Each year the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE) allocates $25,000 for on-campus sustainability projects. These projects, which are selected through an annual vote, are intended to engage many people from our Clarkson community as we transition to a more sustainable campus.
This year was a very tight race between two of the contending Sustainability Fund projects. We are calling it a tie. Food waste management and investing in bike infrastructure will both be pursued as Sustainability Fund projects. This means that the campus will not vote on a project next year. We will use funds from both FY21 and FY22 to support these two initiatives. Each project will receive $25,000. Each project will require a working group to decide how best to spend those funds to achieve the greatest impact. Stay tuned as we gather more input for the direction of these projects. If you would like to be involved please contact afrench@clarkson.edu.
Invest in Bike Infrastructure
Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gases from NYS accounting for 36% of our emissions. We would like to make all of our Clarkson campuses a little more bicycle friendly. The timing of this project is ideal because the Village of Potsdam is also working on improved bike paths as part of their New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Food Waste Management
This is a very timely and important area for both sustainability and facilities management. The DEC has passed a law that will require institutions such as Clarkson to divert food waste from the landfill beginning in January 2022. There are different sources of food waste and each different source requires a different solution. For example, leftover catering food should feed people, while post-consumer food waste scraped off of a plate at the end of a meal should be composted or sent to an anaerobic digester.
