101 Group Project Ideas ’09
Read through the project ideas described below, record the project numbers, and then record your preferences on the “Working Group Survey” form which is linked on your class website. Because of faculty connections to some of these projects, we will be most inclined to assign those project ideas marked with a (JP) to students in Prof Petersen’s section (section 2) and those with a (RS) to students in Prof Shammin’s section (section 01). Feel free to rank multiple projects with a high rankings – this makes it much easier for us to assign you.
Project ideas in the first set describe below are built around Oberlin’s second annual “Ecolympics”. The Ecolympics is an energy, waste, water and environmental education campaign that will be held among Oberlin College residence halls. The campaign will take the form of a competition that is tentatively scheduled to run from Saturday April 4 to Saturday April 25. The competition will be made up of a series of events geared towards education, service and resource conservation. When Oberlin students reduce their electricity use, increase recycling or participate in each of the service or educational events, they will earn points for their dorm, and will have the chance to win individual prizes as well. Dorms can win in individual categories and the dorm with the most total points at the end of the competition will be crowned champions at the closing ceremonies. (Points earned for event participation will be scaled to dorm occupancy so that small and large dorms are on a level playing field).
Ecolympics goals:
· Foster a culture in which good habits developed during the competition continue into the future
The office of Environmental Sustainability (OES) and the TAs in this course will play a key role in coordinating the overall events. The organizational efforts that have taken place so far in preparation for the Ecolympics have anticipated that ENVS101 project groups will work with other campus organizers. ENVS101 groups that take on the projects below will play the central role in designing and executing most of the individual events that make up Ecolympics 2009.
Click on the links below for project descriptions and contacts
1. Oberlin campus waste audit and recycling competition
2. Dorm energy competition (JP)
3. Day of service - Plum Creek river cleanup
4. Day of service - Plum Creek invasive species control research and implementation
5. Day of service - Jones farm
7. Making the reusable container program at Dascomb more successful
8. America’s Greenest Campus Contest
9. Ecolympics film and/or lecture series
10. Ecolympics EcoTrivia Night
11. Ecolympics documentary team (RS)
12. Critical mass bicycle ride through Oberlin (or some other bicycle advocacy event)
On-Campus Projects (not related to Ecolympics)
13. Banning bottled water on campus?!
14. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure: Reusing Oberlin College surplus
15. Planning the Environmental Symposium at Oberlin College for Fall of ‘09
16. Feasibility assessment of composting in student residence halls
17. Student response to sustainability technology incorporated into newly renovated dorms
18. Assessing and improving the success of Bon Appetite’s “Low Carbon Diet”
19. Green cleaning products for dining service
Off-Campus Projects (not related to Ecolympics)
21. Reuse and exchange programs for unwanted household items in the City of Oberlin
22. Developing a Climate action plan toolkit for cities
23. Gardening education at Oberlin High School
24. Conservation education for Oberlin homeowners
25. Energy efficiency in Oberlin homes
26. Environmentally responsible irrigation at “Chance Creek Blues” organic blueberry farm
27. Farm fresh: encouraging the use of locally produced food in local schools
28. Better bicycle parking and bicycle sharing programs for Oberlin College
29. Composting paper towels in academic buildings
30. Weather-proofing Woodland Street Housing.
31. Increasing campus lighting efficiency.
32. Campus kitchen efficiency in CDS and OSCA
Description: The Oberlin recyclers will be conducting an audit to determine what kinds of materials are being thrown out across campus. The results of this work will be used to develop educational materials for earth day. This group would participate in both the audit, in developing educational materials and in determining how dorms would be “scored” for Ecolympics based on recyclables in their waste stream. Two groups could probably work on this.
