The Office of Sustainability is hiring!
There are openings in the following two summer positions, due Tuesday, March 27th:
Communications Intern
Programs Intern
For the fall, we have the following openings:
Video Production Intern
Recycling Communications Intern
Specialty Recycling Intern
Education and Verification Intern
| Application Deadline: Tuesday, March 27th |
| Apply Online: Find instructions on JobX |
Eco-Rep, Tufts University
Interested in promoting sustainability on campus? The Eco-Reps are hiring for the Fall 2018 semester! Eco-Reps work under the Office of Sustainability and are agents for environmental change on campus. We are looking for individuals passionate about the intersection between social and environmental issues. Students of all backgrounds and majors are encouraged to apply!
| Application Deadline: April 4 |
| Apply Online Here |
Content based on an Environmental Studies Lunch & Learn Talk given to professors, staff, and students at Tufts University. Every week during the academic year, the ENVS Lunch & Learn lecture series features speakers from government, industry, academia and non-profit organizations to give presentations on environmental topics. This is a great opportunity to broaden your knowledge beyond the curriculum, meet other faculty and students and network with the speakers.
Students, faculty, staff, and members of the community are welcome to attend.
This lecture series is co-sponsored by the Tufts Institute of the Environment and the Tisch College of Civic Life.
Medicinal Plants in their Environments: The chemical warfare of ethnobotany
John de la Parra, Visiting Lecturer, Tufts Experimental College
Watch videoRedistributing Power: Energy Democracy, Renewables & Community Resilience
Jennie Stephens, Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy, Northeastern University
Watch video
This semester, the Environmental Studies Lunch & Learn series is off to a great start with an emphasis on justice and respecting the knowledge, needs, and problem solving of indigenous people, women, communities of color, and low-income communities.
The first talk of the semester, given by John de la Parra, explored the intersections of indigenous knowledge and medicine, and advancements in the biotechnology sphere that increase consistency of products through standardization and analysis. He began by centering the talk on respecting a woman’s knowledge as powerful, as he explains that in many cultures, medicine people are women who know their way around the local plants. About 80% of the world uses plants to heal themselves. Knowledge of the native plants in a given area points to understanding chemical differences between plants that impact their healing qualities and abilities based on the plants’ own “chemical warfare—reactions to pathogens, weather or drought, other plants, and herbivores.” Ethnobotany pairs the technological advances now available with this indigenous knowledge to grow a huge density of plants within the controlled environment of a bioreactor—needing fewer inputs—to produce concentrated tinctures for different illnesses. De la Parra discusses these lab experiments as a way to dramatically increase accessibility to many treatments by curating very specific and tested directions to grow and create the treatments —and possibly distribute them by drone drop-offs—to people all around the world who may be unable to afford or reach pharmaceuticals. Ethnobotany can produce a product to be used by indigenous cultures to treat existing health problems.
In another talk, Jennie Stephens discussed the movement of Energy Democracy—a concept that connects social change with the energy system transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. The energy democracy integrates concerns about the environment, climate change, social justice, income inequality, racism, wealth, and human rights. This vision is an alternative to fossil fuel dominated systems, as the fossil fuel industry is the most profitable industry in the world and the biggest contributor to climate change. This resistance is forming as a response to growing inequalities, unequal distribution of the impacts of energy and climate change, and the political power of the fossil fuel industry. Stephens reminds us that we are within this energy transition from fossil fuels, even if we sometimes feel we are stuck without much progress. The Energy Democracy sees this transition as an opportunity to democratize and decentralize energy while intentionally advancing justice through inclusion and awareness of the implications and connections between issues of inequality, justice, climate, and energy. Stephens posits that renewable energy systems offer a possibility, but not a certainty for more democratic energy futures.
Stay tuned for more Environmental Studies Lunch & Learns highlighting the intersections of the environment, climate change, and justice.
We started off our second session by hearing from a current Eco-Ambassador, Rachel Brown, on the office sustainability projects that she has worked on over the years. 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. Carlos Robles from MassRIDES 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:
Next Steps:
Water:
Transportation:
Meetings & Events:
Energy:
Purchasing:
Additional Topics of Interest:
| Shoshana Blank
Education & Outreach Program Administrator (617)627-2973 |
Rachel Brown
Eco-Ambassador (617)627-7957 |
Carlos Robles
MassRIDES |
During our first meeting, we discussed the history of the Eco-Ambassador program and the role of Eco-Ambassadors, as well as the definition and meaning of “sustainability.” We also went through an overview of sustainability at Tufts and the goals for water, waste, and energy and emissions set forth in the Campus Sustainability Council Report. We then discussed waste and recycling at Tufts. To round out the day, we talked about behavior change and the steps to creating a Community-Based Social Marketing plan, followed by an overview of climate change, its impacts, and how it will specifically impact the Boston area.
Assignments for next week:
Sustainability at Tufts:
Behavior Change:
Climate Change:
| Shoshana Blank
Education & Outreach Program Administrator (617)627-2973 |
Gretchen Carey
Recycling and Organics Coordinator RepublicServicesGCarey@republicservices.com (781)560-1412
|
Recycle (General) |
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