A division of Eco-Sense is working on eco-certifying offices on campus to ensure that they are environmentally friendly.
What makes an office Eco-Certified is an adherence to the criteria presented by Eco-Sense. The criteria followed in the office are designed to make it, and ultimately the entire campus, more environmentally sustainable. Some of the criteria that the offices must follow include two-sided printing, using recycled paper and encouraging public transportation.
Casey Roe, the leader and creator of the Eco-Certification process and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Public Affairs, started eco-certifying in the spring of 2008.
The certification of offices on campus could have a large impact that goes beyond campus, she said.
"People who are here, they aren't just in this office environment," Roe said. "This is something that they take with them when they leave campus too. They have their own homes and apartments."
In order to become certified, faculty and staff have to attend a one-hour class on things they can do around the office to help the environment. After the class, the faculty members have a month to make changes in order to prepare to be inspected by a member of Eco-Sense.
In order to pass inspection, the office must meet at least 30 of the 45 criteria given to them by Eco-Sense. Some of the criteria are required for passing inspection, including use of recycled paper throughout the office and writing a letter to the director of purchasing asking to see more sustainable options.
There are multiple offices on campus that received Eco-Certification, including the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Office of New Student Programs, the Environmental Studies Department and the School of International Service Faculty Services.
Steven Moss, a member of Eco-Sense who will take over as leader of Eco-Certification after Roe's graduation, said he thinks that certification is simple but requires an effort to help the environment in different ways.
"Just recycling is not quite enough to achieve eco-certification status," he said. "Recycling is important, but we also like to encourage you to reduce your energy usage, reduce your paper usage and reuse, obviously."
Chris Tudge, a CAS biology professor, said he thinks that Eco-Certification can be beneficial to the environment both symbolically and physically.
"The PR and symbolism of being a green office and being green-certified means something to people and that's something they can relate to," he said.
Even though individual offices may only contribute a small difference, it can grow into something that can make significant changes, Tudge said.
"Whether their physical contribution may be exceptionally small to paper conservation, energy conservation, their carbon footprint may be reduced minimally," he said. "But if you imagine 1,000 offices doing it, 5,000 offices doing it, 100,000 offices doing it, then it accumulates."
Roe said for now she is focusing on growing the program to eventually reach each office on campus.
"I think it's going to take a while to get all of the offices certified so I'm not sure what the next step would be," she said. "It's just countless offices on campus it feels like."
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