As Sustainability Awareness Week 2017 gets underway, (February 27- March 3), it’s an ideal time to take a look at the various and wide-ranging sustainable initiatives being undertaken by the college to help reduce the institution’s environmental footprint. Sustainability Awareness Week is a time for everyone on campus to celebrate the college’s commitment to sustainability and to learn more through hands-on activities and presentations.
Recent sustainable activities and accomplishments throughout the college include:
- A $15,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency which is being used to test the effectiveness of muslin compost in growing Coreopsis and Indigo, and how the compost will ultimately affect the dyeing of fabric once the color is extracted from the plants
- Green Roof System – 17,000 square feet have been installed, diverting an estimated 300,000 gallons of runoff from the sewer system each year
- Carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 43 percent, plus a commitment to reduce FIT’s total carbon dioxide emissions by a full 50 percent by 2020 from the 2005 baseline, in support of the United Nations Climate Negotiations
- Winning the 2016 Biodesign Challenge, a competition in which teams of students from nine leading U.S. colleges and universities created projects that envision future applications of biotechnology, and spearheading the 2017 Biodesign Challenge
- Minor in Ethics and Sustainability
- Annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference
- Summer Sustainability Institute
- Campus-wide recycling
- Water bottle refilling stations
- Student-led initiatives:
- Rooftop Natural Dye Garden – established and maintained to promote sustainable and eco-friendly dyeing practices
- Cotton Muslin Composting – using a thermophilic system, FIT’s cotton muslin is composted and transformed into nutrient-rich material for the dye garden
- FIT Hives – an initiative to establish a beehive at FIT in order to foster education across numerous disciplines and majors about bees and their role in the environment, as well as to develop wax- and pollen-related products