Many UVM students are passionate about sustainability so it’s no surprise that some of the best ideas for making campus more sustainable come from students! Students are often the first movers on the critical issue of climate change and have a strong history of helping UVM become recognized as a sustainability leader.
The Sustainable Campus Fund (SCF) is a student-generated fund that serves as a mechanism to put great ideas into action. Each semester the campus community is invited to make proposals that help advance sustainability through infrastructure, academic, co-curricular education projects. Research projects about campus sustainability go through a separate process outlined here.
Funds can be used for sustainability topics of all kinds, including energy, water, transportation, waste, procurement, food and grounds. For inspiration, here are examples of successful proposals from last semester:
- Electric Vehicle Charging Station Master Plan
- Switching Campus to Sustainable T-shirt Purchasing
- Zero Waste Video "Shorts"
- Surplus Tracking Feasibility Study
- Adaptability Internship: On-Campus Garment Waste Mitigation
- Covered Bicycle Parking for Trinity Campus
You can see short presentations on each of these ideas in this presentation (PDF) from the Sustainable Campus Fund Forum in fall 2021. Examples of completed projects can be found on the infrastructure and academics and co-curricular education pages.
Proposals are due by March 4, 2022. All submitters are strongly encouraged to solicit feedback well before the submission deadline. Please drop into one of the virtual support workshops (Feb 9 and 23). Or reach out to sri@uvm.edu for input from Elizabeth Palchak, Director of Sustainability, and Caylin McCamp, Sustainable Projects Manager who can assist with articulating goals and developing a proposal. These steps will help ensure that your proposal is as strong as it can be!