Community Partner/Contact: Oberlin Recyclers, Livia Capaldi (recycle@oberlin.edu)
Description: The first time a group from ENVS101 got involved in this project in ‘05 their work helped two winning dorms reduce their electricity use by 56%, and helped Oberlin College win a $75,000 award from the U.S. EPA and has since won awards from the National Wildlife Federation and the Great Lakes Protection Fund. The Campus Resource Monitoring System provides over 80% of the students at Oberlin with real-time feedback on electricity use in their dorms (www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy) and now includes “Energy Orbs” in six dorms. Because the system has been under development and testing this last fall, few on campus know it exists. You have the opportunity to change all that by organizing, developing educational materials for and participating in research on the Dorm Energy Competition ‘09. At least two groups can work on this.
Community Partner/Contact: CRMS Team, John Petersen, Poy Winichakul
Description: Plum Creek is a small tributary of the Black River with its origins just southwest of Oberlin. Throughout its course, Plum Creek accumulates various unsightly and potentially harmful debris. Since 2006, various ENVS 101 groups have organized a day of service to clean-up select sections of the Creek. This year's group would work with City officials and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to set a date during Ecolympics for the event, advertise and then coordinate the event itself. Ideally the project would include the development of educational materials on Plum Creek specifically or on urban streams generally. The outcome is a better educated public and a tangibly cleaner environment. (Also the City gets to take credit in its annual storm water report to the Ohio EPA.) Students the ENVS101 group recruits to participate in the day of service event would earn points for their dormitories during Ecolympics.
Community Partner/Contact: Jeff Baumann, City of Oberlin Public Works Director, (jbaumann@cityofoberlin.com or 775-7204) and Kate Pilacky, Western Reserve Land Conservancy (firelandslc@oberlin.net, 774-4226)
Description: Numerous invasive plant species including Japanese Knotweed, Buckthorn, Garlic Mustard and Purple Loosestrife can be found along the banks of the mighty Plum Creek. These plants out-compete native species for light and nutrients. This project group would research cost-effective low-impact control methods and would work with City staff and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to implement a day of service project to remove invasive plants from a section of the stream. This work could also be combined with the re-introduction of native species. Students recruited to participate in the day of service event would earn points for their dormitories during Ecolympics.
Community Partner/Contact: Jeff Baumann, City of Oberlin Public Works Director, (jbaumann@cityofoberlin.com or 775-7204) and Kate Pilacky, Western Reserve Land Conservancy (firelandslc@oberlin.net, 774-4226)
Description: The Jones Farm is a community supported agricultural enterprise located just east of town on Oberlin College property. The farm is designed to showcase sustainable agriculture, sustainable land use and sustainable building techniques. There is always important work to be done in the greenhouses and fields of this amazing Oberlin resource. The project group would work with farm managers at the Jones farm to determine what needs to be done and would organize transportation and events to get Oberlin students out to lend a hand.
Community Partner/Contact: Aaron Englander (aaron.englander@gmail.com)
Description: The Field Day might involve creative and cooperative physical competition, with Ecolympics points earned for participation.
Community Partner/Contact: Office of Environmental Sustainability Staff (email Margaret Zimmer, mzimmer@oberlin.edu)
Description: Dascomb serves approximately 1450 meals per day. About half of these are carryout. As a result of a student initiative, for the last year Dascomb has offered reusable plastic Tupperware containers to students as an alternative to the disposable containers that most use for take out meals. Students simply sign up for the Tupperware program and bring back the containers to be swapped for clean containers each time they want to carryout. Anyone can join this program and students who join actually earn flex points each time they use their container. And yet, very few students (about 50) have taken advantage of this program. An ENVS101 group could investigate why this program is so underutilized and develop a campaign to increase use. The tie-in with Ecolympics is that the group could develop an initiative in which students who sign up for and/or use the carryout containers would earn points for their dorm during Ecolympics.
Community Partner/Contact: Michelle Gross, Director Business Operations and Dining Services for Residential Education and Dining Services (michelle.gross@oberlin.edu)
Description: Two national organizations, “Climate Culture” “Smart Power” have partnered to create “America's Greenest Campus”, the first nationwide contest among colleges to reduce the carbon footprints of their students, faculty, alumni and staff. Think Oberlin is green? The group organizing this effort would have until Earth Day, April 22, to get as many folks in our college community to reduce their carbon footprints as much as they can! The organization has set up a website to track of the number of people participating on each campus and how much they reduce emissions. Two winners will be announced – the school with the most participants and the school with the most carbon reductions per participant – on Earth Day. Winning schools will be eligible for some awesome prizes! For Ecolympics, dorms would earn points for the number of students participating – your group would need to figure out how to track this. See http://americasgreenestcampus.com/ for contest details.
