Tag: stories of sustainability

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Campus Sustainability Week Earth Day Earth Month Uncategorized

Earth Month 2025

April is Earth Month. Check out the calendar below to see the events occurring both on campus and off campus throughout Earth Month.

EventWhere & WhenJoin us
TU Earth Month Quick Polls All April long on your TUportal Complete all the questions!
Sustainability Symposium & Career ExpoTuesday, April 1st, 7th Floor MBA Commons, Alter Hall, 12PM-3PMRSVP
EcoReps Workshop: Green Revolving Fund Wednesday, April 2nd, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
Advocating for a Sustainable Future: Why Environmental Justice Matters Now More Than EverThursday, April 3rd, Klein 1C, Beasley School of Law, 12PM-1PMRSVP
Stories of Sustainability: Pennsylvania FibershedFriday, April 4th, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 10AM-11:30AMRSVP
Philadelphia Citywide CleanupSaturday, April 5th, blocks near Temple University, 10AM-1PMRSVP
Secondhand Cycles Sale Open HouseWednesday, April 9th, Covered Bike Shelter outside of HGSC, 11:30AM-2:30PMRSVP or fill out the application
EcoReps Workshop: ReuseWednesday, April 9th, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
EcoReps Workshop: Sustainability Action PlanWednesday, April 16th, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
Give + Go Green collection and sorting All day every day in all residence halls for students living on campus and volunteering opportunities for everyone else!Learn more and sign up to volunteer
Earth Day ExpoTuesday, April 22nd, Science, Education, and Research Center, First Floor Lobby, 11AM-3PMRSVP
Triple C @ Triple B: Climate, community & conversationWednesday, April 23rd, Triple Bottom Brewing RSVP
EcoReps Workshop: Spring RecapWednesday, April 23rd, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
Ambler Bike TourSunday, April 27th from Main Campus to Ambler, 9AM-1PMRSVP

Earth month TU Quick Polls

All Temple students, staff, and faculty will see new questions about sustainability in TUportal throughout the month of April from the 2nd through the 25th.

Every few days you’ll be asked about your personal values and actions when it comes to the environment, your thoughts and preferences on sustainability infrastructure and programs, and sustainability in your academic program or your professional role as a staff person.

Help us help you!

Your answers will help us plan programs that will benefit the Temple community for years to come.

Everyone who answers all Quick Polls questions is entered for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind tumbler made with recycled glass by Tyler School of Art and Architecture Glass artists and makers.

The first 50 students and staff members to complete all the polls will receive a brand-new Stasher reusable storage bag.

February was Environmental Justice Month

In 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared February to be Environmental Justice Month to commemorate the signing of historic 1994 executive order 12898: “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations.” 

Celebrate Earth Month by checking out our blog post spotlighting all the great Environmental Justice month resources for Philadelphia residents.

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Uncategorized

Campus Race to Zero Waste 2025: Calendar of Events

Temple University’s Office of Sustainability is thrilled to present our February events and this year’s Campus Race to Zero Waste campaign. Join us in sowing the seeds of change and nurturing a more eco-friendly campus.

Campus Race to Zero Waste is a sustainability competition in which Temple University goes head-to-head against schools across the country to see who can divert the most waste from landfills.

Want to get started? Check out the calendar below to discover the array of events happening on and off campus this February. Click the links to RSVP and become a part of the movement toward a circular economy!

Kickoff: Feb 2 – March 29, 2025

ThemeEventWhere & WhenRSVP
Sustainable FashionTemple Thrift Pop-UpTuesday, February 11, Morgan Hall North D301, 10AM – 3PMRSVP
EcoReps Workshop: Patagonia Short Film DiscussionWednesday, February 12, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM – 5PMRSVP
Zero Waste EventsSTARS Workshop: Sustainable EventsMonday, February 17, HGSC Room 220, 11 AM – 12 PMRSVP
EcoReps Workshop: Waste Diversion in PhiladelphiaWednesday, February 19, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
Food RescueSharing Excess WorkshopTBDTBD
EcoReps Workshop: Zero Waste Cooking DemoWednesday, February 26, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4PM-5PMRSVP
Organic Waste DiversionWeigh the WasteMonday, March 10 – Friday March 14, Esposito Dining Center, 11 AM – 2 PM, 5 PM – 8 PMSign up!
Career Coffee Chat with Tim BennettFriday, March 21, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PMRSVP
CircularityEcoReps Workshop: Reuse Friday, March 19, Office of Sustainability, HGSC Suite 101, 4 PM – 5 PMRSVP
Secondhand Sales Open HouseTBDTBD
Gender, Waste & EquityMenstrual Equity and Sustainability WorkshopTBDTBD

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Campus Sustainability Month Stories of Sustainability Sustainable Fashion

Slow Fashion in Philly

Culture on campus is ripe for climate action and Temple Sustainability is encouraging you to ‘decarbonize your life’. Let’s think critically about our consumption: What is the true cost of consumer goods? Where are we now and where do we need to go? How can students be a part of the solution?
Temple Thrift at the Bell Tower
Temple Thrift at the Bell Tower

Everyone’s favorite on-campus sustainable retail experience returned this semester. After sorting over one ton of Give and Go Green donations in May, Temple Thrift, our own triple bottom business, was in action at the Bell Tower on October 6th and 13th.

