Cornell University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

The Compete 2 Reduce campaign was held February and March 2013 and included Recyclemania, a competition between hundreds of U.S. and Canadian universities to see which can reduce its waste stream most by composting and recycling. The other contest was Campus Conservation Nationals, a countrywide competition between and within schools to conserve the most water and energy. The campaigns included tabling events, recycled art contests, logo contests, outreach videos, trivia nights, environmental movie screening, award ceremonies, and a sustainability scavenger hunt all designed to engage the broadest possible audiences.

Overall in energy Cornell: -Saved $3,000 -Saved 34,977 kilowatt hours over the course of the event -The winning residence hall reduced their energy use by 12.7% during the competition In recycling, Cornell ranked #81 out 250 overall during the Recyclemania competition and #2 out of 29 in the Green Basketball Game category.

Think Big, Live Green is a university-wide sustainability engagement campaign encouraging students, faculty and staff to make thoughtful decisions about resources that reduce Cornell’s environmental footprint and build healthier communities. Each component of the campaign is designed to promote key sustainable actions that help achieve Cornell’s climate neutrality goals and support diverse, inclusive environments. College Engagement Program •Bi-monthly focus themes highlight sustainability initiatives that affect the specific Cornell community (i.e. the college community). •Green Ambassadors o College/unit students, faculty and staff interested in community well-being and sustainability who are responsible for: o Fostering peer to peer education. o Reinforcing sustainable behavior throughout their workgroups that are publicized by the campaign. o Giving advice and promote campaign programs and initiatives within their units • These themes are designed to support the goals of Cornell’s Climate Action Plan and make students, faculty and staff more aware of their actions and operations. • Each theme has a set of actions, programs and/or games associated with them to increase community engagement and increase the likelihood that people will adopt the targeted behaviors. Green Labs and Offices Certification Programs Programs designed to promote sustainable practices in lab and office spaces. Each action under the Green Labs and Offices Certification programs will have points associated with them. Each lab or office participating in the program can commit to actions that are feasible for their workplace and earn points towards a certification renewable every 2 years. Cornell Building Dashboard • Internet-based display tool that tracks building energy performance through real-time metering. • Serves as an engagement tool for end users to learn about energy saving behaviors specific to their community. • Resource to host energy conservation competitions between buildings, colleges and/or units.

Over 1000 employees participating in the College Engagement Program Green Office Certifications: 32 offices Green Lab Certifications: 6 85 buildings on the Cornell Building Dashboard Over 191,000 kWh avoided during the 2013 Energy Smackdown with the winning building maintaining a 23.6% electricity reduction Over 22,000 kWh avoided during the 2014 Unplugged Competition with the winning residence hall maintaining a 20.1% electricity reduction Cornell #69 in national ranking during the 2014 Recyclemania competition

An additional outreach campaign was the Take Back the Tap effort to reduce bottled water use on campus. After several years of student effort a student, staff, and faculty task force was created by the president to develop an action plan. The plan is available at http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/initiatives/take-back-the-tap.