Summer of Solutions 2009: Worcester is a two-month cooperative summer learning experience which seeks to address environmental, social, and economic issues in the Worcester area. Summer of Solutions will empower participants ("solutionaries") to create real change by providing them with the necessary tools and challenging them to apply their skills to hands-on projects. With a focus on building a creative, collaborative community, Summer of Solutions 2009 : Worcester will create public spaces and opportunities for solutionaries to grow, express, and empower themselves and each other through working on on-the-ground, innovative projects.

Solutionaries will participate in collaborative projects and engage in collective education to build an empowered citizenry and a strong community for social change. Focused on creating healthy, just communities and sustainable, green jobs, projects include the production and promotion of local, sustainable food; residential energy efficiency improvements; do-it-yourself energy production; and the promotion of sustainable transportation options. Through the co-creation of sustainable community-based solutions that address the intersecting challenges of creating social and environmental justice and facilitating economic revitalization, solutionaries will work together to build the local green economy in Worcester and create community-level energy solutions.

By bringing together youth, activists, and community members, Summer of Solutions aims to build a community of connections in the city of Worcester that will continue beyond the two months of the program. Summer of Solutions seeks to convene people of all walks of life in an intergenerational, richly creative, fun, inspired and inspiring two-month co-learning and -teaching experience. Skill shares, discussions, opportunities for creative expression, potlucks, forums, and other open spaces will provide solutionaries with opportunities to engage each other and learn together.

Summer of Solutions will include lots of laughter, inspiring conversations, food sharing, and idea exchange as solutionaries work together as a community of friends. Within and outside of projects, Summer of Solutions will include spaces for biking, dance parties, art- and music-making, and community gardening. With a focus on connecting youth, students and community members from Worcester, Summer of Solutions 2009: Worcester includes an open invitation to others from across the Northeast to learn and experience with the Worcester-based solutionaries. Following the two-month summer experience, Worcester-based solutionaries will continue to sustain the summer projects, while other solutionaries will return to their communities and campuses with new skills and tools to create change in their own communities. Solutionaries will not only build bold and multi-faceted solutions to the challenges facing Worcester, but will ultimately form a close-knit network of individuals creating lasting solutions in Worcester and elsewhere.

Partnering with the Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts (REC), Clark is supporting initiatives to make locally-grown food available to members of the Clark community and neighborhood.

Main South Farmers' Market

The first annual Main South Farmers' Market, sponsored by REC's Urban Garden Resources of Worcester Program, took place on weekends during September 2008. The market featured locally-grown food for purchase, along with music, local artists and vendors. Undergraduate Marie Anselm '09, who helped organize the market as part of an internship with REC, explained that "the goal of the market is to give urban residents access to quality, local food at affordable prices."

Clark Dining Services agreed to be an official end buyer by purchasing any high-quality fresh vegetables still remaining at the end of each market day. For farmers, that agreement provided a guarantee that minimized their risks and provided incentive to participate.

The Arboretum Garden

The Arboretum Garden, located in Clark's Hadwen Arboretum, provided this year's participants with a wide variety of produce. According to ES&P graduate student Dominic Pascarelli, who helps administer the garden, the summer's bounty included eggplant, green beans, carrots, summer squash, winter squash, sweet peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, beets, greens, potatoes, sunflowers, broccoli, cabbage, blackberries, onions, and radishes. As an added treat, wild strawberries were harvested from the area just outside the formally cultivated plots. Gardeners in 2008 included Clark faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as WPI students and several Worcester residents living near the arboretum.

Established in 2004 by three Clark students (Sarah Loy, Emma Howard, and Faye Conte) in partnership with REC, the Arboretum Community Garden is a success story of community building and environmental education in Worcester. REC's UGROW Program supports the garden as a member of its network of Worcester community gardens by coordinating compost deliveries from the DPW's composting program; providing free seedlings; sponsoring an annual Spring Garden Forum and seed exchange; holding annual workshops at the garden; and providing networking, coordination, and infrastructure support.

People who are interested in gardening at the Arboretum Community Garden should contact the Regional Environmental Council at (508) 799-9139. Garden planning meetings for the summer 2009 season will begin in February.

This year, Clark is recognizing Campus Sustainability Day through participation in a national webcast focused on "the latest scientific information on climate change, as well as the convergence of campus staff, faculty and student activity in efforts to address climate change and sustainability on campus in 2008-2009." Participants will have an opportunity to engage in the conversation and ask questions of the panelists.

