kelsey nyland, ph.d., a research scientist and adjunct professor at the george washington university department of geography, is studying permafrost through the u.s. national science foundation-funded project circumpolar active layer monitoring (calm). at the 2022 planet forward summit, she discussed long-term trends of warming and thaw in alaska, and the resulting impact on local ways of life.

learn more by reading kelsey’s research.

in february 2021, while gw classes were held remotely due to covid-19, the university implemented a policy to eliminate single-use plastics on gw property. the policy guide states university affiliates should refrain from using university funds to purchase single-use plastics for which there are available alternatives.

the switch to reusable water bottles saves an average of 156 water bottles per person in the united states per year, according to earthday. the market for reusable water bottles was valued at 8.38 billion usd in 2020, according to grand view research, and is expected to grow in years to come.

the increase in popularity can inspire students to find stickers to encapsulate their personality, leading every water bottle to look different from the next. this act of personalization allows students to take ownership of their collective step towards more sustainable living.

liam macdermott, a senior at george washington university, said the personalized element to water bottles encourages students to make the switch. i asked him if he has seen a visual change on the gw campus since the plastics ban. 

“i have definitely seen a concerted effort to use recyclable or sustainable utensils in gw restaurants,” he said. “that was not happening my freshman year.” 

as a senior, macdermott’s perspective on the plastics ban is quite different than most; around half of the undergraduate students on gw’s campus this fall had not taken an in-person class prior to this semester, due to the switch to remote learning during the pandemic, and so have no reference point for the visible changes the university has made.

paige valego, a junior at gw who was on campus for a semester and a half prior to the single-use plastics ban, said she hadn’t seen many plastic changes on campus, though she may have noticed a change more significantly if the campus had a traditional dining hall.

indeed, gw’s dining plan poses a challenge in regard to the ban on single-use plastics. the university lacks a traditional dining hall on its main campus in foggy bottom and utilizes a “dining partner network” through which students use gw dining dollars at independent restaurants, grocery stores, and food trucks on campus. the university’s plastic elimination plan acknowledged the campus dining partners, and stated that the university will collaborate and encourage dining partners on or near campus to offer alternatives to single-use plastics.  

vallego explains that in efforts to live more sustainably on campus, she carries around a reusable water bottle and participates in sustainable gw’s student-led composting program. 

violet radmacher-willis, a sophomore, arrived on campus for the first time this fall. she finds being environmentally conscious at gw more complicated than at home in oregon, where she said an effort to live sustainably is common. she said that although using a reusable water bottle is probably the most popular environmentally-friendly effort shared by students, it is challenging to find refill stations. 

according to kimberly williams, interim senior associate at gw’s office of sustainability, the university aims to install refill stations in every residence hall and academic building. currently, there are 67 water bottle filling stations around campus. williams noted that she understands the lack of resources makes it hard to participate in this sustainable culture shift, so is hopeful that the investment in resources that the university is making is helpful to make that culture shift happen quickly and broadly.

radmacher-willis echoed this sentiment, saying, “i have hope that, because people are becoming more aware of the benefits of reusable material, that both gw and members of the community will turn to more sustainable practices.”

“when we work with the swedish companies they often drive with this idea that in order for a new product to be viable, it has to be sustainable, because that’s what the people want,” said anna helm, associate teaching professor of international business at the george washington university school of business. 

“here, on the other hand, when we try to bring those products to the u.s., we have to be very careful to make sure that there is a business case, that the product is viable financially,” she said.

helm, who also directs the center for international business education & research, gw-ciber, and gw school of engineering professor saniya leblanc recently received a duke energy innovation grant, which they used to develop a course on sustainable energy. 

the course, currently being taught for the first time, features real-client consulting projects in the area of sustainable energy. students work across their disciplines of business and engineering to assist swedish sustainable energy startups with the development of u.s. market entry plans. under normal circumstances, the students would have spent their spring break in sweden, but instead virtual site visits were arranged with swedish companies and other organizations.

helm said that bringing this interdisciplinary work to an international stage gives students the opportunity to learn about sweden’s success, which can be attributed to a productive collaboration among academia, industry, and the public sector. and though some things aren’t directly transferable, helm said, “looking for inspiration, ideas, and systems that have worked elsewhere is really critical.”

rather than keeping sustainability on the back burner of their respective degree programs, schools are taking this “nordic” approach by placing sustainability at the forefront of conversations, ranging from business to fashion, from public health to law, stressing how environmental issues demand interdisciplinary integration.

dr. lisa allyn dale, lecturer at columbia university’s earth institute, shared how the institute’s structure is specifically conducive to interdisciplinary learning, being a program as opposed to a department.

the fact that the institute is not housed in a department, dale said, “gives us the space to sort of spread our wings a little and pull from departments all over campus and be …sort of agile and responsive to changes, and able to make changes on the fly.”

dale said that universities adopt this in various forms, providing students with a foundation for knowledge of sustainability beyond a mere disciplinary requirement.

thomas dean, professor of entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprise in the college of business and school of global environmental sustainability at colorado state university, said that along with faculty and student support, new programs need the support of donors.

