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Sustainability

New ways to reduce waste on campus
A person seated at a table labeled Penn Sustainability interacts with someone visiting the table

At Move-In, Penn Sustainability shared tips for a greener return to campus. (Image: Kylie Cooper) 

New ways to reduce waste on campus

Reusable food containers, a new program to recycle flexible plastics, and mask and glove recycling are among the ways that Penn is helping members of the community keep the environment in mind this year.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A better way to cool ourselves
Scientific American

A better way to cool ourselves

Dorit Aviv of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and international collaborators wrote an opinion piece about their work developing a healthier and more sustainable alternative to air conditioning.

Connecting students with Indigenous leaders
Tirua Sur Chile statues In Tirua Sur, Chile, carved wooden figures called chemamüll mark the graves of deceased Mapuche people. (Image: Tulia Falleti)

Connecting students with Indigenous leaders

People of the Land, a new Penn Global seminar taught by political science Professor Tulia Falleti, enables students to learn from Indigenous community members in South America.

Kristina García

The stories trees tell
cherry blossoms in front of fisher library Penn is the only Ivy League university with a campus that is an accredited arboretum. This recognition underscores a commitment to rigorously care for the University’s thousands of trees, representing hundreds of species.

The stories trees tell

In a photo essay, Penn Today highlights some of campus’s most iconic trees.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
A sketch of adults and children looking over a lush rain garden

Penn group wins EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge

The student-led project will reimagine the campus of West Philadelphia’s Andrew Hamilton School, including vegetable gardens, a food forest, and other green stormwater-management tools.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A ‘human-focused approach’ to sustainability
Nina Morris against the backdrop of an urban farm

Nina Morris, Penn's sustainability director, hopes to engage more members of the campus community by “meeting people where they are, showing up to support them and their interests, and then finding out how their passions connect to sustainability.”

A ‘human-focused approach’ to sustainability

Sustainability Director Nina Morris, who started at Penn in October, aims to build on the University’s strengths in creating a more sustainable campus and community.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Biden’s push for electric cars: $174 billion, 10 years and a bit of luck
The New York Times

Biden’s push for electric cars: $174 billion, 10 years and a bit of luck

John Paul MacDuffie of the Wharton School spoke about the push to develop a robust charging network for electric vehicles in the U.S. “It is, famously, one of the ways that China has become the No. 1 country in E.V.s on most dimensions,” he said.

Wolf administration to buy half of state government’s electricity from solar
WHYY (Philadelphia)

Wolf administration to buy half of state government’s electricity from solar

Mark Hughes of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy said Pennsylvania’s solar fields will provide jobs and tax revenue and move the state toward clean energy. “You want to make it hip, you want to make it cheap—but eventually you’re going to have to make it mandatory,” he said.

2020 Green Purchasing Awards announced
Ceramic tea cup on a saucer on a counter at work.

2020 Green Purchasing Awards announced

Weitzman’s Megan Ryerson and Engineering’s Cheryl Hickey are awarded for their contributions to sustainable purchasing in travel consumption and kitchen waste streams.

Barbara Lea-Kruger