Carnegie Mellon University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Carnegie Mellon owns a city lot in the Oakland area that has been designated as the Winthrop Street Community Garden. Dining Services supports the garden and uses the vegetables in the campus kitchens. The garden space is managed and used by CMU students, staff and community members. Anyone in community can reserve the raised beds for planting flowers and vegetables. The garden was started in 2013 and has been improved every year.

Several of our Environmental Research Centers collaborate with local partnerships. Transitioning to a Sustainable Future: there is an imperative at Carnegie Mellon to do research that is problem-driven, collaborative and interdisciplinary. Our 20 research centers work in two distinct areas; 1) Urban Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities and 2) Energy Transition Strategies and the Environment. The Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies (CAPS) is conducting a major air quality study in and around the City of Pittsburgh. The study offers a detailed characterization and monitoring of the particulate matter and will quantify the impact of the various sources (transportation, power plants, natural, etc.) of pollution. http://www.cmu.edu/environment/research/index.html

Carnegie Mellon has signed onto the Pittsburgh 2030 Districts Downtown / Oakland and is participating in the Green Workplace Challenge. The Green Workplace Challenge and the Pittsburgh 2030 Districts complement each other. Both are both supporters of the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Pittsburgh 20% by 2023 (from 2003 levels) as well as improve our region’s overall air quality. Here is a quick snapshot that describes the programs: •The Green Workplace Challenge has a regional scope, including all ten counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania, whereas the Pittsburgh 2030 Districts focus primarily on Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle and Oakland districts. •The GWC is a year-to-year competition; Pittsburgh 2030 Districts have a long-term focus. •The GWC’s competition guidebook is a “Ready-Made” checklist of green actions for organizations to implement. The 2030 Districts involve each building’s individual building strategy plans. •The GWC has an emphasis on occupied space, which encompasses both tenants and building managers. The 2030 District has an emphasis on entire facilities, which mainly involves the owners of those facilities. •The actions outlined in the GWC competition manual are based on short term implementation, which affect day-to-day operations, practice and culture. The implementation of the 2030 District goals are more tied to the full-life cycle of the building, such as equipment capital investments, e.g. a new roof, HVAC system etc. •While both programs use the EPA’s Portfolio Manager as the measurement tool, the GWC’s measurement comparison is actual usage, from year to year. The 2030 District measurement comparison is based on the cumulative performance vs. an industry average benchmark year 2003. The Pittsburgh Green Workplace Challenge’s ready-made guidebook of sustainable actions provides a guideline for organizations to track and actively measure there progress in energy, water, air quality, waste and transportation. The measurements and reductions that result from actions taken throughout the Green Workplace Challenge will aide in the progress towards Pittsburgh 2030 District goals. http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2014/august/august29_pittsburgh2030partner.html