Slow Fashion with Temple Thrift

Hundreds of students in residence halls donated and over 20 volunteers sorted donations to divert 1,279 pounds of clothing from the landfill for this year’s Give and Go Green initiative, a collaboration between Temple Sustainability and the Division of Student Affairs. 1,142 pounds of food and hygiene products were donated directly to the Cherry Pantry. 99 pounds of food waste was sent to the landfill, and 9 pounds of waste was recycled.

Of the clothing donated by Temple students, we gathered the following insights:

  • Majority of items were from some of the largest contributors of fast fashion, including Forever 21, American Eagle, Shein, H&M and Old Navy. 
  • Over 30% of the items were made with a combination of cotton, polyester, nylon and spandex and contained microplastics Read more about reducing their negative ecological impact in your laundry here.
  • It took 344 pounds of oil to create the cotton items GGG collected.
  • Only 3% of the textiles were manufactured in the United States.
  • Over 80% of textiles were manufactured in China, Vietnam, or Bangladesh.

60 individuals volunteered to help run two days of pop-up sales, completing over 100 unique shifts. 395 shoppers spiced up their wardrobes and picked up practical home goods affordably — no item was over $5! Still, we collected $5,057 in sales revenue on items that were otherwise headed to the landfill. All the proceeds were donated directly to the Cherry Pantry, an on-campus pantry for students.

Decarbonize your Closet

It is hard to deny Temple Thrift’s positive impact, but thrifting is not a silver bullet. Second hand sales are not a solution to this much larger global crisis. 

The problem is overconsumption and our ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mindset. Fast fashion is the world’s second largest pollutant and 85% of the post-consumer textile waste — 3.8 billion pounds– slowly decays in landfills each year. You can read a deep dive on the ecological impact of the fashion industry in our Waste Conscious Fashion Community blog. Our choices — from the second we click purchase on an online webstore, to the moment we throw them away or drop them off at a donation site — have a real impact on people and the planet. 

As climate advocates and social entrepreneurs, we should think hard about the true cost of each and every garment.

(The Considerate Consumer)

Advocating for slow fashion looks beyond simply thrifting to support a movement and a community of conscious consumers. Through their choices, slow fashion advocates support sustainable and ethical brands that benefit “the planet and all people,” embodying the shift from purchasing cheap items for a short period of time to investing in high-quality items for their long lifespan.

Everyone can decarbonize their closets – whether it’s upcycling items, swapping clothes with peers, shopping from sustainable brands, or shopping for pre-loved items. Encourage your friends and family to join the movement.

Philadelphia’s Slow Fashion

Local sustainable fashion companies in Philadelphia, like Lobo Mau and Grant BLVD, have taken social and ecological impact to a new level. Labo Mau’s use of hemp, eco-friendly screen printing, local manufacturing, and penchant for upcycling serve as an aspirational example for individual consumers and brands alike. Grant BLVD designs with secondhand clothing and preloved fabric to curate unique garments and connects their work with the larger global crises of climate change and poverty through their mission and message.

Grant BLVD
Lobo Mau

Shay, an EcoLead and intern at Grant BLVD, tells us about the difficulty of navigating this work on the ground.

“Whether it’s becoming a Zero Waste Partner with the City of Philadelphia, which is actually centered around recycling initiatives, or the lack of existing programming and resources to successfully execute sustainable initiatives — these small businesses are essentially starting from scratch  and still creating a positive impact”.

– Shay Strawser

FABSCRAP, one-stop textile reuse and recycling resource, opened in Philadelphia on November 15th. A business solution to pre-consumer textile waste, FabScrap Philadelphia will pick up fabric scraps, process by fiber content and recycle with fiber-to-fiber technologies or give local creators the opportunity to reuse materials for a low-cost. Anyone can volunteer with FabScrap for 3 hours and take home 5 pounds of free textiles for their next project. 

