine tree seedlings in long…