New “green team” will bring to light environmental initiatives at RIC
From the LEED-certified residence hall to the eco-friendly cleaning supplies that are used campus-wide, Rhode Island College has been giving the green light to environmentally healthy living alternatives for years. So it’s only natural for the school to create a campus green team to promote and keep track of current initiatives, and to oversee the development of new ones.
After seeing how effective the green teams have been in other schools, Giroux was motivated to form a group at RIC. She and Dante Del Giudice, interim director of the Office of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, presented a webinar to assess how to go about it.
The webinar, which was hosted by Del Giudice's office, "provided convincing arguments for higher ed's role and opportunities in the development and support of wide-ranging green/sustainability programs and curricula," Del Giudice said.
Giroux said, “We got to see what other colleges were doing and how a green team could implement change, and then the brainstorming began to start one on campus.”
Giroux approached RIC President Carriuolo and Ron Pitt, vice president for academic affairs, about forming a green team. Both agreed that it was a good idea. Carriuolo noted that green initiatives are not only good for the environment but also a cost-effective measure.
On May 4, one of three planned informational sessions will be held for anyone interested in getting involved. [This event was rescheduled from April 1.] “Once we see the level of participation, then we’ll go from there,” Giroux said.
Green Team Flyer
Pitt said that he intends to be active in addressing RIC’s green initiatives because “the administration has an important role in promoting and supporting the team’s efforts, endorsing its goals, and leveraging external and internal resources to make that vision possible.”
He also pointed out that the green team’s success will largely be determined by the level of participation and interest in the group on campus. The team’s work will dovetail with RIC’s new Vision 2015 plan, which he said maintains among its goals for the college “to embrace the principles of sustainability including recycling, energy efficiency, maintenance, protection, and enhancement of green spaces.”
In her mid-year state of the college address on Feb. 24, RIC President Nancy Carriuolo identified several sustainability initiatives the college is pursuing in addition to the green team, including a K-12 green curriculum and a sustainable schools summit.
She also recognized the Green Business Certification program, which began in January, along with the successful cardboard recycling initiative that has dramatically reduced campus waste.
Giroux said the Green Business Certification program is being offered as a course to small business owners who want to enhance their business by reducing waste and becoming more environmentally friendly, as well as to those who are enrolled in the Office of Outreach’s adult education programs at RIC.
So far, the reaction from employers that she has worked with has been “fantastic,” Giroux said, adding that she hopes to continue integrating the RIC community into the program. The next certification class will begin on April 14 and run until June 30.
is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
The K-12 curriculum will provide teachers working in the different school districts with vital skills training to teach their students about the importance of sustainability for the environment.
“It will ensure that teachers are well-prepared to teach students to become environmentally aware, mainly through professional development, to find ways to incorporate green living in the classroom,” Giroux said.
Plans call for the sustainable schools summit to be held for the second time in September. Giroux recalled that back in 2008, the summit took place at the Department of Education’s URI Shepard Building for a full day and provided several workshops along with speakers from established green teams from various schools.
This year, it will be held at the Providence Career and Technical High School, with many more workshops to be presented and people expected to attend. Karen Castagno, interim associate dean for teacher education at RIC’s Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, and Greg Kniseley, professor of elementary education, have also been working with the Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living to make the event possible.
For more information about joining the green team or to enroll in the next Green Business Certification class, contact Jenifer Giroux at (401) 456-9762, or jgiroux@ric.edu.