On Thursday April 15, join the Planet Blue Ambassador program and the Center for Campus Involvement for a drive-in movie screening of Princess Mononoke! Yes, we said drive-in, and yes, we highly encourage carpooling with your housemates! If you haven’t yet registered your car, click this link to learn more about the COVID safety measures and secure a spot for … Read More
As Planet Blue Student Leader (PBSLs)s, we’ve compiled some tips to help you reduce your waste during Move Out as a student living in off-campus housing. Live in a Res Hall? Check out the Office of Campus Sustainability’s awesome plan for reusing, recycling, and safely disposing of unwanted items. Tip #1: Breathe new life into unwanted items. Here’s a guide … Read More
I had the opportunity to sit down with Sam Stolper, an environmental and energy economist and assistant professor at University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). We discussed his thoughts on the intersection of environmental justice and economics. His work investigates how policies can shift behavior to contribute to environmental protection and social well-being. He points to his … Read More
One of my favorite poems is called On the Pulse of Morning, by the poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. This beautiful poem calls attention to the history of slavery, colonialism, and environmental degradation in the US, while instilling a sense of hope, unity, and responsibility, for our planet as well as the people upon it. In this … Read More
Coming back to campus in the fall amid a pandemic was scary. I will be the first to admit I was uncertain how the school year would look or if it would be as fun or rewarding as my previous semesters. One thing I knew for sure was that to get through these difficult times, I would need to stay … Read More
When you enter into any conversation about carbon neutrality, you’re likely going to hear people categorize the different types of greenhouse gas emissions into what are called “scopes.” This article will describe what greenhouse gases are, the differences between the scopes they are grouped into, and give you examples of what types of emissions fit into each scope from a … Read More
Did you know that paper accounts for 25% of waste in landfills? Or that close to 68 million trees are cut down each year to produce paper products? Unfortunately, logging requires enormous amounts of energy and water and contributes to air pollution and waste production as well. Would you like to know a fun and creative way to get involved … Read More
Oftentimes, when we talk about sustainability we talk about the individual choices we make to contribute to a better planet, but it is also important to give our attention to environmental justice and social justice as well because these go hand-in-hand. Many environmental challenges are unique and tend to affect BIPOC communities the most. Luckily there is so much shared power…
According to the most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States disposes of 267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually – that’s a lot of waste! That waste is made up of a variety of different types of materials, which you can see in the chart below. Paper and paperboard make up 25%, plastics 13.2%, … Read More
Due to COVID-19, MDining has had to adapt their operations for public safety and serve meals to-go. This has been a huge change given that they serve approximately 95,000 meals in a single week. They have done a great job ensuring that as much of the packaging as possible is compostable. But understandably, even with compostable packaging, this method of … Read More
