2016's Move In on Green Territory

Student Eco-Reps at the Freshman Brain Break

The Resource Efficiency Program (REP) kicked-off the year with many green, fun-filled events during Opening Days.

At the Freshman Move-In booth, REP representatives educated freshmen on Single Stream Recycling and handed out free energy-efficient light bulbs. Thanks to collaboration between Harvard, Philips, and NSTAR, the REPs were able to give out LED bulbs this year, which use over 80 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and can last up to 20 years. The move in schedule was rounded out with a Green Tour of the Yard where freshmen learned about Thayer Hall’s LEED certification, solar panels on the Science Center, the Canaday Hall solar thermal array, HUDS sustainability measures, and various energy conservation measures around campus.

The first  “Brain Break” of the year on the evening of Sept. 5 featured an environmentally themed fair. More than 1,200 freshmen attended it in Annenberg Hall, where they received reusable mugs and pledged that they would use them to reduce waste. The freshmen then chatted over ice cream with representatives of environmental student groups, concentrations, and University offices that work on campus sustainability. At the fair, many students joined Green’16, a group supported by OFS and the FAS Green Program with the goal of helping the freshmen translate their ideas on campus sustainability into reality.

REP Opening Days programming concluded with an environmental immersion weekend “Through the Gates” trip. The trip, planned by Sachi Oshima ‘13, took at group of 15 freshmen and several upperclassmen environmental group leaders to the Harvard Forest and Sweetwater Farm to get to know each other, learn about research at the Forest and organic farming at Sweetwater, and talk about the environmental groups’ activities on campus.

To read more about green student orientation activities at Harvard Schools check out the Harvard Gazette story "The Sharing of Green"