Harvard Divinity School

The Office for Sustainability's (OFS) Green Office Certification program is receiving attention from around the University. As the Harvard Gazette reports, "[the] Harvard program launched this spring is designed to open our eyes to the environmental costs of ordinary objects in the office, and the personal habits that accompany them."

The University banded together during the August heat wave to significantly reduce energy consumption.

The ground behind Andover Hall has been shaking off and on for months. A backhoe moves chunks of earth by the bucket load. Men and women in hard hats and jeans yell over the sounds of thundering machines and grinding metal. One year ago, Rockefeller Hall was home to a community of Harvard Divinity School (HDS) students, a refectory, and a few meeting rooms.

Want to learn about what the Harvard Divinity School Green Team is up to? The information is now at the tip of your fingers! The Divinity School’s prolific green team has expanded their reach at the school with a new website.

“Rock Hall” - the nickname for John D. Rockefeller Jr. Hall at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) - looks just like what it is: a spare, elegant building in the Modernist tradition.

But its straight lines, wide windows, and understated functionality nicely conceal what it has become: one of the most energy-efficient buildings at Harvard.

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it," reads a passage in the book of Genesis, the section of the Bible that describes the creation of the Earth. Many contend that this sacred poetry - and other biblical passages like it - underscores man’s responsibility as the planet’s chief steward.

A step-wise approach

First things first

The Harvard Divinity School (HDS) Green Team is on a quest to reduce the school’s waste as much as possible, and they have made huge strides toward reaching that goal through a multi-pronged plan.

The first step in the process was to grow and strengthen the recycling program. Through the tireless efforts of Roy Lauridsen, Jyoti Rana, and the rest of the Facilities & Operations staff, that goal was reached this past summer.