Community Partner/Contact: Poy Winichakul (pwinicha@oberlin.edu)
Description: This group would help organize an environmental film series. Student attendees would earn points for their dorm by attending environmentally themed movie screenings (and perhaps other events such as scheduled lectures on environmental topics). The College has a considerable number of films, but you can also place requests for new films.
Community Partner/Contact: Kat Lamp (co-organized last year’s event, Katherine.Lamp@oberlin.edu) Office of Environmental Sustainability Staff (email Margaret Zimmer, mzimmer@oberlin.edu)
Description: This group would organize an Eco-Trivia Night. Oberlin students would complete a quiz on assorted facts about Oberlin (and the rest of the world) and the environment. Students would earn points for their dorm for participating, and the highest scores would earn extra points for their dorm.
Community Partner/Contact: Joanna Johnson (co-organize last year’s event, Joanna.Johnson@oberlin.edu)
Description: This group would plan, film, edit and produce a documentary that records the events of this year’s Ecolympics. The group would need to possess video editing skills to make a professional-looking film that could be used to share the Ecolympics and Oberlin students’ activism for the environment with a broader audience. More importantly, this group would need to utilize their creativity and knowledge to create a finished product that expresses a clear message about how the Ecolympics would have beneficial ecological and social impacts.
Community Partner/Contact: Rumi Shammin
Description: A critical mass bicycle ride is an event in which a very large number of bicyclists ride as a tight unit through urban streets in a demonstration of cycling solidarity and environmental awareness. To our knowledge, no-one has ever organized a critical mass ride through the streets of Oberlin. The City and College have a very proud and positive history of pro-cycling initiatives and it is therefore important that any critical mass ride event follow city laws and be coordinated with appropriate City officials. Dorms would receive credit for those who participate in the ride. Other pro-bicycle activities might also form a basis for an interesting ENVS101 project.
Community Partner/Contact: Oberlin Bicycle Coop, Dory Trimble, Simon Nyi (dory.trimble@oberlin.edu, snyi@oberlin.edu, Bike.Co-op@oberlin.edu)
Description: Bottled water has become a ubiquitous feature of modern American life and yet research shows that bottled water is often less healthy than tap water and is costly to the environment in terms of energy use and material waste. A few colleges and universities have banned bottled water. Oberlin’s Residential Education Program is interested in a study that would assess the feasibility and the costs and benefits of banning bottled water on campus. The group that conducts this study would document costs and benefits, research and summarize alternatives available and employed by other institutions and make recommendations regarding an environmentally responsible course of action for Oberlin.
Community Partner/Contact: Becky Moseley, Assistant Dean/Assistant Director Residential Education and Dining Services (Rebecca.mosely@oberlin.edu), Nathan Engstrom
Description: Each year, the college throws away numerous surplus materials, many of which are still viable for reuse/recycling. This group will develop a master plan for the collection and reusing/recycling of these materials. One option is to focus on the reuse of office and dorm furniture.
Community Partner/Contact: Nathan Engstrom
Description: The Alumni Association affiliate group,
“EnviroAlums”, and Oberlin’s ENVS Program are hosting reunions on Columbus
Weekend, October 9-12, 2009. The goal of this event is to get Oberlin alumni
and students who work on the environment issues together with each other to
share ideas and experiences regarding how to address the environmental
challenges that face their communities, the nation, and the world. Oberlin is
fortunate to have prominent graduates in government, education, business and
non-profit sectors who are making significant contributions to environmental
sustainability. The ENVS101 group that takes on this project will work closely
with Carl McDaniel, Chairman of EnviroAlums, to research and plan several
aspects of the reunion including: 1) research past reunions and propose a
structure for this reunion; 2) work with the Alumni Office to develop a
database that identified OC Alums who are possible symposia speakers on a range
of topics; 3) propose symposia topic areas into which the alums can be
grouped; 4) research ways in which components of the symposium might be posted
online so alumni who cannot come to Oberlin will be able to participate in real
time and after the event; 5) as time permits, contact alums regarding interest
and availability to participate. Students who choose this project will: gain
practical experience in planning a major environmental event; interact with and
learn from Oberlin graduates who have become environmental leaders; and have
the option to participate next fall in a symposium that you play a key role in
planning.