Use fashion as a STATEMENT

Every stage within the lifecycle of fashion is associated with environmental and social costs, as highlighted by Earth Logic. Fashion is culture. It shapes and is shaped by our lifestyles and communities. I encourage you to continue to use fashion as a statement, not by purchasing more items, but by making intentional decisions that align with your values and consider your carbon and waste footprint. Be conscious of the lifecycle of items — take note of the fabric(s) used, where it was made, and its capacity to move with you as you grow. 

Let’s think about the ten-dollar SHEIN pants you bought on Monday: They were most likely manufactured in Guangzhou, China by a young woman who was paid three cents for making this garment. The trendy design was likely conceived less than a week before it was made and was probably copied from an independent designer. The pants are cheap — in price and in quality. From an aesthetic and construction standpoint, they are unlikely to be worth the time and resources necessary to repair them which means they are destined for the landfill.

But, what if you bought one-hundred dollar pants sourced from a sustainable and ethical fashion brand? These pants would be made of recycled materials or with ecologically ethical and locally grown fabrics like hemp or cotton, designed locally and sewn by individuals that are paid a fair living wage. 

A higher price point is the true cost of a garment and sustainability. These pants are made of great quality and to last you a lifetime, a garment you can upcycle and eventually recycle with the designer you purchased from in the first place. 

You’ve taken the time to learn, and you may have a better understanding of what it means to be a conscious consumer. Although this might be startling, I challenge you to put it into practice by considering the true cost of your purchase -- to people and to the planet -- each time you decide to buy.

This Campus Sustainability month, climate leaders took action to decarbonize their closets and engaged with the community through slow fashion. 

  • Transportation EcoLeads led an EcoReps Excursion and group ride to South Street in Philadelphia, where they shopped second hand at Philly Aids Thrift, Retrospect, and Raxx Vintage. 
  • The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute hosted a Sustainable Fashion and Innovative Performance speaker session with Matt Dwyer of Patagonia.
  • Green Council has led to connections and opportunities, like that with the Temple University American Marketing Association and Thrift and Flop. Both are currently accepting donations of gently used winter clothing for individuals that lack housing during the colder months.
  • The Green Living cohort completed their week 7 action items for purchasing decisions. With a focus on a circular economy, student leaders were encouraged to walk through four questions:
    • Why do you buy & consume the products that you do?
    • Which of those products do you need? Which do you want?
    • How do you decide what you need vs. want?
    • Who benefits from you buying those products? Who loses?
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Campus Sustainability Month Stories of Sustainability

Community Engagement and Environmental Justice

Policy EcoLead and Temple Student Government Director of Grounds nad Sustainability, Katie Perrone, shares her local climate action planning internship experience and discusses learning from environmental justice EcoChampions throughout Pennsylvania. She explores the question: how can we remove systemic barriers and reach out to communities that have historically been overlooked?

Local Climate Action Planning

Last year, the Office of Sustainability hosted an event about Students & Local Climate Action Planning in Philadelphia, which detailed the experiences of students who participated in last year’s Local Climate Action Program (LCAP) cohort. In August, I learned that I was accepted into this year’s LCAP cohort, and I’ve spent the last couple of months diving into the world of local government planning, climate policy, and environmental justice. 

The LCAP program paired me with local government officials from Warrington Township, Pennsylvania, and I am responsible for helping them develop and implement a climate action plan for their community. The first step in beginning to draft our climate action plan for Warrington Township was forming a task force. Key stakeholders were invited to participate and the task force gives all of us working on the climate action plan an opportunity to bounce ideas off of one another. 

Creating graphs, analyzing greenhouse gas emission data, and starting to conduct a climate change vulnerability assessment have been just a few of the tasks that I have worked on with the task force during my first few months as an LCAP intern. However, no part of my LCAP experience has been as interesting as learning about the impact that community engagement has on local planning.

Community Engagement

One of the first things that I learned during my internship training is that creating an effective community engagement strategy is essential to drafting effective policy. Community engagement can come in many forms, from hosting workshops and community meetings to reaching out to underrepresented communities to gain their perspectives.

In the case of Warrington Township, we are drafting a survey to be distributed to the entire township. The survey includes questions about which actions residents are already taking to reduce the impact of climate change and which actions they would like to see the township implement. The main objective of our survey is to gain the perspectives of community members, understand their priorities for addressing climate change, and build transparency between the township and its residents. 

The LCAP program trainings have taught me that community engagement isn’t as simple as planning a workshop or creating a survey. In order for either of those actions to be effective, they need to incorporate the entire community. This means specifically reaching out to any groups that have been historically marginalized and underrepresented and making sure that they play a significant role in the process. Environmental justice is a crucial component of any community engagement strategy for climate action.