“i’d encourage some of the donors out there who have the kind of funds that can support innovative programs to get on board, because that can really bring barriers down and make things happen,” dean said.

universities all over the country are integrating sustainability into their niche fields of study. gw’s milken institute school of public health’s department of environmental and occupational health has been very engaged with sustainability issues by bringing them into conversations of how the climate is impacting workers’ health, according to milken dean dr. lynn goldman. 

goldman also said that public health academia and research must work in conjunction with one another. 

“we want to bring our research into the world to make a difference, to make people healthier,” she said. “and it’s through working with people who are policy experts, legal experts, and other experts that we can do that.”

public health and policy can work together to combat not only sustainability issues, but issues of environmental justice, according to gw’s dean of the school of law, dayna matthew. 

during gw’s recent sustainability summit dean panel, matthew said that she is hoping to build an equity institute at the law school that will “begin to place law at the center of conversations about environmental justice and about health justice.” she said they may be able to build an environmental justice clinic to work with the environmental protection agency and move title vi cases that address discrimination in overly burdened communities. 

matthew said, “in this way we might also be able to build a medical-legal partnership that would address the processes under title vi that are very often disregarded. when we fix disparities without specifically aiming at racial inequity, we actually exacerbate that inequity.”

higher education in its nature is extractive, according to matthew, as it goes into communities to take polls, surveys, and data.

“we march back into our ivy towers and we produce papers and have conferences where we talk to one another but we have not left a tangible value, a tangible benefit in the communities of which we are apart,” she said. “i think if that changes we will change inequality around the country in all of the major research university venues in the country.” 

this decision marks the culmination of seven years of organizing by gw students and aligns with the recommendations from the university’s environmental, social, and governance (esg) responsibility task force.

“for nearly a decade, gw students and students across the country have been demanding that our universities take moral leadership and end their support for the fossil fuel industry,” said jeremy liskar, member of the student organization sunrise gw and a student representative on the esg task force. “our victory (this week) clearly shows that student organizing has changed the consensus on this issue. gw’s commitment will help move the ball for other institutions to take similar action.”

the task force, established earlier in 2020, included students, faculty, trustees, and alumni. together they recommended seven commitments to be incorporated into gw’s existing sustainability plan. in addition to divesting from all public and private companies that focus on fossil fuel extraction, they also recommend that the university commits to halting any new direct or indirect investments to businesses that reap the majority of their revenue from fossil fuel, including coal, oil, and natural gas.

“the covid-19 crisis has served to highlight the enormous impact humans have on the environment and the need for equitable access to healthy natural resources,” the task force wrote in a statement released monday. “the reduced burning of fossil fuels over the last few months has, in a short time, had a dramatically positive impact on the quality of the air we breathe and our waterways. simultaneously, the pressures of the pandemic alongside existing environmental, health, and economic disparities have laid bare the need for more inclusive and equitable structures in our institutions and society as a whole.”

gw joins 37 other u.s. educational institutions that have committed to or achieved full divestment, according to fossil free, including planet forward 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 schools middlebury college, suny-esf and the university of hawaii. other d.c. area schools are also part of the movement, as georgetown university made a pledge to divest completely within 10 years in february and american university announced the completion of their full divestment in april. university of maryland, located just outside of d.c., agreed to a full divestment plan in 2016.

this announcement comes at the culmination of an academic year saturated with advocacy by gw students demanding the university divest its roughly $1.78 billion endowment from businesses that profit from fossil fuel. currently, less than 3% of the endowment — or around $50 million — comes from fossil fuel investment, according to estimates. however, meghan chapple, director of gw’s office of sustainability, says divestment is more significant than that number may suggest.

“it’s important because it’s part of a larger movement and it sends a message about climate change … there is significant consensus that climate change is the big, pressing issue of our time,” chapple said.

the “larger movement” to urge institutions of higher education to commit to fossil fuel divestment began when unity college became the first to do so in 2012. the same year, the fossil free campaign — a branch of 350.org — was founded on student-led action to demand divestment. fossil free gw was formed in 2013.

in november 2019, fossil free gw announced they were transitioning to sunrise gw, to become a campus hub for the sunrise movement. as a chapter of the national youth-led group, sunrise gw organized art builds, protests, and petitions on campus urging the university to divest over the course of the 2019-2020 academic year.

this april, a referendum to divest the university’s holding from fossil fuel was included in gw’s student association election. it received approval from 85.66% of voters.

“i would like to acknowledge our student leaders who have — as representatives of their generation, of the generation that will inhabit the planet over the next 50 to 100 years, the generation that is going to be the future of this planet — i’d like to acknowledge them for all the work they have done to raise awareness of the importance of climate change to the leadership of the university,” chapple said.

two current undergraduate students, liskar and jillian weber, who has been involved in gw sustainability initiatives, were members of the 14-person task force.

