Duke

The Green Grant Fund projects completed each year engage students, staff, and faculty in efforts to make Duke a leading sustainable institution.  The fund provides creative and passionate sustainability leaders across campus the opportunity to implement and experience their sustainability vision.

2011-12 Projects

• Funding for five students to attend the first annual Southeast Eco-Reps Conference at the University of South Carolina (View a full report)
• A screening of the film King Corn and a talk by the director as part of Food Week at Duke (View a full report)
• Funding for four students to attend the annual Carolina Farm Stewardship Association conference (View a full report)
• Prize money and materials for Eco-Olympics, a waste and energy reduction competition on East Campus (View a full report)
• Funding for students to attend UN climate negotiations in South Africa (View a full report)
• Purchase of shower timers and signs to be installed in some East Campus dorms by the Dorm Eco-Reps
• Funding for a student to attend 5th Annual Farm Based Education Conference (VT) and the 15th Annual Community Food Security Conference (CA) (View a full report)
• Materials and instruction for a jam making workshop and vegetarian cooking culinary workshop at Duke
• Funding for two students to attend the national Real Food Conference (View a full report)
• Funding to support symposium on local and global food issues hosted by Triangle University Food Studies (TUFS)
• Funding for a Durham Liason to support the Walking Fish community supported fishery

2010-11 Projects

• The manager of the Duke Campus Farm and two farm interns travelled to the Yale Farm where they toured the farm, met with farm staff and volunteers, participated in a work day and farmers' market, and learned about best practices for operating a campus farm (View a full report)
• An employee from the Facilities Management Department attended a week-long training on the installation, maintenance, and financial payback of photovoltaic solar systems (View a full report)
• A student organized "Food Week" that highlighted sustainable food options including local and organic food through film screenings and an "Iron Chef" cookoff event (View a full report)
• A new East Campus Community Garden outside of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke, which serves as an educational garden for first year students, dovetails with the outreach efforts of Student Action with Farmworkers to food insecure communities in Durham, and is a teaching tool for courses, including "Politics of Food" (View a full report)
• A workshop to help Duke faculty incorporate sustainability into their courses and syllabi (View a full report)
• An expansion of the reusable eco-friendly to-go container program into The Refectory Cafe at Duke Divinity (View a full report)
• A breakfast networking event for Divinity School commuters who use alternative transportation (View a full report)
• A dance performance encouraging reflection and conversations about how faith intersects with issues of ecology, sustainability, and the global economy (View a full report)
• A screening of the film "Tapped" and student tabling where over 200 people pledged not to drink bottled water and received a reusable bottle (View a full report)
• The Student International Discussion Group and Duke Global Health Institute hosted a symposium entitled "BEYOND THE BRINK: Addressing Human Health and Security in a Changing Climate" (View a full report)
• The Environmental Markets Student Group hosted a symposium to discuss role of different market­ based approaches to address both water quality and water quantity concerns at the domestic and global level (View a full report)
• Funding for two students to attend the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) annual campus sustainability conference in Denver, Colorado (View a full report)

The following are highlighted Green Grant projects from 2005-2010:

2009-10 Highlights

Tammy Hope, Quality Assurance Manager for Duke Dining, received funding to start a reusable to-go container program in the Great Hall and The Loop.  The clamshells are like current to-go containers used at the West Campus eatery, except they’re made of environmentally-friendly polypropylene, a type of hard plastic. The Eco-Clamshells can be washed and reused, as opposed to being thrown away, like other to-go containers.  After using a clamshell, employees and students are asked to rinse it out and return it to a drop station by the cash register at the Great Hall, where it will be cleaned and sanitized. When an owner turns the to-go container in, he or she receives a keychain token that can be turned in for a replacement clamshell.  Tammy purchased 550 reusable to-go containers and gave out the first 200 containers for free as an incentive to join the program.   Read more about the project here.

Cloe Liparini and Sarah Trent, staff members of Duke Engage, received funding to “green” the annual Duke Engage Academy, which is attended by all student participants of Duke Engage.  Meals were nearly 100% vegetarian and featured local, organic and seasonal ingredients.  Instead of providing boxed food to-go, which is heavily packaged, Duke Engage reorganized the schedule and location of events to ensure that breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served in a central location utilizing durable china and silverware.  Pre- and post-consumer composting occurred at all meals.  Duke Engage also partnered with Sustainable Duke to provide two sessions for students on “Going Green During Duke Engage”.  Also, through a partnership with the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative, Duke Engage offered students, faculty and staff the opportunity to go carbon neutral with their travel.  Duke Engage has pledged to incorporate these sustainable changes into the Duke Engage Academy in future years.  Read more about the project here.

2007-08 Highlights

Laura Hall, owner of The Refectory, received a grant for the purchase of materials to create a vertical wall garden on the Refectory patio.  The garden would grow fresh, organic tomatoes, mint, cilantro, dill, parsley, rosemary, thyme, onion, oregano, basil, sage, kale and assorted lettuces.  The project tied in with the Refectory's existing goal of minimizing the environmental impacts incurred from farm to fork, and serves to educate patrons about the establishments commitment to sustainability.

Jillian Ziarko (Trinity '09) applied for a grant to initiate a compost program at Duke's Marine Lab in cooperation with the campus's dining-hall.  The nutrient rich humus produced from the composting will be used as a soil amendment in an organic herb and vegetable garden.  Jillian's project brought the Marine Lab Dining Hall one step closer to its existing goal of establishing a sustainable food system on the Marine Lab campus.  Students working with Jillian will also educate Dining staff on separation of food waste, as well as help to grow food in the garden.

2006-07 Highlights

Abhinav Kapur (Pratt '09) received a grant to install a rainwater cistern at the Doris Duke Center.  The project's design was the product of several students' work for Dr. David Schaad's EGR 183: Sustainable Engineering" course.  After installation, students will take turns monitoring how much water is collected during rain events. Specific attention will be paid to measuring fecal coliform and E. coli, to determine the potability of the collected water.

Carina Barnett-Loro (Trinity '09)  used funding from the Green Grant Fund to produce a how-to video on managing Duke's highly-succesful Eco-Olympics competition in the dorms.The film required collaborative efforts from over 20 students and staff, and has been one of the most visited videos on AASHE's video page.  Watch the video here.

2005-06 Highlights

Dr. Charlie Thompson, adjunct faculty member and director of the undergraduate program at Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, used  Green Grant funding for his "Food, Farm People and the Environment" exhibit.  The selected photographs and information emphasizes the connections between our food and where it comes from, and focused attention on the frequently overlooked social and economic dimensions of sustainability.

Tom Rose, co-founder of Duke's Smart House, applied for Green Grant funding to send four students to represent the university's commitment to green building at a national conference. Sudha Golapadi (MEM), Josh Sommers (Pratt '09), Tom Rose (Pratt '05), and Ashleigh Thames ('06) attended the GreenBuild Expo in Atlanta along with staff members from Facilities Management Department and the Sustainability office.