News and Updates

Congratulations to Our Students!

Congratulations to all of our students on a great year with an extra big congratulations to our graduates!

Rutgers Earns AASHE STARS Silver Rating

After a year of outreach, data collection, and analysis, we are happy to share that Rutgers-New Brunswick earned a Silver Rating on our first ever AASHE Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) report! This rating recognizes the great work that Rutgers students, staff, and faculty have been doing for years in sustainability, and it helps us identifies many opportunities for improvement moving forward.

We encourage you to explore our report, which is now publicly available and helps make our sustainability data more transparent and accessible. To learn more about STARS and the importance of sustainability metrics, check out this month’s Climate 101 article.

We couldn’t have completed this report without the help of students, staff, and faculty across the university. Special thanks to:

Laura Berman, Assistant Vice President and Assistant University Architect, IP&O

Justin Cairns, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Stella Campbell, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Sarah Chang, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Joseph Charette, Executive Director, Dining Services, Rutgers – New Brunswick

Brian Clemson, University Landscape Architect, IP&O

Wes Coleman, Associate Director, Supplier Diversity & Sustainability, Procurement Services

Thomas Cunningham, Operations Area Manager, Environmental Services, IP&O

Emily DeHart, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Lauren Errickson, Director of Rutgers Gardens and Campus Stewardship, SEBS

Anne Gutsick, Associate Director – University Travel and Card Program, Procurement Services

William Jones, Executive Director, Career Exploration and Success

Mike Kornitas, Director of Sustainability and Energy, IP&O

Emily Lescano, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Thomas Lott, Assistant Food Buyer, Dining Services, Rutgers – New Brunswick

Jason MacDonald, Chief Investment Officer, UFA

Eduardo Molina, Vice President for Institutional Research and Decision Support, UAA

William O’Brien, Assistant Vice President, Business Services, IP&O

Shai Patel, Senior Director, Project Services, IP&O

Seth Richter, Project Manager, Planning, Development, and Design, IP&O

Alex Ruiz, University Safety Officer, Rutgers Environmental Health and Safety, IP&O

Sukrut Sonty, graduate student, RWJMS; OCA Student Advisory Board member

Joey Velke, undergraduate student, SEBS; OCA research intern

Jordan Warner, undergraduate student, SASN; OCA research intern; OCA Student Advisory Board member

Frank Wong, Assistant Vice President, University Planning and Development, Institutional Planning and Operations

Julia Zappi, Senior Data Analyst, Research Analytics and Systems, UAA

Join the Office of Climate Action!

Are you looking to get involved in climate action at Rutgers? We are looking for students to join our office!

The Student Advisory Board (SAB) aims to build a coalition of students who make sustainable changes for the campus and community. Members serve as liaisons between the OCA and the student body. Graduate and Undergraduate students from all Rutgers Campuses are invited to apply on a rolling basis.

OCA Interns gain research and professional skills while helping with key climate action projects that have a direct impact here at Rutgers. We welcome students from all campuses, class years, and experience levels. To enroll for credit, register for course 11:374:482. To sign up or request more information, contact Associate Director Angie Oberg at angela.oberg@rutgers.edu.

Time to Moveout, Reuse, and Recycle

Moving out but not sure what to do with your extra stuff? Rutgers offers options to help reuse or recycle furniture, appliances, electronics, and more!

For items fit to go to a new home, list them on the Rutgers-Rheaply App and offer them to other members of the Rutgers community. If you have items that are better off recycled, register for ProjectMoveout by May 22 to get free curbside pickup and recycling.

Rutgers Day 2023

The rain didn’t get us down this Rutgers Day! OCA staff and Student Advisory Board members taught visitors how to make native wildflower seed balls to help NJ pollinators and shared about climate action at Rutgers.