Community
Partner/Contact: Carl
McDaniel, Chair EnviroAlums and Visiting Professor in ENVS
(cmcdanie@oberlin.edu)
Description: A number of students have expressed interest in developing an acceptable procedure/mechanism for composting organic waste within residence halls. Students have considered worm bins and small composters. Residential Education is sympathetic to students’ desire to compost and is interested in having a student group undertake a study that examines what other schools and organizations have done and the problems and opportunities that they have encountered and makes recommendations regarding the pros and cons of different options available. Several ENVS101 groups have worked on composting related topics in the past including documenting the history of composting at Oberlin College, investigating opportunities for composting for dining halls, and designing labels and procedures for the composting bins next to the parking lot of AJLC. This semester’s group can learn from these past initiatives and design a solution for student residence halls.
Community Partner/Contact: Becky Moseley, Assistant Dean/Assistant Director Residential Education and Dining Services (Rebecca.mosely@oberlin.edu)
Description: Oberlin College is in the process of renovating many of the older dorms and list last summer completed renovation of Language House and Noah. In the process they incorporated a number of sustainable technologies, including low flush toilets, low flow shower heads and motion sensing lights. This group would attempt to assess student response to these technologies. Are students aware of them? Have the technologies altered student attitudes or behaviors? The group would summarize findings and, based on these findings, would make recommendations to Residential Education regarding which technologies might most sensibly be incorporated into future renovation projects to maximize environmental benefits. The group could accomplish this through surveys and interviews.
Community Partner/Community Partner/Contact: Becky Moseley, Assistant Dean/Assistant Director Residential Education and Dining Services (Rebecca.mosely@oberlin.edu)
Description: The food system is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. Bon Appetite, Oberlin’s food service provider, has developed a program to encourage students to reduce the carbon footprint of their eating habits. Their efforts include the development of a Low Carbon Diet calculator (www.eatlowcarbon.org.) that allows students to instantly calculate the carbon footprint of their food choices. They also provide a variety of information within the dining halls. Oberlin’s Residential Education and Dining Service is interested in learning how these educational efforts could be made more effective. A group could focus on assessing students’ knowledge and making recommendations regarding publicity that could more effectively encourage environmentally conscious eating within the dining halls.
Community Partner/Contact: Michelle Gross, Director Business Operations and Dining Services for Residential Education and Dining Services (michelle.gross@oberlin.edu), Rick Panfil, General Manager of Campus Dining Services (rick.panfill@oberlin.edu)
Description: College dining services has made a concerted effort to purchase environmentally responsible products for cleaning the dining halls. But how green are the choices they are making and are there cost-effective alternatives to current products that are environmentally preferable? A group could help answer these questions.
Community Partner/Contact: Michelle Gross, Director Business Operations and Dining Services for Residential Education and Dining Services (michelle.gross@oberlin.edu)
Description: An increasing number of students are bringing vehicles with them to campus each semester. How might Oberlin College discourage car use and minimize the development of more on-campus parking lots? One option is to develop long term and remote parking for students. Another is to limit student parking on campus, perhaps by reducing the number of parking permits. Both could reduce the carbon footprint of Oberlin (through reduction in fuel use, increased car pooling, etc.). This group will work with the Office of Environmental Sustainability and various campus officials to identify workable options.