Nearly every powerful interest in the world has now accepted the reality of climate change and the impact of cumulative human activities on the climate. Politicians, sociologists, economists, business people and military think tanks are focusing more and more on what many are calling the likelihood of "climate disruption," which is just as scary as it sounds.

Join our live interactive webcast, which will include Andrew Revkin, science reporter for The New York Times, Richard Moss, vice president and managing director for Climate Change for the World Wildlife Fund-U.S., Anthony Cortese, president of Second Nature, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making healthy, just and sustainable action a foundation of higher education, and Jessy Tolkan, executive director of programs for the Energy Action Coalition. During the discussion, our panelists will talk about the latest scientific information on climate change, as well as the convergence of campus staff, faculty and student activity in efforts to address climate change and sustainability on campus in 2008-2009. As a participant in the webcast, you will also have the opportunity to submit text questions to the panelists during the live program.

IDCE professor Jennie Stephens will deliver a keynote presentation "Exploring Change Toward Sustainability in Universities by Adapting Transition Management" at an Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) conference in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 15-17, 2008. The conference, titled "A new knowledge culture: Universities facing global changes for sustainability," is the fifth edition in a series.

EMSU is an international conference which explores the role of universities in creating new knowledge and attitudes to face today's environmental pressures, and promote a two-way exchange of knowledge between universities and society. EMSU 2008 aims to share sustainability practice in universities and generate debate on the role of knowledge in key areas of environmental and social change which are currently affecting different parts of the world. The process includes an online survey on the role of universities in sustainability and workshops in different parts of the world, which culminates with the conference in Barcelona.

Stephens will also present her research on the politics and policies related to carbon capture and storage technology for climate-change mitigation at the Energy Center of the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Holland, and at the University of Stavanger in Norway.

Physical Plant director Paul Bottis Jr. participated in a panel discussion, titled "Green Building and LEED Certification Standards," at the Worcester Business Journal's second-annual Energy Summit on Oct. 9 at the DCU Center in Worcester.

The Energy Summit, which last year drew more than 400 people, is an all-day event that will include a variety of speakers from the private sector and from state and federal government.

Joining Bottis on the Green Building and LEED Certification Standards panel was Scott Richardson, principal, Gorman Richardson Architects; Roderick C. Shaffert, VP, Scholastic Division, Cutler Associates; and Lisa Hartman, principal environmental engineer, Genzyme.

Other panel topics included Reducing Energy Consumption and Saving Money, and Economic Opportunities.

Bottis has more than 40 years of experience in commercial and residential construction. He has held various positions in the Physical Plant Department at Clark University since beginning work there in 1977. He assumed the position of director in 1985, taking on full responsibility for all day-to-day maintenance of the University, oversight of utilities production and operations, University mail room, Telecommunications Department and Rental Properties.

Bottis also serves as the project manager for construction projects and new University buildings. Since 1990, Paul has overseen construction of The Higgins University Center, Maywood Hall, 130 Woodland Street, renovations of Jonas Clark Hall, Lasry House, Traina Center for the Arts, Dolan Center, Lasry Center for Bioscience, Blackstone Hall, and the University Academic Commons. Two of those projects received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification -- Gold for Lasry Bioscience and Silver for Blackstone Hall.

New interactive report card reveals sustainability trends at 300 leading schools

Budget-breaking energy costs combined with growing student activism are boosting the appeal of sustainability initiatives on college campuses across the country. The interactive GreenReportCard.org Web site reveals that two out of three schools, including Clark University, have improved their grades from last year in the new College Sustainability Report Card 2009.

Clark earned a B+ overall, scoring A's in the categories of Administration, Food & Recycling, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement.

"With the release of this year's report card, I am enthused by the fact that two out of three schools evaluated in both years improved their overall grade between 2008 and 2009," says David Schmidt, campus sustainability coordinator at Clark. "And to see Clark earn a full letter grade above the average is a testament to the sustained action the University has taken to improve its environmental impact from the boiler room to the board room."

The Web site, launched Wednesday (Sept. 24), provides interactive sustainability profiles and grades from the Report Card for 300 schools with the largest endowments ranging from approximately $150 million to $35 billion.The combined total is nearly $400 billion.

"The College Sustainability Report Card is the only independent evaluation of sustainability in campus operations and endowment investments and it has the highest response rate of any college sustainability ranking or rating," says Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, the Report Card's publisher. "We had 290 of 300 schools (97 percent) respond to at least one of the three Report Card surveys. Many are taking pride in greener campuses and sustainability-savvy investments."

