Media

Contacts

 

Beth Potier

UNH Media Relations

603.862.1566

beth[dot]potier[at]unh[dot]edu

Sara Cleaves

UNH Sustainability Academy

603.862.0172

sara[dot]cleaves[at]unh[dot]edu

To schedule an interview with Tom Kelly, UNH's Chief Sustainability Officer:

Colleen Flaherty, Administrative Assistant

UNH Sustainability Academy

603.862.8564

colleen[dot]flaherty[at]unh[dot]edu

 

Talking Points

"Sustainability is now recognized as one of UNH’s core identities and strengths with faculty, staff, and students from many disciplines working together in new and innovative ways to advance a common goal. Our impact on campus ripples out into the state and even the nation as our graduates take their knowledge and experience with them—helping to guide and educate their new communities in the ways of sustainability."

-- UNH President Mark Huddleston

UNH launched its endowned sustainability program in 1997, making it the nation's first endowed office of sustainability in higher education. Today, UNH is a leader in sustainability -- integrating sustainability throughout its curricula, operations, research, and engagement efforts through four initiatives in biodiversity, climate, food and culture. Committed to being a model sustainable learning community that prepares students to advance sustainability in their civic and professional lives, UNH has earned several awards for its sustainability initiatives, which range from innovative academic programs and research in fields like ecogastronomy and marine science to the largest transit system in the state of New Hampshire (run mainly on alternative fuels) to sustainable food in the dining halls. Discover the sustainable learning community at UNH at sustainableunh.unh.edu and discoversustainability.org.

 

Latest News

 

USDA Grant Brings Local Food To NH Schools And Institutions

A new grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help put more locally grown food on the tables at schools, hospitals, colleges, and other institutions around the state. New Hampshire Farm to School, a program of the University of New Hampshire Sustainability Academy, will receive $11,000 of a $250,000 grant to farm-to-institution projects in six New England states.(2-22-11) Story >>>

 

UNH Report: N.H. Energy Efficiency Program Will Save State $60M

A report issued today by the University of New Hampshire’s Carbon Solutions New England (CSNE) provides first-year results from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Fund (GHGERF) showing grants awarded by the fund generated an actual, verified energy use reduction of 40,500 BTUs and a savings of $1.5 million to state businesses, communities, and residents in the first year of the program. The lifetime savings from the $17.7 million awarded from the fund are projected to be $60.6 million in energy costs based on current energy prices. (2-14-11) Story >>>

 

New Sustainable Agriculture Program Shapes Future Of Food

The University of New Hampshire has launched a new major in that reflects the region’s agricultural landscape and the growing appetite for local, sustainable food, products and services. The major, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, combines plant, animal, and environmental sciences with related topics such as nutrition, forestry, aquaculture, and business disciplines such as entrepreneurship and marketing. With a high degree of flexibility to address students’ unique goals and needs, the major offers both Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees. (2-09-11) Story >>>

 

Sustainability Initiatives

 

Awards & Accolades

 

Images and captions

All credits go to UNH Photographic Services except "The Sustainable Learning Community," which goes to artist Dennis Balogh, the UNH Foundation, Inc., and the University Press of New England.

Cogeneration plant

DOWNLOAD

Caption: UNH was an early signer of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. A campus-wide Energy Task Force is developing a climate action plan to steer the university towards climate neutrality, and operational efforts like the on-campus combined heat and power plant will help the campus meet the goals of this plan as part if its Climate Education Initiative.

EcoLine

DOWNLOAD

The first university to meet its energy needs with landfill gas, UNH is selling the renewable energy certificates (RECs) associated with EcoLine to help finance the capital costs of the project and to invest in additional energy efficiency projects on campus.

 

Local Harvest Feast

DOWNLOAD

Caption: Students and community members line up in droves to attend UNH's annual Local Harvest Feast of gourmet menu items made from local and sustainble foods. The feast is part of UNH's Local Harvest Initiative, the goals of which are to increase procurement of locally, regionally, and sustainably grown and produced items (including organic and Fair Trade), conserve water and energy, reduce waste (including through composting), and educate students, staff, faculty and community members about our local agricultural landscape and its role in sustaining our physical and economical health and well-being, now and in the future.

Organic Dairy Research Farm

DOWNLOAD

Caption: UNH’s Organic Dairy Research Farm, the first at a land-grant university in the country and made possible by the generosity of donors like Stonyfield Farm, provides research to New England farmers and training to UNH students as part of UNH's Food & Society Initiative. "UNH is a recognized leader in sustainability, in large part because of the innovative work we do to advance sustainable agriculture, food, and nutrition in our state and region," says UNH President Mark Huddleston."Our impact on campus ripples out into the state, nation and world as our graduates take their knowledge and experience with them-helping to guide and educate their new communities in the ways of sustainability."

Organic Garden Club

DOWNLOAD

Caption: Founded in 2003, the student-run UNH Organic Garden Club (OGC) maintains a two-acre site on a 30-acre, USDA certified organic parcel of land on the UNH Durham campus -- the first certified organic land on campus. They supply their own on-campus farmer’s market, UNH dining halls, and dinners for local shelters and the larger community with the variety of produce they grow, including heirloom varieties.

Student Energy Waste Watch Challenge

DOWNLOAD

Caption: As part of its Climate Education Initiative, every fall UNH students compete in the Energy Waste Watch Challenge to see which residence hall or apartment can use the least amount of energy. In 2007, students saved $40,000 and reduced 189 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The Sustainable Learning Community

DOWNLOAD

In 2009, over 60 authors from across and beyond campus authored “The Sustainable Learning Community: One University’s Journey to the Future” detailing UNH’s 10-plus years of sustainability innovation and leadership.

UNH student biking on campus

DOWNLOAD

Caption: University of New Hampshire students are embedded in a culture of sustainability. A “day in the life” of a UNH student could include waking up in Energy Star rated residence hall, biking or taking a biodiesel or compressed natural gas shuttle bus to get around campus, dining on local food and Fair Trade coffee, working at the on-side student organic garden club site, taking classes in everything from alternative energy to food and society, interning or conducting research in areas of sustainability, and attending a speaker, film, discussion, or performance on campus.

Wildcat Sculpture

DOWNLOAD

Caption: Sustainability is about thriving, not just surviving, so UNH includes social and cultural issues in sustainability. Its University Office of Sustainability has co-sponsored Human Rights Watch films and a Fair Trade Fair, offered cultural excursions to museums and the performing arts, collaborated in making a documentary about the late Ed and Mary Scheier, former UNH faculty who were celebrated potters, and worked with administrators, faculty, staff and students to develop campus aesthetic guidelines under which the first piece of public art arrived on campus – the Wildcat sculpture in front of the Whittemore Center.

Wildcat Transit

DOWNLOAD

Caption: In 2007, UNH Wildcat Transit – the largest public transportation provider in the state—provided more than 1 million passenger trips, a new record. UNH transit buses and shuttles run mostly on alternative fuels like biodiesel and compressed natural gas. Named an EPA and DOT “Best Workplace for Commuters” since 2004, UNH's transportation demand mangement efforts also include an on-campus Amtrak rail station, dedicated walking and bicycling paths and solar-powered lit shelters, ridesharing, carpooling, and an ever-growing suite of alternative fueled and clean technology transit and non-transit vehicles called “Eco-Cat.”