Ten new recipients of student sustainability grants announced

The Office for Sustainability has announced the 10 recipients of this year’s 2010-11 Student Sustainability Grant Program. Now in its second year, the annual grant program was developed to inspire and fund creative on-campus projects by undergraduate and graduate students that will directly result in a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts associated with student life at Harvard.

From community bike repair stations, improved educational signage, and a sample sustainable dorm room to rainwater capture and composting with worms, this year’s grant projects represent the broad range of sustainability-centered actions that students are taking across campus. Chosen by the grant committee based on energy and resource savings, as well as innovation, creativity, and replicability, this year’s round of projects will demonstrate how thinking sustainably can reduce energy usage, engage the University-wide community, and help Harvard meet our Greenhouse Gas Reduction goal of 30% by 2016.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity,” said Annie Baldwin ’13, who is part of a team of students who will use grant funding to set up a pilot vermiculture program in Thayer Hall. “The Bookworms Feed Real Worms Project not only has a chance to bring a new sustainable measure to reduce food waste in freshman dorms, but will also bring freshmen the opportunity to continue vermiculture composting throughout the rest of their tenure at Harvard, and beyond.”

Learn more about this year’s projects here. Don’t forget to visit the Office for Sustainability’s website often as we update it with case studies from 2010 grant recipients and progress reports from our 2011 grant recipients!