With "A-" as the highest overall grade earned, only 15 schools reached that level and qualified as College Sustainability Leaders. In contrast, the average grade for all schools surveyed came to "C+," with more than 75 percent of colleges and universities earning sustainability grades in the "B" and "C" range.

GreenReportCard.org users will be able to create their own side-by-side comparisons of schools, using a broad range of criteria, including athletic league, geographic region and Report Card grade.

Each school's full-page profile can be found on the GreenReportCard.org Web site and includes "A" to "F" letter grades in nine categories: Administration, Climate Change & Energy, Food & Recycling, Green Building, Student Involvement, Transportation, Endowment Transparency, Investment Priorities, and Shareholder Engagement.

Read the full College Sustainability Report Card 2009.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute is a Cambridge-based nonprofit organization engaged in research and education to advance sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. Founded in 2005, the institute is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and receives funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, Kendall Foundation, Surdna Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, among others.

While activities and shopping sprees have already been jotted down in this weekend’s calendar, Clark University’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) hopes to add one more “to-do” list to the 2008 Family Weekend schedule (September 26-28). And that is to, “Get Your Green On.”

That’s right. The Cougars are “Going Green.”

Not only are the women’s soccer (Noon), field hockey (1 p.m.) and men’s soccer (2:30 p.m.) teams in action at Clark’s Dolan Field House on Saturday, but so is SAAC’s Campus Engagement Committee – the prime organizers of the movement. They have teamed up with several groups and/or departments on campus to help make a successful event, including the Campus Sustainability Initiative (CSI), Dining Services and Physical Plant. CSI will provide environmental educational brochures and information on how to become sustainable, Dining Services, who are also hosting a reservation only lunch at the Dolan, donated mugs, while Physical Plant will provide recycling bins for the busy day.

Additionally, SAAC will dole out “Go Green” bracelets or nalgene bottles for a minimum $1 donation and a chance to win a raffle bag packed with Clark paraphernalia. A portion of the proceeds will go to the CSI and one raffle winner will be announced at halftime of each game.

Staying in line with the weekend’s theme – family – SAAC will also have entertainment for the children. Clark women’s basketball player Blaize Denfeld ’10 will have a face painting station set-up just for fun.

Attendees should look for the Dolan to be decked in green and white balloons, recyclable game program paper, and posters on how Clark student-athletes are sustainable. In the meantime, visit www.clarku.edu/athletics to vote on the best approach to help the environment.

Curry Printing has been certified by the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance, a national forestry conservation organization dedicated to protecting and sustaining renewable forestry resources.

According to Curry president Tom Gardner, the certification follows an extensive process that verifies Curry Printing as part of the chain-of-custody for wood products that eventually end up on their printing presses. "Chain-of-custody is a verification system that tracks forest products all the way from the harvested logs to the broker, mill or other processor, and finally to the wholesaler and retailer who use the final product -- in our case, paper stock for printing," explained Gardner.

"We believe being certified for Forest Stewardship Council Chain-of-Custody is an important step to take because an increasing number of our customers are asking about "green" manufacturing processes and recycled or sustainably- produced products," added Gardner. "As a responsible printer and a company interested in sustainability, we're focused on doing our part to reduce the impact of printing on our natural resources."

Working through its Training, Extension, Enterprises and Sourcing TREES) program the Rainforest Alliance promotes sustainable development, protects biodiversity and enhances the economic performance of forestry businesses. It works with forestry product producers to help them become more efficient, to increase investment, and to link them with local, national and international buyers and markets. These changes are driven by the growing demand for green products, on the part of consumers, governments and businesses using FSCcertified timber.

Curry Printing is a privately-held company providing printing and copying services since 1978. www.curryprinting.com

As a part of the trayless sustainability movement, Clark students are reminded to "Take what you like, and eat all you take!"? Could this spell the end of the Freshman 15?!

Beginning in fall 2008, dining trays will be removed from regular use in the main dining hall in the Higgins University Center at Clark University and in many campus dining halls across the country, in an effort to achieve an even greater level of environmental sustainability.

There are many benefits to going trayless:

• Trayless dining substantially diminishes food waste by encouraging guests to take only the amount of food they want to eat.
• Electricity, water and detergent usage are reduced because there are fewer items to wash in the dish room.
• Less detergent and solid waste is added to the waste stream, which helps improve downstream water quality.

Meal service in the dining hall has always been an "All You Care To Eat" style of service. With trayless dining, students are still welcome to go back for more helpings.

Some statistics to consider:

• On average, each person generates 1.3 pounds of food waste daily.
• An estimated 26 million tons of food are wasted annually.
• Food waste accounts for 12% of all land-fill weight.