Community Partner/Contact: Nathan Engstrom (nathan.engstrom@oberlin.edu)
Description: A number of communities across the country have developed programs that establish virtual or physical resource recovery facilities for exchanging unwanted but still potentially usable household items so that they do not end up in landfills. For example, residents of Falmouth Massachusetts have a program and facility called "Pick of the litter" that allows citizens to drop off materials they don't want at a covered center and pick up goodies that others have left. (Oberlin College’s “Big swap” is an example of a similar concept occurring within an institution). It may be that other communities have developed web sites for exchange that do not involve a physical space (something like Craig’s list). Students in this group would research approaches that different communities have made that might serve as models for the City of Oberlin and would create a report with recommendations for the City to consider.
Community Partner/Contact: Jeff Baumann, City of Oberlin Public Works Director, (jbaumann@cityofoberlin.com or 775-7204)
Description: The GreenCityBlueLake Institute is developing a climate action plan to reduce carbon emissions in Northeast Ohio. Cities will be a key target for outreach. To make it easy for cities to take action, an online toolkit is being developed. The toolkit will include suggested action steps, a collection of best practices (case studies of leading cities that provide lessons for cities in Northeast Ohio), and other resources (such as model ordinances, carbon footprint analysis tools, etc.). Students will conduct research and help compile this information. The ultimate goal is to get most cities in the region to commit to action on climate change.
Community Partner/Contact: GreenCityBlueLake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Laura Christie, climate project manager (lchristie@cmnh.org, 216-231-4600)
Description: This group would work with teachers at Oberlin High School to maintain, update, and continue the use of the greenhouse, outdoor
garden, and composting bins. Possibilities include working with students to
grow their own food, using home-grown food to make healthy meals, and/or
starting an after school program around this issues that might interest HS
students. A key goal of this project would be to build on previous work and
help to develop programs that can be continued beyond the semester.
Community Partner/Contact: Oberlin student Laura Geller (lgeller@oberlin.edu), and HS teacher Helen Dupont
(hdupont@oberlinschools.org)
Description: POWER is a grassroots organization whose mission is to increase energy efficiency in Oberlin. POWER has the dual goals of reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere and helping low income Oberlin homeowners become more financially secure in the face of rising utility costs. This group would work with POWER to develop educational materials/presentation on best practices for conservation in Oberlin homes. They would research best practices and interview local energy experts (e.g. Doug McMillan, Renee Benjamin, Cindy Frantz, Rumi Shammin, John Petersen, Bryan Burgess, Nathan Engstrom, Sam Hitchens, etc.). The project would conclude with either a public presentation or series of one-on-one sessions with local homeowners involved in the POWER Fund and compile information for distribution to homeowners or display in public locations.
Community
Partner/Contact: Kristin
Braziunas, Program Coordinator POWER Fund (kristin.braziunas@gmail.com)
Description: This group would research the best (cheapest and best payback) energy efficiency projects for Oberlin homes and evaluate the need for these projects. First, the group would work with local experts to determine which energy efficiency projects will be the best investment for Oberlin homeowners and design a survey that will allow us to gauge the need for these improvements in Oberlin. Second, the group would administer the survey to Oberlin homeowners who have applied for or expressed interest in the POWER Fund. Further, the group would compile this information and estimate potential energy and monetary savings from investing in these projects in Oberlin. This information will be used to apply for grants to fund these projects through the POWER Fund.
Community
Partner/Contact: Kristin
Braziunas, Program Coordinator POWER Fund (kristin.braziunas@gmail.com)
Description: Chance Creek Blues Organic Blueberry farm has been an organic farm for the past 10 years. It has been a blueberry farm for over fifty! As a small family farm, we struggle to keep to the ideals of sustainable agriculture while maintaining a pleasant environment for families to come and pick blueberries each summer and, alas, breaking even or even making a small profit. Each year we test our soil and work with Ohio Earth Foods to decide what type of inputs would improve the growth of our bushes and sustain the soil. We need help with this process-primarily in application of the fertilizer. Additionally, we have always relied on whatever rain comes our way. This has caused considerable loss of production and even shut down the farm months earlier than necessary. Not having the time to do the research, we could use some help in determining what type of irrigation system makes the most sense given our small size and goal to remain environmentally sound. If you are interested in working on this multi-faceted project, we would love to have you!