(Image from MobilizeGreen.org)

Environmental Justice

A few weeks ago, Alison Acevedo, the director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Environmental Justice, led an LCAP training session about environmental justice and how to address the causes of systemic environmental inequalities. She began by explaining the differences between equality, equity, and justice, and the importance of working to remove systemic barriers and achieve justice.

The history of redlining in Pennsylvania is one of the direct causes of environmental injustice. Communities of color and those without a lot of economic resources were much more likely to be located near industries and factories, and therefore these communities disproportionately dealt with high levels of air pollution and hazardous waste. The environmental history of Pennsylvania, and specifically Philadelphia, has been permeated by a shameful legacy of environmental racism and injustice.

Environmental Justice at Temple

As I learned more about the history of environmental injustice, I began wondering what our university is doing to address environmental injustice. Between 2010 and 2019, Temple has taken multiple steps to better address the inequalities and systemic barriers that exist within our society. 

This is best shown by the updated climate action plan that Temple published in 2019. This plan is written with a comprehensive approach that incorporates environmental justice planning into the framework of the plan. The university begins by updating its definition of sustainability to recognize the importance of creating an equitable and just society.  

“Sustainability seeks to balance a healthy environment with a just, equitable and economically viable society”

2019 Temple Climate Action Plan

The plan presents goals to address food insecurity, incorporate environmental justice principles into at least a third of the Office of Sustainability’s programming, and include more diverse voices and perspectives in the conversation regarding sustainability at Temple. During my time at the Office of Sustainability, I have already had the chance to attend multiple events regarding environmental injustice, lead an energy sovereignty workshop, and learn about innovative research being conducted at Temple to address inequality in Philadelphia.

Struggle Space to a Green New Deal

One of the events that was particularly fascinating was the Struggle Space to the Green New Deal discussion that the Office of Sustainability hosted last spring. This conversation centered around the concept of a ‘struggle space,’ which refers to the overwhelming structural and racial injustices that communities of color continue to face. One of the speakers at this event explained that climate planning is doomed to fail if it does not address this struggle space. 

To make progress, we need to acknowledge the past, address the present, and work collectively to create an equitable future.

Stories of Sustainability: Struggle Space

The first step to addressing this struggle space is identifying the inequalities that exist in our current system, and in particular this means focusing on the discrimintion and inequality that is historically involved in urban planning. In Philadelphia, rapid gentrification and development threaten to exacerbate the problem of environmental injustice. 

One professor from Temple’s Geography and Urban Studies Department, Christina Rosan, is working to address the struggle space through her research. Along with other researchers at Temple, Professor Rosan created an equity index to identify the areas in Philadelphia that face systemic inequalities. 

Professor Rosan’s index identifies areas of environmental need, areas lacking amenities such as playgrounds and parks, and areas of socio-economic disadvantage. The image below shows her results, with those areas experiencing more need or disadvantage colored darker.

Both Alison Acevedo’s training and the research being done at Temple highlight the importance of developing a comprehensive community engagement strategy to address environmental injustice and the struggle space. I am excited to have the opportunity to participate in this important conversation by working with Warrington Township to draft a community-wide survey and brainstorming other ideas to increase community engagement in Warrington. 

Recognizing that environmental injustice is an essential part of every conversation about climate change is the first step to creating meaningful and long-lasting change. We must stop thinking about sustainability and injustice as two separate goals and acknowledge that they are interconnected and must be addressed as one. Until we remove systemic barriers and achieve environmental justice, it will be impossible to fully address the effects of climate change.
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Campus Sustainability Month Stories of Sustainability

Transportation and Climate Change

This will be the first of three blog posts on the transit system in Philadelphia and its connections to climate justice. Stay tuned for our next transportation blog post: Transit Equity in Philadelphia.

The transit system in Philadelphia isn’t quite as multifaceted as the city it serves, but it's got layers to it nonetheless. Let’s peel some of those layers back and ask two foundational questions of our transit system: how does transportation relate to climate justice? And how is our transit system structured?

Transportation and Climate

Energy is the fuel that powers our transit system, as we’ve established in our blog post on Energy, Electricity, and the Climate Crisis. Sadly, we’ve also established that most of the energy we use is generated from fossil fuels. As a result, transportation accounts for 22% of Philadelphia’s Greenhouse Gas emissions, much of which comes from our car-related emissions due to a lack of funding for SEPTA (which we’ll touch on momentarily). 

Transit
(Philadelphia Climate Action Playbook, pg. 13)

This reliance on cars both exacerbates climate change and creates harmful air pollution, as Philadelphia ranks as the 12th most polluted city in the country. Personal automobiles, here, are a big part of the problem. In 2009, cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, and freight trucks accounted for 77% of all transportation GHGs. Contrastingly, public transit emits much less pollution per passenger mile, especially when ridership is high, as shown below.

