Session Summary:

We started off our second session by hearing from a current Eco-Ambassador, Nikki Lowe Lane, the Associate Director of Financial Aid at the School of Dental Medicine. She has been the driving force behind moving the Tufts Dental Financial Aid Office’s application process online, greatly reducing the amount of paper waste and allowing the office the opportunity to use more recycled paper.  The initiative has yielded significant cost savings in the office’s budget.

Then we discussed water, including where Tufts’ water comes from, water conservation projects at the university, and ways you can conserve water in your offices. Emma Groves from ABC-TMA joined us to talk about transportation options and resources available to Tufts employees on the Boston and Medford campuses. We reviewed ways to “green” meetings and events and looked at green event resources on the OOS website. We went over energy use and infrastructure at Tufts, as well as upcoming energy projects and ways to conserve energy in our offices. To end the day, we sorted “Eco-labels” and talked about which are reliable and unreliable and reviewed some purchasing tips and resources.

Assignments for next week:

  • Introduce yourself as an Eco-Ambassador to your officemates
  • Meet with your supervisor/Eco-Ambassador team
  • Create a draft community-based social marketing plan using this worksheet. Email to Shoshana by Friday, February 16.

Next Steps:

 

Additional Resources

Water:

Transportation:

  • Tufts’ Commuter Benefits: Visit the Commuting Benefits website for information about how you can get discounted transit passes.
  • Transportation Incentives & Regional Programs: folks on all campuses can sign up for Bay State Commute to find carpool partners and earn rewards for your “green” trips.  Employees on the Medford and Grafton campuses, can sign up for MassRIDES’ Emergency Ride HomeABC TMA provides incentives to employees on the Boston Campus, including the Guaranteed Ride Home Program.
  • Public Transportation: Visit the MBTA website for information on the rail, bus, subway, and commuter boat systems and access to helpful resources such as schedules & mapsreloading your CharlieCard online, and MBTA apps.
  • Tufts Shuttles: Find information about Tufts’ shuttles, including schedules and the live tracker, here.
  • BikingMassBike offers a wide range of bicycle safety and maintenance courses as well as extensive online resources about bike laws, local bike clubs, guides for new bikers, and much more. Learn more about bike safety from the Tufts University Police Department. View the City of Somerville Bicycle Routes map here.
  • General Transportation Info: Visit the EPA’s website for information about transportation and climate change, regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and how to calculate your greenhouse gas emissions.
  • For guests traveling to campus: Provide information about how to travel to your campus via public transportation.  This page (and its subpages) have some good resources and language.
  • Transportation Brochures and Maps: Visit the Office of Sustainability’s Publications Library for electronic versions of our various transportation-related handouts.

Meetings & Events:

Energy:

Purchasing:

Additional Topics of Interest:

  • The Environmental Studies program organizes weekly Lunch & Learns about environmental and sustainability topics that are open to all members of the Tufts community (free food is provided!) and they are recorded live each week to watch online – learn more and see a schedule of upcoming speakers here.
  • There are CSA farm shares that deliver directly to the Medford and Boston Health Science campuses.  This is a great way to get fresh produce delivered conveniently to Tufts.  Click here for more information.
  • Meet other Eco-Ambassadors at Tufts – click here for a list (you will be added shortly!).
  • The Office of Sustainability/TIE chore chart detailing how we split up chores like washing the hand towels and putting dishes away.

 

Contacts

Shoshana Blank

Education & Outreach Program Administrator

Shoshana.Blank@tufts.edu

(617) 627-2973

Nikki Lowe Lane

Associate Director of Financial Aid, Tufts Dental School

Eco-Ambassador

Nikki.Lowe@tufts.edu

617-636-6973

Emma Groves

TMA Manager

A Better City + Allston Brighton TMAs

egroves@abettercity.org

617.502.6254