Overall Grade

1
Overall Grade
Columbia University

• C
• Recycling initiatives in place
• Effort to maintain green area
• Difficult in middle of city
• Beginning of organic foods
• No mention of green building
• No real environmental policy, declaration, or
  coordinator
• Public Transportation, and education

2
Columbia Conserves- Recycling Program

• Reuse
• Reusable cups mugs program, discount price on
  beverages
• Sell furniture to off campus non profit groups,
  when replacing
• Print on both sides of papers for administration
  purposes when possible
• Reduce
• Purchase items with less packaging
• Recycled products for department use
• Encourage conservation of electricity H20

3
Food Issues

• Going Organic at Ferris Booth Commons- fruit,
  vegetables, salad
• Plastic- use fresh food containers made entirely
  from field corn, replace ones made from
  petroleum. Technology to produce Natureworks PLA
  breaks down starch in corn into natural plant
  sugars which is fermented into lactic acid and
  then produces a clear packaging material called
  Polylactide.
• Compositing of Horticultural waste at Nevis
  Laboratories

4
Problems

• Urban Heat Island
• Air Pollution effects on Asthma victims
• Recycling of hardened concrete
• West Nile in Urban areas
• No space in city
• No set policy, sustainability coordinator, or
  signature on the Tailloires Declaration

5
References

• Wanda Marte- ws22_at_columbia.edu
• Customer Service Coordinator for Housing and
  Dining
• Sarah Cloots- Sarah.Cloots_at_harpercollins.com
• Student at Columbia for Summer of 2004
• http//eesc.columbia.edu/
• http//www.columbia.edu/academic_programs/departme
  nts.html
• http//cumc.columbia.edu/hs/housing/guide/transpor
  tation.html
• http//www.columbia.edu/cu/green/howrecyclingworks
  .htm
• http//www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/visitor_inf
  o.html
• http//www.ehrs.columbia.edu/index12.html