Cornell University
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Green Ambassadors in the College of Engineering, College of Human Ecology and Infrastructure, Properties and Planning are faculty, staff, and students interested in community well-being, sustainability and are responsible for 1) fostering peer-to-peer education, 2) reinforcing sustainable behavior throughout their workgroups that are publicized by the broader Think Big Live Green campaign, and 3) promoting campaign programs and initiatives within their units. The Green Ambassadors are volunteers within their unit that help educate and engage their peers around various activities such as the Green Office and Green Lab certification, Energy Smackdown, Energy dashboard and Recyclemania. The Green Office and Green Lab certification is available university wide and we have many green offices and labs across the university participating in the program.

A call for Green Ambassador volunteers was self-selective and was shared widely across the colleges. No candidates were turned away. The volunteers were asked to serve as leaders within their own office, lab and/or department to support and encourage participation in campus sustainability initiatives.

The Energy & Sustainability Department staff provides monthly meetings to discuss key and/or upcoming sustainability programs that need their participation. The meetings include education on specific engagement strategies including: community-based social marketing, public pledges and commitments, and garnering support from administration in different initiatives. Additional teamwork training led by the Cornell Team and Leadership Center helps incorporate personal sustainability and enhance effective collaborations across the Colleges.

The Energy and Sustainability (E&S) Department hosts this program as part of the Think Big, Live Green – Sustainability Engagement campaign. In this role E&S creates marketing materials, websites, and other engagement tools for use by the Green Ambassadors.

Departments are changing how they work to reduce energy and waste. Employees throughout the campus are creating Green Teams that promote new practices, reduce waste, and lower energy use. Several departments share their experiences as they change the way we do business. Some of the activities include reducing paper usage, started recycling, and have monthly meetings to continue to make changes in office operations. They have posted instructions for double sided copying directly above copy machines to encourage using less paper. By installing a new multifunction Xerox machines, which allow for “toner saver” printing, which makes lighter copies using less toner. These machines also act as printers and users can send high volume, multi-page documents directly to the copier for double sided printing. The machines also provide scanning and emailing features which reduces paper use. The machines are set for sleep mode to save energy when not in use. The department replaced several fax machines as a result of the upgrade, using the new copiers for network faxing. This not only saves energy by having less equipment, the department realizes additional savings with lower monthly phone charges for the reduced number of analog phone lines. Another Green Team has reduced the use of Styrofoam and paper coffee cups for staff. Gloria Kao noted in a recent progress report that “we still order a small number of cups for guests,” but we all brought in our own mug. She added that, “we’ve cut the expense of the cups, but we also create less garbage every day. Previously staff members were using multiple cups per day, without even realizing it.” The Department of Neurosurgery's Green Team started about six months ago, when four employees got together to change habits and increase awareness.

This is a "grassroots" initiative - so many of the team members are self-selected. The Green Teams vary in size from 5 members in one department to college-wide initiatives that involve a dozen teams with 5-8 people in each team. In a few units, leadership in the unit has nominated people to the teams. Teams currently are active in the following areas: - Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Sustainability Action Team http://cuaes.cals.cornell.edu/sustainability - Weill Cornell Medical College Sustainability Team http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/initiatives/weill-cornell-medical-college-green-teams - Statler Hotel Green Team - http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/02/statler-earns-award-greenest-hotel-new-york-state - Cornell Outdoor Education Green Team - Johnson School Green Team

The Campus Sustainability Office’s strategy for staff engagement has been to support the development of Green Teams (green ambassadors) in different units that express interest. Interested units can contact the Campus Sustainability Office and develop a customized program to support their goals. In the Fall of 2014, a Green Offices and Green Labs program was launched to support the existing Green Teams to help encourage the formation of additional groups.

The financial support varies from team to team, but includes supervisor support for time taken during the business day for Green Team/Ambassador activities, expenses associated with printing signs and educational posters, and the development of team websites.

Here is the additional website for the Green Lab and Office Program. http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/initiatives/green-your-lab http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/initiatives/green-your-office