(Public Transportation’s Role in Responding to Climate Change, 2010)

Bold climate action requires deeper investments in public transit. Sadly, public transit is drastically underfunded across the country, and Philadelphia is no exception. To change that, though, we’ll need to understand how our transit system is structured. So let’s get to it!

Our Transit System: SEPTA

First, let’s talk about SEPTA or the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA is a metropolitan transportation agency that oversees public transit in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery. In Philadelphia, SEPTA offers bus, subway, regional rail, and trolley services across the city, the full map of which is shown below.

SEPTA is a regional authority, not a City agency. So, each of the five counties in SEPTA has equal representation on SEPTA’s board. Still, most of the transit agency’s ridership, usually 80% or more, comes from Philadelphia. This means that, because the rest of the counties in SEPTA are less populous than Philadelphia but each receives the same number of votes, the transit agency disproportionately represents the interests of less-densely populated, suburban residents.

Pennsylvania’s Contribution to Transit System: SEPTA

How does our state government impact our transit system? Well, this is where the thick of it lies. Most of SEPTA’s funding comes from the PA State Government. As a result, the transit agency has not had a steady, dedicated funding source for most of its history. 

(SEPTA 2019 Operating Budget Subsidies)


When it comes to government funding mechanisms, there are two kinds of budgets. Firstly, there are operating budgets. These budgets include buses, employee wages, ongoing maintenance costs, etc. It’s helpful thinking of operational budgets to be for short-term expenditures. Secondly, there are capital budgets, which include projects like rebuilding train stations, constructing new electrical systems, or building a bridge. These are the more long-term infrastructure investments.

In 2019, state funds accounted for almost 80% of SEPTA’s operating budget and almost 50% of SEPTA’s capital budget. Much of the state’s funding to SEPTA comes from Act 89 in 2013 which allows the Pennsylvania Department of Transit (PennDOT) a $450 million infusion to public transit agencies. However, Act 89 is set to expire in 2022, meaning a big chunk of SEPTA’s funding source could dry up as soon as 2022.

(SEPTA 2019 Capital Budget Subsidies)

This arrangement is unusual for American transit agencies. Most other agencies receive larger support from their local governments, especially in west coast cities where revenues are raised directly from sales taxes. These local funding streams also make localities more responsive to ridership needs. Nevertheless, if the state funding dissolves, SEPTA will need to find alternative sources of funding from local or federal governments.

The Federal Government’s Role in Our Transit System

What role does the federal government play in all of this? I’m glad you asked! The federal government sends funds to local and regional transit agencies across the country, like SEPTA, which are tasked with managing transportation systems in a particular area. However, ever since the Reagan era and the 1980s, the federal government has steadily decreased subsidies for transit agencies’ operating budgets. For instance, federal funds accounted for 11.4% of SEPTA’s operating budget in 2019, as shown above.

When transit agencies need additional capital funds, they can apply for competitive grant programs through the Federal Transit Administration. SEPTA has not submitted a major capital grant for some time but is trying to do so to modernize our trolly system. 


The federal government’s distant role in our transit system is unusual for wealthy nations. In 2019, the United States invested 0.6% of its GDP into inland infrastructure investments, while France and the United Kingdom each invested 0.9% of their GDP in the same year. Clearly, the federal government needs to deepen its investments in public transit agencies like SEPTA.

Transportation and Climate Change: Conclusion

In summary, the federal government has disinvested from transit agencies like SEPTA, and some state governments, like Pennsylvania, have not played their part either. Finally, SEPTA itself is designed to cater to the needs of suburban areas more than the city. Fighting climate change will require changes to all of the above, creating a cleaner, better-funded public transit system in Philadelphia and beyond. What might this look like? Who could it work for? Stay tuned for our next blog post Transit Equity in Philadelphia to find out!
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Act on Climate Stories of Sustainability

Students & Local Climate Action Planning in Pennsylvania

How can college students take climate action in local government? This question is at the core of the Local Climate Action Program (LCAP) under the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection  (DEP). The program matches college students with local governments across the state, then trains both of them through a DEP contractor, ICLEI USA, on how to develop a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory and climate action plan for that government. 

The program’s most recent cohort included three Temple students, so our Office of Sustainability sat them down to discuss their experiences on Earth Day in Stories of Sustainability: ICLEI & Local Climate Action Planning in the Commonwealth.

Creating a GHG Inventory.

After being accepted into the program, the three students, Mark Costanzo, Nicole Somers, and Jada Ackley, received training from ICLEI on creating a GHG inventory tool in Fall 2020. These GHG inventories, as explained by Mark, are lists of emissions sources in the municipality (like homes, energy plants, transit systems, etc.) along with how many CO2 equivalents they emit. These inventories provide crucial information on setting goals of emissions reductions in the later climate action plans.

