UConn Office of Sustainability

Learn more about COP29 - the United Nation's Climate Change Conference! Stay tuned to meet our fellows! #UConnTalksClimate

Pulitzer prize and National Book Award-nominated author, John Vaillant, will be at UConn! Join him for a talk on the intersection of climate change, fire and fossil fuels on Thursday October 10 at 4pm in the Konover Auditorium. Free and open to the public! #UConn Penguin Random House

Glad our Environmental and Social Sustainability Grants program is helping University of Connecticut-Stamford students in need access fresh greens! Congrats to grantees Victoria Almazán and Joanna Pirog and their mentors Laura Bunyan and Rosa Rizzo. "Offering produce, which like yogurt also needs refrigeration, is something Husky Harvest Stamford hasn’t been able to do in large quantities because, as for any pantry, finding a supplier is challenging." "But in yet another new initiative this year, Stamford will take a stab growing its own." "Bunyan credits her research assistant, Victoria Almazan ’26 (SSW), with obtaining an Environmental and Social Sustainability Grant from UConn’s Office of Sustainability within the Institute of the Environment to purchase an indoor hydroponic system, known as a Flex Farm. The indoor vertical farm, when working at its maximum, can grow more than 394 pounds of produce annually." #UConn Fork Farms

The Teale Lecture Series kicks off this year with Dr. Benjamin Sovacool talking about Energy Justice. Free talk is at 4pm in Konover Auditorium TODAY. All are welcome. Dr. Sovacool is Professor of Earth & Environment at Boston University. His research focuses on renewable energy and energy efficiency, the politics of large-scale energy infrastructure, designing public policy to improve energy security and access to electricity, the ethics and justice of energy, and building adaptive capacity to the consequences of climate change. With much coverage of his work in the international news media, he is one of the most highly cited global researchers on issues bearing on controversies in energy and climate policy. Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability #UConn

Attend the Clean Energy Engagement Fair from 3-4:30pm on Monday! Over 20 organizations, employers and departments will be tabling and eager to talk about ways to get involved in Clean Energy in Connecticut. Register at the link below (note that it's part of a day long Clean Energy Summit, but you don't need to attend the whole day in order to attend the fair). #UConn https://lnkd.in/eGEAYUNU

Meet our amazing alumni! We'll be highlighting intern alumni over the next few months. Samuel Kocurek worked with the Office of Sustainability from 2021 to 2023. He graduated from UConn with degrees in mathematics and environmental science. Sam is currently a second year graduate student at the University of Michigan- School for Environment and Sustainability. He focuses on Geospatial Data Science and Sustainable Development. Sam is heavily involved with Nature Rx at UM and is currently planning a 'Nature for Wellness' Symposium where he will have speakers from UM and external organizations to help advise the university on necessary next steps for health and sustainability. Sam also works at the UM Office of Campus Sustainability where he primarily assists with their state-of-the-art green labs program as well as their zero-waste initiatives and sustainable grounds.

Grantee in the news! In the area of Horsebarn Hill behind Jacobsen's Barn, there is an ongoing construction project to create an outdoor classroom pavilion for professors and students to utilize! Isaac Betts (CAHNR) '23 in partnership with UConn Forestry, received an "Office of Sustainability Environmental and Social Sustainability Grant" to enable this project. Visit the link below to learn more about project progress and volunteer opportunities. Additionally, head to our UConn Office of Sustainability website to learn more about grants and projects! #UConn UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

Want to grow your own food in a mini hydroponic farm? Our Environmental and Social Sustainability Grantees, Audrey Larson and Lucy Ledesma can help! Their Seeds2Sustain program will help fight food insecurity on campus, enhance student agricultural knowledge, and improve food sustainability. Apply to be part of the program by September 11 here: https://lnkd.in/eCwxn2dr #UConn

Sign up for the Sustainable Clean Energy Summit and hear from Gene Rodrigues, the Assistant Secretary for Electricity at the US Dept. of Energy. Besides learning about cutting edge progress, you'll get to network and find opportunities for engagement in the clean energy community. Free for students, and free lunch too! Sign up and learn more: https://lnkd.in/ea5GvnSA U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) UConn Center for Clean Energy Engineering UConn College of Engineering Eversource Energy

📢UConn’s Office of Sustainability will host 11 new Campus Climate Action Corps fellows this fall! Within AmeriCorps and the new American Climate Corps, these fellows are part of a national push to address climate change and environmental injustice via workforce training and service. Fellows are facilitating collaborative efforts to promote environmental awareness and to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis in their surrounding communities. There will be two full-time and nine part-time positions supporting UConn’s sustainability efforts. The full-time Regional Campus Sustainability and Environmental Justice Coordinator will lead sustainability related experiential and service based learning activities on campus and in the greater community at UConn’s regional campuses. The other full-time fellow, the EcoCaptains and Community Outreach Coordinator, will focus on managing the residential EcoCaptain Internship program at UConn’s main Storrs campus. Part-time student fellows will be supporting each coordinator. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/eGUnRXt5 #UConn Campus Compact University of Connecticut UConn Health University of Connecticut-Stamford #AmericanClimateCorps