OCA Students in the News

Kyra Bostic Got a Front Seat in Crafting Historic U.N. Ocean Treaty

Kendall Soto Studied Abroad as a Global Justice Fellow

Javier Perez and C.J. Macaayan Helped Advocate for Financial Aid on Capitol Hill

Spotlight - 67 Penn St. Community Garden

Black/Latinx urban growers in the city of Camden have increased community gardening at a rate that surpasses most, if not all, cities in the United States(1). According to Camden growers, this growth is one of many strategies they’ve adopted to improve health and food accessibility for themselves, their families, and their neighbors(1). Historically speaking, the city has resisted and endured complex ecocide from numerous industrial sites, including waste incinerators, landfills, and chemical plants(2). It has, since the early 2010’s, been declared a “low access” food area by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and today it is home to one supermarket.Residents have mobilized urban growing projects as a direct response to years of neglect and environmental violence(3).

Camden urban growers’ everyday activism serves as a means of self-defense and determination for city residents. In alignment with this need and call to action the Division of Diversity, Inclusion & Community Engagement has (re)created our 67 Penn St. Community Garden to support efforts for access to local, healthy, and nutritious plant foods.

The garden hosted its first service day during this year’s Earth Week. Led by Dr. Leeann Westman, the Rutgers Camden Honors students worked to clean and prep the community garden for spring planting. The garden was completely transformed by the work and presence of the Rutgers Camden Honors students. Students left feeling accomplished and eager to continue making a difference in our Rutgers-Camden community. In the following days,students in Dr. Elizabeth Demaray’s Bio-design course took soil samples from the garden to ensure the quality of the soil. These students were interested in studying soil microbes and figuring out how to best support quality soils as part of their coursework. Together, both student groups have worked tirelessly to get the community garden ready for summer programming.

One of our major tasks this summer is planting three varieties of Rutgers tomato seedling plants which were donated to the garden by the Rutgers Garden (New Brunswick) in collaboration with the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. We plan to involve the youth summer program, IGNITE, to support transplanting these seedlings and caring for them over the summer.

In efforts to further support this work, we’ve recruited Rutgers Camden Public Health AmeriCorps members to maintain and work the garden grounds. We’ve engaged with the Camden County Extension to explore opportunities for collaboration with NJAES (New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station) and local non-profit organizations engaged in urban agriculture, food justice systems, and public health initiatives.

The 67Penn St. Garden forms part of a larger movement in Camden that promotes sustainable agriculture and works to transform foodways in the city by providing fresh and healthy plants food to the community.

Citations

1.Vitiello, Domenic et al. “Community Gardening in Camden, NJ Harvest Report: Summer 2009.”

2.Gillette, Howard. 2005. Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City. University of Pennsylvania Press.

3.Jackson, Kathryn. 2022. “‘The Garden Is Life and the Garden Is Death’:Radical Growers and the Struggle for Liberation.” Environmental Justice15(1): 25–30.

Opportunities

Megapolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) Program Coordinator | Rolling Applications

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) Community-Academic Grants Program | Deadline: June 5

Garden Club of America Scholarships | Varied Deadlines

American Littoral Society Development Internship | Rolling Applications

Events Around RU

STEAM Art Fair at the Rutgers Geology Museum | May 13

Rutgers Climate Institute Symposium 2023 | June 2

Climate 101

Sustainability Data Tracking and Reporting at Rutgers Using AASHE STARS

By Naina Waghray, OCA Student Newsletter Editor, Undergraduate Student, Rutgers—New Brunswick

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is an association that was formed to strengthen sustainability efforts on college campuses. The association is well known for its rating system, The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System, better known as STARS. It was created to qualify what an institution is doing to promote sustainability across all sectors, and assign them a corresponding rating. This system is designed for and used by many universities across North America, and especially by those in the US. Continue reading...

Answer Today’s Climate 101 Poll Question!

What are you looking forward to this summer? Share in our Mentimeter poll and we’ll share a word cloud in our special summer issue.

Submit Response

March Poll Results

Rutgers’ first AASHE Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) report will be announced this April. What do you think Rutgers’ STARS Rating will be?

Platinum
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Reporting

Student Newsletter Editor: Naina Waghray, Undergraduate Student, SEBS, RU-NB

Thank you for reading! Please email us at climateaction@rutgers.edu to share events, news, questions, or other comments.

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