Pie chart of carbon-dioxide equivalents emissions by category for Warwick Township
Pie chart of carbon-dioxide equivalents emissions by category for Warwick Township

Students compiled data from local utility companies, transit sources, waste facilities, and more to build these inventories, and soon found that GHG inventories looked different in different places. For example, transportation and residential activities were the major contributors in Warwick Township, PA, the government with which Mark Costanzo collaborated on LCAP.

Local Climate Action Planning.

Students and local governments received additional training in Spring 2021 to create their climate action plan (CAP). These plans, as explained by fellow student Nicole Somers, were meant to reduce GHG emissions while preparing for the impacts of climate change. Accordingly, CAPs include GHG mitigation targets, objectives, and actions, like changing town ordinances to require energy efficiency standards on new buildings, alongside adaptation actions, like expanding green spaces and incorporating climate change vulnerability assessments into future construction plans. Lastly, they developed a monitoring plan to keep track of reductions going forward.

Image of ICLEI Local Governments For Sustainability.
 Image of ICLEI Local Governments For Sustainability

The third student, Jada Ackley,  discussed the importance of community engagement in any CAP. On one hand, they explained, it helps governments gather information from residents for the plan, but also fosters community support for it. For some examples, Jada used surveys and community workshops to engage residents on what a CAP for Haverford Township needed to include.

Getting Involved.

In her closing remarks, Heidi Kunka, Energy Programs Specialist at DEP and overseer of LCAP, discussed the importance of getting a diversity of perspectives in climate action planning and invited students to fill out an interest form if they may want to apply next year. If you’re interested, check it out!

Everyone has something to gain from fighting climate change, and something to lose from letting it run unchecked.

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Stories of Sustainability

Creative Action for Philadelphia’s Rising Temperatures

Southeast Philadelphia park.

Disinvestment in Philadelphia Communities.

Evident in the name, global warming is driving hotter days in many parts of the world. But that heat isn’t felt equally. In Philadelphia, decades of racist lending practices by private banks and the federal government, called “redlining,” along with continued disinvestment have created conditions for some neighborhoods in the city to be 22°F hotter than other areas of the city at times. The consequences are, all too often, fatal for people who are isolated and elderly, and will only get worse as the climate crisis worsens.

There is a great need for equitable heat response systems throughout Philadelphia. But what does equitable heat response look like? How can we prepare our communities for the crises to come? This past Friday, Temple’s Office of Sustainability hosted a mini-panel for Stories of Sustainability Act on Climate: Heat Response & creative action for Philly’s rising temperatures to begin answering those questions and more. 

One panelist, Cheyenne Flores of the City’s Office of Sustainability, shared information on the City’s Beat the Heat: Hunting Park program along with her reflections on best practices. Billy Yalowitz, our other panelist and professor in Temple’s Community Arts Practices program, shared an overview of Heat Response PHL, which is engaging with three Philadelphia neighborhoods to tell their stories on how they deal with extreme heat.

Philly’s Heat Response.

As we dove into best practices for individuals, both panelists highlighted the importance’s of building long-lasting relationships with neighbors, educating yourself on available resources, and participating in community organizations. That looks like knowing how to apply to the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), saying hello to your neighbors, asking around how you can get involved in your community, and more.

William Cramp Elementary School.

As for the organizations of larger heat response systems, Chey and Billy stressed the importance of honoring and supporting community leaders while resourcing programs with sustained commitment at their helm. Success in heat response projects cannot be measured in a few months or one summer, but over several years and even decades.

Then there is the reality of historical and continued oppression. “There are reasons,” Billy said, “that folks coming from City Agencies and Universities are not trusted when we walk into these neighborhoods. We shouldn’t be… There’s a history to overcome.” Those histories, like Temple University’s history with North Philadelphia, are often painful and must be accounted for whenever we speak of equity or justice. 

In any case, heat response in one neighborhood will look different from heat response in another. Each community has its own unique histories, beauties, and challenges. Our responses should reflect that uniqueness. But we know it can be done.

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Stories of Sustainability

Temple Adventure Bound Organization Shaping Zero-Waste Culture on Campus

Race to Zero Waste #EcoChampions.

As Leave No Trace instructors, these four superstar leaders are shaping zero-waste culture on campus with 85 of their peers and student organization, Adventure Bound.

