University of Colorado Boulder
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Climate Comedy
Each Spring semester, ENVS faculty support students enrolled in Creative Climate Communication, in creating and publicly sharing an evening of climate comedy on Earth Day. Learning Objectives:
• explore comedy as an artistic medium
• explore the use and nature of comedy for positive social change
• gain experience in how climate comedy is created and critiqued
• understand how a time-based event can cultivate public conversation about climate
• experience possible co-benefits of “good-natured” comedy
• explore how the use of comedy can shift the tone and mood of climate communication
• understand strategies and approaches (and associated risks) for how comedy can be used as a tool for communicating climate

LEAD 4000 is the capstone course of the Leadership Studies Minor. In this class, students develop higher order critical thinking to:
• Integrate leadership experiences and practices with theory to inform continued leadership development in a variety of contexts
• Demonstrate understanding related to leadership theory and competencies related to leadership practice by examining contemporary wicked problems
• Apply ethical principles, especially under circumstances of multiple acceptable but potentially competing values
• Justify decision-making processes that demonstrate the ability to synthesize prior knowledge to effect desirable, ethical outcomes

Dec 2020 cohort focused on sustainable development proposals for CU South Development which involved engaging with the CU system and Boulder community.

Professor Krarti's AREN 5020 course allows students to complete energy audits of multiple campus buildings. Students select campus buildings to audit, interview facilities staff, and make recommendations for conservation measures.

BAKR 1600 Creating A Sustainable Future. Dr. Lisa Barlow. As part of course work, first and second year students in on-campus housing measure personal electronics energy use, compare and analyze data and develop behavioral change strategies for lowering personal electronics energy use.

BAKR 1600 Creating A Sustainable Future. Dr. Lisa Barlow. As part of course work, first and second year students in on-campus dining compare personal food choices to carbon footprints or food miles, learn about Dining Services initiatives to support sustainable and lower carbon food systems.

Campus Field Guide: Species Relationships at The University of Colorado Boulder was sponsored by NEST (Nature, Environment, Science and Technology) and created by the 2019 fellows Joanne Marras Tate, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication, Robert Buehler, M.F.A. candidate in Arts and Art History, and Mathew Sharples, Ph.D. from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The collaborators worked with CU Boulder Facilities Management, The CU Boulder Natural History Museum, community members and La Raza X Publishing, as they cataloged and researched some of the species and their relationships at the University of Colorado Boulder. This field guide was created to point out some of the local flora and fauna around the University of Colorado Boulder and the complex relationships shared between species - including us - that outline the many ways in which our worlds intertwine. The project intends to be a door for further engagements with the campus, learning and connecting with local and non-local biodiversity, and different cultural understandings that shape our local communities (human and more-than-human). The hope is that students use this field guide to engage with the campus as part of their learning about different biological systems, sustainability, individuals species, and their cultural values. Another goal is for this project to become a living document, where students and faculty continue to add species and relationships as a means to create natural history knowledge about the campus.
https://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/sites/default/files/attached-files/nest-fieldguide2020.pdf

An ENVS student completed a senior capstone project for "Waste No More", a zero waste ballot iniative for The City and County of Denver. The student recorded and produced a video that explained the carbon footprint associated with sending trash to the landfill and aimed to increase awareness of compost and recycling. The footage included shots of the CU Grounds and Recycling Operations Center and interviews with CU Boulder sustainability staff and CU Boulder alumni.

BAKR 1600 Creating A Sustainable Future. Dr. Lisa Barlow. As part of course work, students learn about campus strategies for water conservation/grounds, single use plastic water bottle reduction, and research and report on the link between water quality and personal care products. This information could be used to inform personal care product offerings at the campus bookstore and Housing convenience store.

EVEN Senior Project on Renewable Viability on Campus included an analysis of financial return on investment

BAKR 1600 Creating A Sustainable Future. Dr. Lisa Barlow. As part of coursework, first year students are tasked with seeking a place of contemplation in Nature preferably on or near campus, leaving all electronic devices behind. A free form piece of writing accompanies this activity. This becomes a way for students to explore spaces off the beaten path between buildings and practice fields. For many, their spot becomes a place of calm in the turmoil of their first year of college.