Massachusetts College of Art and Design
As the only publicly funded school of art and design in the country, Massachusetts College of Art and Design takes great pride in its environmental stewardship within our community and students. Since implementing our climate action plan MassArt as a community and institution of learning has made great strides towards climate neutrality. Through the assistance of students, faculty, and staff we upgraded our boilers to run more efficiently, installed water efficient fixtures in bathrooms including waterless urinals, upgraded lighting to the use of CFL and LED’s, and brought online two new certified LEED Gold buildings , a cafeteria and 20 story resident hall. The recycling program on campus has expanded; it is now single stream waste collection. This has increased the recycling numbers to 20%. The college now collects all organic wastes produced by our cafeteria’s kitchen and will soon include organic and recycling wastes from our cafeteria servery. We are currently considering the purchase of a combined heating and power unit that would allow us to generate its own green electricity while effectively lowering our CO2 levels by 35%. The CHP will also supply added heating load for the winter and cooling for the summer effectively reducing natural gas and electrical consumption. MassArt is also currently working with NSTAR’s green energy program to consider the purchasing of green electricity produced from NSTAR as an added measure to lower our greenhouse gas emissions. MassArt has dedicated a faculty member to develop courses around sustainability practices and climate neutrality. It is currently working on introducing a minor in sustainability in the arts. Classes are already planned to be launched next fall semester. These classes will teach our students about sustainable studio practices and how you their actions as artists affect the environment. Work with the sustainability committee, and with assistance of the five sustainability oriented student groups MassArt offers 5 micro-grants to fund student projects to promote sustainability best practices and community involvement around global warming awareness. One of the most successful projects this year is a clean water generator that uses solar energy and evaporation to purify contaminated water. The students design could be used in Third World countries to produce safe drinking water without the use of electricity. Another project is the use of hydroponics and solar energy to produce vegetables and produce without negative impacts on the environment.
Thank you for considering Massachusetts College of Art and Design for the 2014 second nature climate leadership award.
Jamieson Wicks Assistant Director of Sustainability and Environmental Health and Safety