Take a few minutes to look around your home, dorm room, office, or lab space and determine how many electronics or other devices are currently plugged into the wall outlets. Actually do it! Try to pick a space where you have some control or influence over decision making, and go take a look. This blog post will be waiting here … Read More
Having gone to a much smaller university for undergraduate and graduate school, I’m always amazed by the sheer number of courses offered at the University of Michigan each semester. Just in the area of sustainability, I’ve interacted with students enrolled in courses covering a wide variety of super interesting topics including ecofeminism, sustainable architecture, food justice, renewable energy policy, campus … Read More
New school year, new tips! We’ve refreshed the information below for the 2023-2024 school year. Welcome Wolverines! Over the next month or two, thousands of new students, both undergraduate and graduate, will be preparing to start their first semester at the University of Michigan. Picking classes, completing required orientation materials, figuring out financial aid and housing, moving, meeting new classmates … Read More
Since 2019, in addition to running the Planet Blue Ambassador program, I have had the opportunity, challenge, and joy of co-advising the Student Sustainability Coalition (SSC). For those of you less familiar with the multitude of sustainability programs at the University of Michigan, SSC is a group of undergraduate and graduate students who aim to amplify the student voice on … Read More
Last week was Flint Sustainability Week. It was the first big sustainability event on the Flint campus, and I am sure, having been able to attend part of it myself, that it will not be the last! I didn’t get to attend all of the different events throughout the week because I’m based on our Ann Arbor campus, but I … Read More
As a part of U-M’s commitment to carbon neutrality, you may have heard that several new geo-exchange systems are in the process of being planned and implemented on campus: the Leinweber Building geo-exchange project, the new Ginsberg Center, as well as the new Central Campus housing and dining project all incorporate plans to be heated and cooled using geo-exchange. But … Read More
Before you launch into reading this blog, you should know a couple things: I’m definitely not a financial advisor. I’m just a sustainability staff member here at U-M who heard that there were new more environmentally-focused funds I could invest my retirement money in, so I wanted to learn more. And, if I’m being completely honest, I’d categorize myself as … Read More
What would a carbon neutral U-M campus look like? Close your eyes and take a minute or two to think about it. Note the things that you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. In your vision of this future, is there a gigantic array of solar panels in the shape of a block M? Are there goats on the Diag? … Read More
A student-led project that recently received grant funding from the Planet Blue Student Initiative Fund aims to decrease the financial and environmental burden of menstruation by making reusable menstrual products free at the Maize and Blue Cupboard and University Health Services. The project leads were inspired to apply for this funding because the average person who menstruates will throw away … Read More
Two sustainability-focused student programs at the University of Michigan, the Student Sustainability Coalition (SSC) and the Planet Blue Student Leaders (PBSL), participated in a virtual “Shark Tank” style event called Pitching In Together in April of 2021. Over the academic year, the PBSLs piloted creative environmental behavior-change campaigns with students across campus, and at this event, SSC heard pitches from … Read More
