Sydney Crimmins sells a water bottle to Forrest Gamble during Green Week. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
The University of Mississippi Green Fund is accepting project proposals from faculty, staff and students through Oct. 17. Created in 2012 to fund sustainability projects on campus, the Green Fund is supported by the university as well as donations from faculty, staff and students.
Previous projects range in scale from the installation of hydration stations in multiple UM buildings to the launch of a student-run composting program that converts pre-consumer food waste into nutrient-dense soil.
“The Green Fund allows students, faculty and staff to pursue their own vision of an environmental project that could improve our campus,” said senior public policy major Will Bedwell, a member of the Green Fund Committee. “The idea is to provide the campus community with a way to reduce our environmental impact.”
Faculty and staff are encouraged to submit proposals individually, as a department or as a group.
Last spring, faculty and staff at the J.D. Williams Library submitted a proposal to install low-emissivity film on south-facing windows, including a portion of the windows in the Faulkner Room where many of the library’s rare documents are housed. The film reflects 57 percent of total solar energy, lowering the temperature in the rooms and making them more comfortable.
“We had already installed some window film on that great big window that looks out on the Lyceum over the door,” said Buffy Choinski, head of the science library and library Green Team Chair. “We had installed it because of ultraviolet ray protection originally, but we realized it cut down on a lot of heat. We decided to put together a proposal for the south-facing windows, and they funded it.”
The library is working to collect data to determine how much the project affects energy and cost savings.
The first-ever Green Fund project was proposed by writing instructor Milly West’s LIBA 102 class. The class wrote a proposal to sell reusable water bottles during Green Week 2013. The project raised $2,000, which was put back into the Green Fund.
Besides proposals, faculty and staff can involve their classes in the Green Fund in other ways, such as gaining hands-on experience while helping evaluate projects. During spring 2014, Cristiane Surbeck’s civil engineering class performed an environmental impact analysis on the composting program, finding that the net total of greenhouse gas emissions reduced by the project was more than 8 tons. Classes can also help collect data and create marketing plans.
To get involved in the UM Green Fund or make a donation, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/greenfund or email green@olemiss.edu.