BROWN AND GREEN
A Quarterly Newsletter from the Brown Office of Sustainability
It's Spring already?
“On behalf of the Brown Sustainability Office, I wish every Brunonian well and hope you and yours are safe and healthy. I hope that this newsletter will be a helpful guide for our community to learn more about the many sustainability initiatives on campus and to encourage you to engage in sustainability efforts here at Brown and beyond. As our campus moves closer to the ultimate goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and we explore ways to continuously increase our positive impact on the world, we invite you to be part of our sustainability work, big or small.”
Jessica Berry, Director, Office of Sustainability
Upcoming Sustainability Events
Earth Week
From April 20th to April 24th, Brown’s Office of Sustainability (OS) will host a virtual Earth Week. Every day OS will post fun facts and tips on what you can do in your everyday life to make a positive impact. The schedule of events includes a plant-based cooking demonstration from Brown Dining on Monday, interview videos posted throughout the week from alumni working in the energy and sustainability fields, and a video talk from Senior Lecturer Kurt Teichert to wrap up the week on Friday. You can follow along and participate on Instagram @brown_sustainability and on Facebook.
NEWS @ BROWN
Sustainability Updates From Campus
Brown University Advances Towards
Carbon Net-Zero Goal
To create a more sustainable campus and confront what scientists have declared an increasingly dire threat posed by global climate change, Brown University has set an aggressive goal to cut its campus greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2025 relative to FY2018 levels and to achieve net-zero no later than 2040.
The Net-Zero goal requires an intensive four-stage process.
- Stage 1: Two renewable energy agreements, one in Rhode Island and one in Texas, will offset 100% of campus energy use.
- Stage 2: The central heating plant will be switched to post-consumer bio-oil or be offset by renewable natural gas agreements.
- Stage 3: Further upgrades will be made to the campus heating loop and heat generation.
Stage 4: Brown’s heating plant will be converted to renewable sources and Brown will enter into expanded renewable energy agreements to offset 100% of campus-use.
Brown University's First Strategic
Sustainability Plan in Draft
The University drafted phase I of its first Strategic Sustainability Plan. Phase I strives to articulate Brown’s principles for a more sustainable campus and set the stage for phase II which includes setting specific targets, metrics, and actions to meet those targets.
Phase I of the plan went out for community comment in December and remained open until mid-March. Currently, the comments are under review by a community committee and phase I of the plan is expected to be finalized by the May Corporation meeting.
BEYOND BROWN
Sustainability News You Might Have Missed!
The Cascading Consequences of the Worst Disease Ever
Over the past 50 years, a deadly fungus known as chytrid has infected frogs and salamanders all across the globe. Recently, scientists studying amphibians in Panama’s Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos Herrera have found that this disease has led to the disappearance of at least a dozen snake populations that previously preyed on frogs in the area. Researchers predict that the impact of chytrid will ripple across the food web, affecting “birds, mammals and everything else.”
Julie Ray, University of Nevada, Reno
Sweeping Reforms to NEPA
In early 2020, the White House released proposed changes to the regulations regarding the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Under NEPA, agencies must consider the environmental impact of all major projects, such as highways, pipelines, and energy development. The proposed changes would limit the situations that require an environmental analysis and would stop investigations into the cumulative or indirect impact of construction. This marks the first major change to NEPA in over three decades and will have broad-reaching impacts on wildlife and their habitats, local communities, and water and air quality to name a few.
SUSTAINABILITY TIPS
FOR EVERYDAY LIFE
How We Can Do Our Part!
Unplug your electronics: unplug all electronics before going to bed, including your power strip. Even electronics that are turned off consume energy known as a phantom load, which you have the power to prevent.
Take the stairs: avoiding the elevator means savings in building energy consumption. And taking the stairs can improve your cardiovascular health and reduce cholesterol levels!
Bring your own reusable mug: most coffee cups aren’t recyclable due to the polyethylene liner that keeps them waterproof. Some cafes offer a discount if you use a reusable mug.
LOCAL VENDOR SPOTLIGHT:
NARRAGANSETT CREAMERY
Brown Dining and Narragansett Creamery have been partners for years. The Refectory serves their yogurt daily, Andrews Dining Hall uses their cheese on pizzas, Catering uses their cheese for events, and more.
Brown Dining Services, in partnership with Narragansett Creamery, won a Henry P. Kendall Foundation Prize, a $250,000 award, which will help fund an increase in local and regional food partnerships and purchases. The Foundation awarded six university and community partner teams with the New England Food Vision Prize. The award will support innovative ideas designed to improve the health, sustainability, and vitality of the region’s food system by increasing the amount of regionally-produced food found on campus menus.
RESEARCH @ BROWN
Boosting Arctic Resilience: Effective Policy Design in the Warming North Atlantic
What does the retreating sea ice mean to different groups of local communities in the North Atlantic region? How can scientists use modeling to connect with different stakeholders? Professor Lynch’s climate change research into this pressing issue reveals robust alternatives through which researchers can help impacted communities become more adaptive and resilient in the face of climate change.
Improving Ocean Simulations in Climate Models
How does the ocean interact with both weather and climate? The Fox-Kemper Lab is answering this question by improving the way that oceanic turbulence manifests in powerful climate models, generating more accurate simulations of the ocean in the process. Ultimately, they are providing scientists with better tools with which to explore current phenomena and predict future changes in climate.
Office of Sustainability Recommendations
The Overstory
The Overstory, by Richard Powers, tells the story of nine Americans whose close relationship with trees draws them together to protect the world’s threatened forests. Nearly all of the diverse characters transform into activists over the course of the novel, in this gripping Pulitzer Prize winner about kinship between people and the planet.
Rising
Rising, by Elizabeth Rush, takes readers on a graphic tour of U.S. coastal communities grappling with the devastating effects of climate change. From Maine to Miami, the Gulf Coast to the Bay Area, Rush reveals how lives, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems are undergoing irrevocable changes.