Community Partner/Contact: Linda and Bo Arbogast (larbogast@oberlin.net, 440-965-5591 http://home.centurytel.net/chancecreekblues/)
Description: Oberlin sits in the middle of a beautiful agriculture belt. Why then, are the local schools not utilizing the vast amounts of local foods, such as dairy, grains, and meats, in their cafeterias? This group would work with Nathan Engstrom to develop a list of recommendations for local school districts, such as the Oberlin and Firelands School Districts. The list should address the nutritional and financial benefits of fresh local foods, as well as identify the most effective ways to integrate local foods into cafeteria meal plans.
Community Partner/Contact: Nathan Engstrom (nathan.engstrom@oberlin.edu)
Description: Given the vast numbers of bikes that are used on campus by students, faculty, and staff, the amount of bike parking available is severely lacking. This group will conduct an inventory of current bike parking and identify locations on campus where further bike parking could be constructed or installed. This group could also research bike sharing programs and their viability on the Oberlin Campus and in the community including automated systems integrated with college ID cards with multiple pickup/drop-off locations on campus and in town. (Note: The group working on this project should look at previous 101 projects related to bikes on campus).
Community Partner/Contact: Nathan Engstrom (nathan.engstrom@oberlin.edu)
Description: OSCA's Environmental Concerns Committee is working on setting up a student-run initiative to compost paper towels in academic buildings. We can do this as long as we take care of the whole project and ensure that the bins do not overflow. This project would involve working with the Environmental Concerns Committee to figure out the logistics (obtaining compost bins, placing them, etc) and emptying the bins once or twice a week. There is also the possibility to research long-term solutions, such as changing the job descriptions of custodians to include composting, or eliminating paper towels from our buildings.
Community Partner/Contact: Samantha Bass, OSCA's Environmental Concerns Committee (samantha.bass@oberlin.edu)
Description: The Green EDGE Fund is a student run organization that finances environmental projects on the Oberlin College campus and (occasionally) in the Oberlin community. The Fund is currently interested in weather-proofing several woodland street houses and needs some help. This project would involve researching methods of weather-proofing, comparing products, estimating energy savings, conducting payback analyses, and making recommendations to the EDGE Board. Board members would be available to assist in all steps of the project.
Community Partner/Contact: The Green EDGE Fund, Edgefund@oberlin.edu
Description: The Green EDGE Fund is a student run organization that finances environmental projects on the Oberlin College campus and (occasionally) in the Oberlin community. We are currently interested in increasing the efficiency of campus lighting. This project would involve researching motion sensors and lighting methods, comparing products, estimating energy savings, conducting payback analyses, and making recommendations to the EDGE Board. Board members would be available to assist in all steps of the project.
Community Partner/Contact: The Green EDGE Fund, Edgefund@oberlin.edu
Description: The Green EDGE Fund is a student run organization that finances environmental projects on the Oberlin College campus and (occasionally) in the Oberlin community. We are currently interested in increasing the efficiency of both the OSCA and CDS kitchens. This project would involve researching the efficiency of existing equipment, comparing products, estimating energy savings, conducting payback analyses, and making recommendations to the EDGE Board. Board members would be available to assist in all steps of the project.
Community Partner/Contact: The Green EDGE Fund, Edgefund@oberlin.edu
Description: Oberlin Municipal Light and Power Service (OMLPS) has an energy bike that displays the amount of energy generated by human pedaling and is accompanied by a display board and curriculum to teach basic scientific terms to school children in various grades. The project will involve getting training by OMLPS, connecting with local schools, and implementing an event at a local school using the energy bike. (Note: The group working on this project should look at the Energy Bike project report from Fall08)
Community Partner/Contact: Doug McMillan, OMLPS (dmcmillan@omlps.org)
If you have a realistic, tangible project idea – please rank your preference for your own idea and use the space provided to tell us more about your idea.