Sustainability News

This year’s Game Day Recycling Challenge, a recycling and waste reduction competition to minimize waste generated during a single sporting event, took place at the Oct. 22 OHIO football game. This challenge is a part of Campus Race to Zero Waste, which is an organization that encourages colleges to reduce their waste through various competitions. 

aculty experts Steve Scanlan, professor of Sociology, director of Graduate Studies for the Sociology MA Program and director of Studies for the HTC Environmental Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Michele Morrone, professor in the College of Health Sciences and Professions, and Thomas (Thom) Stevenson, assistant professor of instruction in the Patton College of Education, will discuss food sustainability and safety around the holidays, as well as the importance of food access during an Ask the Experts livestream on Friday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m.

Neatly tucked behind The Ridges in the woods on Dairy Lane, a small house sits up from the brick road. While it may seem like a regular house to a typical passerby, it is a bustling hub of sustainable living.

The OHIO Ecohouse is a form of student housing full of educational opportunities about sustainable living by practicing it firsthand.

According to its Project Mission, "The OHIO Ecohouse is not just a place– it is a dynamic education experience which promotes critical thinking and tangible actions toward sustainability."

On Tuesday, community members were welcome to the Ecohouse for a Thanksgiving dinner that provided an opportunity to learn more about food and holiday sustainability.

The Climate and Sustainability Ambassadors want to raise awareness about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and how students can translate these global issues into local action in the Athens community.

The ambassadors and the Ohio University Office of Sustainability are hosting Sustainability Day on Monday, Nov. 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Baker University Center third floor south atrium.

The park features two pawprint-shaped outlines that can be seen from above, one of which is designated as a campus hammocking area with metal poles and shade screens, and the other serves as an open concrete and gravel space for students and communities on campus to gather and hold events. 

The space was conceptualized collaboratively between OU Housing and Residence Life, the Campus Involvement Center, the Office of Sustainability, Campus Recreation and various students to create a site that would serve programmatic needs as well as student wants, Jneanne Hacker, executive director of Housing and Residence Life, said. 

If the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, then ramp up the fossil-fuel power plant to fill the gap. But it's not that easy or efficient to run a power grid that way, said economist Daniel Karney(opens in a new window),  who recently won a U.S. EPA challenge(opens in a new window) to study the effects of "ramping."

Karney and Khyati Malik(opens in a new window), a Ph.D. student at Ohio State University, will use Power Sector Emissions Data from the EPA's Clean Air Markets Division to study the ramping behavior of fossil fuel-fired power plants and the subsequent impact on emissions and regulatory compliance. Malik is an Ohio University alumna, having earned an M.A. in Economics(opens in a new window) from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2018.

Ohio University is home to a number of students, professional staff, and faculty working hard to help the environment.

Campus Recycling and the Office of Sustainability are two departments in partnership with the Appalachia Ohio Zero Waste Initiative (AOZWI), a longstanding project supported by the local Sugar Bush Foundation, who are dedicated to the prevention of pollution and improvement of waste management in Athens.

One might think water is water, but that is not always the case. True water snobs pride themselves on being able to pick out a “Dasani” water from a “Voss.” The Office of Sustainability’s favorite brand of water, however, is the one with the least waste, so they decided to put drinking water to the test.

From noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, representatives from the Office of Sustainability sat beneath Alumni Gateway with two water dispensers, one red and one blue. Each was full of still-cold water, anonymously representing two water types: tap and bottled. Passersby could stop and refresh on the hot day with a dixie cup of each and a task to guess which was bottled. 

Wednesday’s water challenge was part of a larger concept, 2022’s Pollution Prevention Week. Hosted by the Office of Sustainability, the week of Sept. 19 through 25 hosts a plethora of sustainable events and information, including a Court Street litter pick-up Monday and a pollution prevention information table Tuesday.

Several Ohio University groups have been working together to plan Rufus Recycling Days for the fall semester.

The Athletics-Sustainability Working Group, Campus Recycling, Office of Sustainability, and administrators and student-athletes from OHIO Athletics (including Regan Berg pictured above) have been meeting to plan these events. 

Each sport has a designated game during its season that will be a “green game.” To make the games more sustainable, volunteers will act as “bin goalies” to make sure that waste is diverted to the proper collection stream.  As a dedicated “player for the planet” senior soccer player Regan Berg said she is thrilled to be a part of this new initiative.

Surrounded by a luscious organic garden, winding hiking trails and extensive solar panel arrays lies Ohio University’s Ecohouse—a place with deep-rooted history in Athens.  

Situated between the Dairy Barn and behind The Ridges is the Ecohouse, a sustainable housing option for upperclassmen. Easily accessible by car and close enough for a comfortable walk, the house is located at 8133 Dairy Lane and has more to offer than what meets the eye.