#une

Blog Post 5

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UNE’s Sustainability Facebook Page

I had no clue that UNE had a Facebook account discussing their sustainable practices on campus until I started searching around for inspiration for a blog post. I was happy to find that there was a (somewhat) active account that is promoting sustainability on UNE’s campus.

I would like to address the metaphorical elephant in the … room? The web-iverse? In the internet? Regardless, I believe that this Facebook page needs to be much much much more active. If it takes multiple people collaborating, so be it. This resource could be especially useful for those who are interested in joining in on sustainable practices on campus.

Here are just a few ideas that I feel that this Facebook account could incorporate into their page:

  • – They could link to more information about UNE’s Eco-Rep Program
  • – Maybe they could work with UNE’s APB club in order to create more ways student can get involved in fun, sustainable activities on campus
  • – They already do, but they could increase the amount they work with UNE’s Environmental Science majors in order to bring even more sustainable practices on campus
  • – My final suggestion would be that they start more programs on campus, advertising them on their Facebook page*

*An example of a program could be to put up multiple (I mean a lot) birdhouses around campus, giving local birds as many safe homes as we can make possible. This is definitely just a start of course.*

Honestly, I hope my Blog gets out there and maybe I could broadcast some ideas in collaboration with all of these groups as well. Who knows?

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Blog Post 4

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An Optimistic Look UNE’s New Block Schedule

I would like to begin by saying that I do not agree with UNE’s implementation of the new block schedule and especially how they went about establishing it. However, it is looking more and more like it going to happen, so I wanted to bring forth a positive that may come from it that doesn’t just benefit the University and its stakeholders.

UNE students currently have “free” or mostly free Fridays, with maybe one class at the most for the average student. This allows for students to travel home to see family and friends, work at home, travel for sports, attend internships, and much more. In my opinion, as someone who lives 16 hours away from this school, family time is extremely important for some people. It benefits mental health to see loved ones, especially in stressful times such as college.

Although going home is a luxury that many here at UNE treasure, I believe that we fail to look at the downside of traveling home every weekend. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “The average passenger vehicle emits about 404 grams of CO2 per mile.“ Sustainably, driving anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours (what I would consider a reasonable distance to be traveling weekly/bi-weekly) would create a pretty large carbon footprint. In a school year, it would add up to be roughly equivalent to burning 53.6 pounds of coal or charging your phone 5,897 times for just one student.

By switching to the new block schedule, adding more classes to Fridays, the overall student body would lower its carbon footprint by approximately 25% or by 12,120 grams of CO2 per person (assuming that about 1/4 of the student body travels home on weekends).

To be clear, this may not seem like a lot, because, in comparison, it’s only about half of an hour-long plane ride’s worth of CO2 per person. But if you think about it, estimating that about 1/4 of the student body travels home for the weekends (at an average of about 2 hours), roughly 148,409,400 grams of CO2 would be prevented from entering the atmosphere if the block schedule were to be put into place (in a perfect world where no one would leave campus, which is not reasonable).

This is the equivalent to:

  • – 27 homes’ electricity use for one year
  • – 16,700 gallons of gasoline consumed
  • – 164,034 pounds of coal burned
  • – 2 tanker trucks worth of gasoline
  • – 344 barrells of oil consumed
  • – 18,052,912 number of smartphones charged

So, is the schedule change worth the positive environmental impact it would have? Leave a comment below stating what you think.

*Calculations and estimations were made by me with the help from online sources, all calculations are open for interpretation*

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint - A Year of Living Better Guides - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of-living-better/how-to-reduce-your-carbon-footprint
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Blog Post 2

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Composting at the University of New England: RIGHTS & WRONGS

What UNE is doing RIGHT

If you briefly research what UNE is doing on campus to help innovate a healthier planet, you don’t find much. However, one program that UNE has been active in since 2017 is composting. UNE’s website explains (in vague detail) that they collect the food scraps that come from the dining hall and send them to Benson Farm in Gorham, ME. They also have a free composting program for the resident halls where they provide compostable garbage bags and a key to the locked compost bins that are located on campus. There are two bins: One is near Sokokis Hall and the other is outside of Avila Hall, near the quad.

It is refreshing that I attend a school that cares about the environment and it was definitely a factor in my choice of where to go to college. Doing a small amount of composting is always better than none; however, I would love to see more initiative for such an important program.

What UNE could work on

Like I stated above, UNE just needs to work on the amount that they actually compost/contribute to this cause. I cannot find information as to whether or not every dining hall (The Ripich Commons, The Pub, and the Forum) actively participates in this program today. If not, incorporating this practice into the waste disposal of each of these dining halls at the highest rate possible, would propel this program to even higher limits – which is what UNE should be trying to aim for.

Additionally, UNE should expand the residential composting program it has on campus. Two compost bins and optional composting allows for the program to fall through. These bins are not properly maintained in the winter, by just glancing you can tell that there is a thick layer of ice on top, preventing anyone from being able to access them. The addition of an internship program for the Environmental/Marine Science majors would allow for a more affordable option when staffing people to maintain these bins. Another idea to improve composting here on campus would be to implement somewhat “mandatory” composting in residence halls. Of course, everyone has free will and you cannot force anyone to compost, but supplying small, cheap kitchen compost bins (provided free by the University) would encourage students, in a much easier way, to contribute to the program just like many do with recycling today.

These bins would allow on-campus residents to collect their organic food waste in a more reliable location other than a bag and would hopefully provide more incentive to keep up with the task. The current recycling bins that are provided for each room on campus seem to be working wonderfully. Everyone I know personally uses them continuously. Similar to the recycling on campus, I believe it is necessary for there to be more compost bins located on campus. More bins for students to dump their food waste means more students actually willing to participate.

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Blog Post 1

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The University of New England prides itself on the “green” ways they associate itself with, and it’s true, they do a wonderful job incorporating sustainable practices on campus, but there is definitely more they can adopt into their practice that would only propel them to greater reaches. 

UNE has already started and is currently supporting many sustainable practices on campus including conservation efforts in more than one area. UNE has a page titled “Sustainability at UNE” that discusses the specifics of these programs, as well as the recognition in Princeton’s “Guide to 375 Green Colleges” that UNE was acknowledged in. Unfortunately, UNE is no longer featured out of 420 colleges in the new post released by Princeton this year (2022), which needs to be highlighted as something that should be worked on.

Lastly, the page wraps up by explaining the position of “Eco-Rep” that is available to sign up for at UNE. It gives a description of the position, its benefits, and provides information on how to sign up for the leadership opportunity. After looking into the program and the position, it has become more intriguing to me. I would definitely recommend that you check it out if you are interested in contributing to UNE’s sustainable programs.

Message me if you have any ideas for UNE’s sustainability practices and I will relay them to whoever I can get into contact with!

rbecker3@une.edu

University of New England
Biddeford, ME, 04005

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