  • Brandon, certified in EMT, is a nursing major (2024) from Massachusetts. He will be guiding in Northern Maine for a canoe outfitter summer of 2021. 
  • Christina, certified in NREMT, is a Health Professions major (2022) with a minor in Biology, and is on pre-medical track. She helped start the first Adventure Bound organization at Brookdale Community College. 
  • Issa Kabeer is an Environmental Science major (2021). Issa is an EcoRep with Temple Sustainability and works at hospitals providing emotional therapy. 
  • Nadia Ramos, certified in LNT, is a psychology major (2022) on the pre-occupational therapy track. She also transferred from Brookdale and peer coaches students with intellectual disability.

Adventure Bound.

Adventure Bound is a club that takes place out of the classroom, a place to meet like-minded, motivated individuals. Adventure Bound facilitates all types of adventures ranging from hiking, biking, rafting and surfing, snowboarding, zip-lining, camping, museum trips, and even going international! With the beautiful city of Philadelphia at our doorstep, they have the privilege to get outside, visit museums, go to concerts, and explore different parts of the city as a group.

As for social impact, Adventure Bounds goal is to partner with local youth — provide outdoor education an mentorship and increase access to green spaces, taking young people on hikes, museum trips, and all types of adventures.

See their Instagram @templeadventurebound for daily updates

Sneak peak photos from Adventure Bound trips.

Student Leaders Shaping Zero-Waste Culture on Campus.

Since day one, Adventure Bound takes the utmost responsibility for their ecological footprint. As their mission spreads across campus, their conversations are an example of the zero-waste culture Temple students aspire to cultivate. Adventure Bound plans to use their newfound knowledge in many different areas of sustainability. 

  • Mentor program for general members to maintain their Leave No Trace certification.
  • Facilitate regular Leave No Trace workshops within the Student Center, or over Zoom.
  • Online informational brochure with tips on packing sustainably, hitching a tent, hanging hammocks, and sustainable travel ideas, accessible by QR code. 
  • Purchasing sustainable camping and outdoor gear for future excursions with equipment that will allow discarding of waste easily and hear made from sustainable and renewable resources.
  • Paying visits to various thrift stores to purchase things like jackets and cookware

End goal: Utilize knowledge and sustainable gear on camping trips. And also create a vlog for members to be more educated about sustainability for the outdoors and leaving no trace!

Brandon hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

Leave No Trace Solutions: 100+ Areas Have Been Restored Nationwide

Leave No Trace strives to educate people about what it means to “leave the environment just how you find it.” As a non-profit organization, its mission is to educate the public on the most effective, environmentally sustainable, and ethical ways to enjoy the outdoors. 

Throughout the next semester, Adventure Bound will be hosting a series of LNT workshops open to Temple students.

Learn more from Leave No Trace.

The Seven Principles.

Leave No Trace’s 7 principles provide an easily understood framework of minimum impact practices visiting the outdoors. Click on the links to learn more.

Plan Ahead & Prepare

  • Helping backcountry travelers accomplish trip goals safely and enjoyably while minimizing damage to the land

Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces

  • Two primary factors increase how off-trail travel affects the land: durability of surfaces and vegetation, and frequency of travel (or group size).

Dispose of Waste Properly

  • “Pack it in, Pack it out” is a familiar mantra to seasoned wildland visitors. Any user of recreation lands has a responsibility to clean up before he or she leaves.

Leave What You Find

  • Allow others a sense of discovery by leaving rocks, plants, archaeological artifacts and other objects of interest as you find them.

Minimize Campfire Impacts

  • A true Leave No Trace fire shows no evidence of having been constructed.

Respect Wildlife

  • Learn about wildlife through quiet observation. Do not disturb wildlife or plants just for a “better look.”

Be Considerate of Other Visitors 

  • Many people come to the outdoors to listen to nature. Excessive noise, uncontrolled pets and damaged surroundings take away from the natural appeal of the outdoors.

2020 Green Grant Award Winners.

The Green Grant has already enabled Adventure Bound to build their own website. The funds will help Adventure Bound show and emphasize how easy it is to be sustainable while outdoors and how to leave the environment just the way you found it. 

Sneak peak to the Green Grant Application and Abstract.

Temple University’s Green Grant builds upon Temple University’s commitment to sustainability by funding projects led by students that focus on advancing the mission and have a positive impact on our local environment and community.

Learn more about the Temple University Office of Sustainability Green Grant!

Categories
Race to Zero Waste Stories of Sustainability

E-Waste and Digital Equity with Temple CRC

Temple Sustainability is kicking off the spring semester with Stories of Sustainability: Race to Zero Waste! Our first #EcoChampion is Jonathan Latko, Director of the Temple University Computer Recycling Center. Jonathan hosted a critical discussion with students, staff, and faculty about e-waste in Philadelphia, and the institutional impact of equity and access in upcycling electronics.