“i think the student community can be confident that they were well represented in the voices that jillian and jeremy brought to the table,” chapple said.

liskar said sunrise gw is “ecstatic” about the divestment announcement.

since releasing their recommendations for the university sustainability plan in late may, the esg task force held two digital town halls, allowing students, staff, faculty, and alumni to provide feedback, and additionally received more than 100 submissions of “overwhelmingly positive” feedback via the task force website.

divestment strategies have been used in the past to invoke societal change, perhaps most notably in opposition to south african apartheid. in the mid-1980s, campuses around the world divested from companies doing business in south africa, ultimately helping to weaken the apartheid government.

chapple also drew attention to the university’s pledge to become carbon neutral by offsetting two centuries worth of greenhouse gas emissions dating back to the university’s charter in 1821. while gw had previously aimed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, the university this week committed to an accelerated plan, aiming to reach neutrality by 2030. gw also signed on to plans to go beyond carbon neutrality in honor of the university’s bicentennial next year, a pledge chapple finds equally significant to that of divestment.

other additions to the university’s updated sustainability plan include goals to eliminate single-use plastic on campus, increase the amount of greenspace for biodiversity, conserve stormwater, and convert campus transportation to zero-emissions vehicles.

roof to table takes it to the next level. literally. not just one, but a few levels up: to the roof. all it takes is a smartphone — and the youtube app. 

this 360° video puts the power in your hands. because up here, you’re not alone. look up, look down, look all around. it’s buzzing with life. 

the roof’s no longer over your head, but the food’s still on the table — for now.

where’s it going? follow it from roof to table. suit up and join us. and when you’re done, shout “hey honey” across the room because they’ll want to experience this too.

go ahead — see for yourself. this is moving the planet forward.

civil engineering has been practiced as early as the ancient roman times, and has been a relatively static field, in regards to its materials and methodology. now with the new discoveries concerning climate change and global health, policies put forth by entities such as the u.s. green building council have been a catalyst for change in the industry.

as a construction management intern for clark construction, i was able to have a hands-on understanding of the roles of an engineer on a structural project. on a field site, there are a dozen moving parts which are constantly working to build and bring to life the work of the designs.

my assignment was the closeout phase of the 7th and 8th floors of gwu science and engineering hall. the clark office was set up on the penthouse level, giving me the unique chance to work both in the office and “in the field.”

in the office, i was able to communicate with the project managers and the architect for proper documentation of submittals, requests-for-information (rfis), and leed documentation. since the building was designed as a leed gold structure, i was given the task of ensuring the project’s construction phase had met the leed requirements. this entailed contacting subcontractors for exact information of the source and contents of their materials, which included having non-voc paints, fsc wood products, and fluorescent bulbs.

since this was a summer internship and the project was nearing substantial completion, time was of the essence. every day, sometimes even twice a day, i would call each of the subcontractors in order to get the proper documents. as i waited for this information, i would have to photograph the job site every other day to ensure that the project was within the leed guidelines of source control and interior standards. pictures of the safety net and of the construction crew working in a secluded area were recorded. this aspect was crucial since the project was a completion of the top two floors, therefore little evidence of construction was to be seen from the lower floors.

during the course of the data collection, i did receive some advice from my supervisors and occasional assistance from the clark leed fellow. although each of the members of my team had specific priorities to complete. i came to learn that typically, the leed documentation was sent weeks after the clark construction team would leave the project site. it left me with the impression that the leed certification was not a pressing matter. the leed aspects of the project (the chilled beams, the green roof, and interior air quality control) were outlined years before excavation. while the last stages of accreditation could be finalized after the project site was completed, which was an acceptable practice for contractors.

after four weeks of collecting the data in various different forms and after meetings with a clark leed fellow, it was ready to be uploaded to the usgbc website. this process should have been just several clicks of the mouse and keyboard, however since the website was down, i had to upload each item individually. it was painstakingly long, although i was able to finish the leed certification for the project before i left for the end of the summer.

the construction industry is not the most glamorous and not the most thrilling. however, structures of all kinds – bridges, skyscrapers, and dams – are ubiquitous and unavoidable. as a first-hand witness to the leed process, i have endured the long processes of waiting, photo-taking, and paperwork. it made me feel more like a secretary than an engineer, more of a scorekeeper than a construction management intern.

despite all of that, my internship gave me a glimpse of the growing green standards in the construction industry. these structures will be around for at least the next 50 years. i am pleased to have had the opportunity to observe sustainability at its core, which is to develop and build an entity which meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. 

those who drink contaminated water are more susceptible to waterborne diseases that put hundreds of thousands of people in hospitals each year. more than half of waterborne disease outbreaks have followed extreme rainfalls. think about that the next time you drink a glass of tap water. sustainable development can help contain stormwater runoff.

gw’s square 80 plaza has done just that. the site has several features, including biofiltration planters, which help capture 100 percent of trespassing stormwater. unfortunately, not enough places like square 80 exist. d.c. stormwater runoff levels have risen 34 percent over the last 30 years. disturbing, huh? how can we expect to drink from safer water when we continue to feed our watersheds with deadly toxins? let’s push harder to reverse this trend.

eric osman is a senior at the george washington university majoring in journalism and mass communication with a minor in economics.

the george washington university group grow has started a community garden on campus. the result: good food, local honey and a few dirty hands!