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'Everything Counts'

Climate InitiativesAt Tufts, students are a key part of continuing climate change and environmental awareness efforts.


When it comes to encouraging conservation at a university, the members of the Tufts Climate Initiative understand that getting students involved is key. After all, they are some of the top consumers of energy on campus—burning a lot of midnight oil, so to speak.

To that end, TCI does everything from running a bulb exchange program, in which students hand in an incandescent bulb and receive a free fluorescent light, to educating dedicated students through its Eco-Reps program, a semester-long hybrid between an internship and a class.

"The main goal," says TCI Outreach Coordinator Anja Kollmuss, "is to have student representatives bring environmental messages into their dorms, and at the same time really educate those students about what makes a large environmental impact in your personal lifestyle and what doesn't."

"Each week we'd have a different theme, and we'd poster around that theme and talk to other students about it," said Amanda Fencl, a senior majoring in environmental studies and international relations major who was an Eco-Rep her freshman year.

The successful program has been exported to other universities around the country, helping environmentally motivated students like Fencl -- who last spring received a Udall Fellowship, a prestigious honor in environmental studies -- make a difference.

"I came to Tufts knowing I wanted to do something environmental," she says. "It's always been at the core of who I am. And it was a great opportunity as a freshman, because it forced me to go out and meet a lot of people, while doing something connected to the environment."

And Tufts students are taking action both on-campus and off. For example, last spring, a group of urban and environmental planning graduate students worked with the nearby city of Belmont and community organizations to create a climate action plan.

Sophia Gordon Hall

Students watch a monitor showing real-time environmental information about Sophia Gordon Hall.

This task involved taking inventory of the greenhouse gases created by the city's households and businesses, such as automobile exhaust; the data will help the students refine a course of action and set goals.

Sometimes, making an impact can be as simple as using a little common sense and effort.

"Everything's incremental, everything counts," says Tufts Energy Manager Betsy Isenstein. "We all think, so what if I leave the lights on? Well, if everyone thinks that way, it's a problem." If every student, faculty and staff member turned off one light for an extra two hours daily, the group says Tufts would save 100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Little by little, TCI's staff, facilities and student leaders are working to change that. One victory came over winter break, when a record number of students to cleaned out their fridges and shut down their power-using equipment.

That's no insignificant accomplishment. "We think those actions saved the university around $5,000," says TCI project manager Sarah Hammond Creighton. The increased efficiency was noteworthy, but just as beneficial was the student involvement.

Many students—from economics to urban and environmental planning and policy to engineering—have also worked with TCI and facilities as part of their coursework, investigating issues with climate change and energy implications. These projects offer students a rich real-world study opportunity.

"Universities are the teachers of leaders of the future, so we have to demonstrate these kinds of initiatives so that our students will learn from them and then carry them forward into their jobs and their lives," she explains.

Profile written by Ben Hoffman, Class of 2006

Ben Hoffman, a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, majored in English and minored in communications and media studies.

Photos of Sophia Gordon Hall by Jodi Hilton for Tufts University. Other photos by Joanie Tobin for Tufts University.

This story originally ran on Oct. 2, 2006.