{"id":62252,"date":"2011-08-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-sustainability-officer-aims-to-change-campus-culture\/"},"modified":"2011-08-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T00:00:00","slug":"uri-sustainability-officer-aims-to-change-campus-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/08\/uri-sustainability-officer-aims-to-change-campus-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 sustainability officer aims to change campus culture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tFocus on transportation, education, carbon neutrality<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 15, 2011 \u2013 Marsha Garcia is working to send a message to 溏心vlog免费B站 students, faculty and staff to be mindful of how their lifestyle affects the health of the planet and to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cTo me, it\u2019s a common sense approach to living,\u201d said Garcia, the University\u2019s first sustainability officer, who was hired in May after serving in the position for a year on an interim basis. \u201cWe all need to be more mindful of how we live on a daily basis and how that impacts the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tShe said the concept of sustainability is difficult to explain, especially to those for whom environmental awareness and concern aren\u2019t on their radar. But it\u2019s a vital lesson to ensure future prosperity.<\/p>\n


\n\tIssues of sustainability permeate the entire 溏心vlog免费B站 campus. Garcia works closely with faculty to infuse sustainability into the curriculum, helps campus planners design green buildings, advocates for more local produce in student dining halls, and creates student leadership programs to train students to be peer advisors about green living.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe job of sustainability officer at 溏心vlog免费B站 was created in part to manage the University\u2019s responsibilities under the American College and University Presidents\u2019 Climate Commitment, a document signed by former 溏心vlog免费B站 President Robert L. Carothers in 2007, which committed the University to dramatically reduce its contribution to global climate change. Garcia also coordinates the 溏心vlog免费B站 President\u2019s Council for Sustainability, a group of faculty, staff and students appointed by President David Dooley who provide strategic guidance on campus sustainability initiatives.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe University does a great deal to promote sustainability, but it has been somewhat disjointed and it hasn\u2019t come across in a unified way,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI\u2019ll be working to coordinate our programs related to sustainability and launch new programs.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile 溏心vlog免费B站 has an international reputation for its research on environmental topics, from oceanography and climate change to natural resources and environmental engineering, Garcia said that many of those concepts haven\u2019t been translated into programs and actions that engage the entire campus community.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of changing the culture on campus,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cA lot of other universities have focused on sustainability longer than we have, so we have some catching up to do. And given the small size of Rhode Island, changing the culture at 溏心vlog免费B站 almost involves changing the mindset of the entire state.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tOne helpful step in that direction was the University\u2019s choice of No Impact Man as its required reading book for all incoming freshmen. The author of the book, about one man\u2019s yearlong effort to consume as few resources as possible, will speak on campus in September, and Garcia is working with a group of students to develop a series of programs around his visit that she hopes will engage the campus community to embrace the basic principles of sustainability.<\/p>\n


\n\tDespite the challenge of changing the campus culture, Garcia is enthusiastic about tackling difficult issues, the biggest of which is transportation.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cTransportation affects everyone, it\u2019s the most obvious issue, and fixing it would make the biggest impression and have the biggest impact,\u201d she said. \u201cThe public transportation system in Rhode Island is not used very well, and it\u2019s certainly not ingrained in the lifestyle of our students and faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tFew people take the bus or carpool to 溏心vlog免费B站, despite increasing options and incentives to do so. As a result, traffic on Route 138 and through campus at peak hours is gridlocked and complaints about parking are common. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, especially single-occupancy vehicles, are especially high and very difficult to mitigate, according to a study by 溏心vlog免费B站 Energy Fellows.<\/p>\n


\n\tGarcia grew up in Pennsylvania but lived in Washington, D.C., while working for the National Wildlife Federation, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the American Institute of Architects before moving to Rhode Island. She said the first thing she did when she got to Providence was figure out how to use public transportation to get to 溏心vlog免费B站, which she uses at least three times per week.<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile she said that she is still working to establish her office with \u201ca team of people who are actively and persistently working on sustainability issues on campus,\u201d her main goal is to reduce the University\u2019s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI dream of 溏心vlog免费B站 reaching carbon neutrality, which seems like an impossible feat,\u201d she admits. \u201cBut it\u2019s important that we move in that direction and get everyone to believe that, together, we can get this campus to be as close to zero as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nMarsha Garcia.

\n溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Focus on transportation, education, carbon neutrality KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 15, 2011 \u2013 Marsha Garcia is working to send a message to 溏心vlog免费B站 students, faculty and staff to be mindful of how their lifestyle affects the health of the planet and to take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. \u201cTo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}