#EcoChampion: Jonathan Latko

Jonathan has been with the Computer Recycling Center (CRC) for 17 years after receiving his MBA in E-Commerce from the Fox School of Business at Temple University in 2003.  Jonathan also serves as an adjunct instructor in the Fox School of Business.  He began his journey with the CRC in 2002, as the University grew larger and so did the need for more technology.

“Sustainability is a way of life based on a concept of Kaizen, balancing the triple bottom line. Leaving the planet and people we are interconnected with better off then how we found it”

Stories of Sustainability: E-Waste with #EcoChampion Jonathan Latko

The Temple CRC  is an award-winning operation that gathers surplus computer and electronic equipment from around the university to refurbish, redeploy, donate and, where appropriate, securely dispose of equipment. On average the CRC processes more than 90 tons of equipment each year. Jonathan’s work helps Temple University reach the 2050 climate goals by reducing the need to always buy new, extending the life of the resources we do have, and reducing waste ending up in landfills and incinerators.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

E-Waste: Discarded electrical, or electronic devices also known as Electronic Waste.

E-waste has a poor reputation of disposal and improper management. Commonly being disposed of on streets, sidewalks,  in curbside collections, its life cycle never truly ends. E-waste ends up being stored in perpetuity, sent to landfills or to an incinerator and burned. These irresponsible and illegal methods of disposal put people, especially poor communities and communities of color, at risk of the negative health impacts associated with burning electronics.

Find a home for everything at Earth 911 and
Get your waste picked up (for free)

Fast Growing E-Waste Stream.

In 2003, Jonathan asked himself: How do we treat surplus assets? What are its alternative uses? How can we get computers to those that need them?

When Jonathan arrived at Temple, Facilities would throw “old” computers into storage or work with an external waste vendor to remove them from campus.  Jonathan challenged the institution to think of these used machines, not as a nuisance or liability, but as assets. With a bit of e-waste education and a $25 equipment fee attached to each unit purchased, Jonathan got enough money and buy-in to start refurbishing these computers and redistributed them to university departments and employees at a discounted rate, or for free. Now, with a full scale surplus program in place, the CRC is able to provide equipment to students in need, and Temple facilities and departments, and centers on campus. 45% of the computers collected have been redistributed, totaling in over 20,000 computers and 14,000 monitors! 

Jonathan at the CRC.

Q: Is your research project a climate solution? How or why?

A: We live within a finite system where  everything and everyone interconnected and dependent upon each other. Realizing that this system is based on a carbon dependent economy in which our  individual and collective behavior can affect that carbon dependency and thus the effects it has on people and the planet.

Tracking numbers are placed on the additional 115K pieces collected, and are diverted responsibly,  in accordance with state and federal law. The Computer Recycling Center has won 3 awards for their efficiency and their unique, tuition dollar-saving model.

CRC expands with OwlTech storefront.

Trade in, Trade up at Temple

In 2019, the CRC expanded to open OwlTech, a retail, storefront operation in Pearson Lobby. OwlTech has a complete lifecycle of electronics, offers warranty and discounts, a trade in and trade up system, and new products to purchase.

OwlTech in Pearson Hall at Temple University: Main Campus.

Q: How have the challenges of COVID and work from home presented opportunities for sustainable innovation?

A: COVID exacerbated the already widening digital divide but led to the acceleration, acceptance and recognition of the deep value presented by refurbishing and extending the life of existing resources, like computer devices need for those without.

Digital Equity for North Philly.

Technology is an essential tool and can be an equalizer in the economy. To ensure civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning and access to essential services, one needs access to online services. The pandemic posed a problem for the North Philadelphia community. Playing a zero sum game, Jonathan continued the $25 model to refurbish machines and recover costs.  The CRC collaborated with several partners to identify community members in need.

200 laptops were donated to community members in North Philadelphia. Educational, “Ikea Style”,  step-by-step documents were distributed with the computers explaining how to set them up. The CRC also provided customer service, where Jonathan and his student workers offered remote tech support to community members. 

https://youtu.be/0R3mNZIepoE
Watch a snippet from Stories of Sustainability to hear directly from our #EcoChampion about the North Philly Digital Navigator Workforce Development Initiative and building community tech centers throughout the city.

Jonathan’s Not so Secret, Secrets to Success.

  1. Triple Bottom Line
  2. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
  3. Systems Theory and Logistics
  4. Product Life Cycle
  5. Willing to experiment
  6. Focusing on the holes value proposition
  7. Look at everything for opportunities

Stay in touch with #EcoChampion, Jonathan.

Web: https://crc.temple.edu

Email: jonathan.latko@temple.edu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-latko-a0354a42/