Dear Supporter,
Thank you for supporting the new UConn Green Campus Fund, which was created last year to advance more environmentally sustainable building and operational practices across the University.
Promoted by the UConn Foundation as a new option for annual giving, the Fund has already raised nearly $10,000 from more than 100 donors! Your contribution will help sponsor several green campus projects and activities. Here are a few that could be bolstered by the Fund:
Hillside Environmental Education Park – Under a closure permit for UConn’s former landfill, the University must establish a permanent 64-acre preservation area adjacent to our undeveloped North Campus and parallel to North Hillside Road. The area is mostly wooded, connects to a town-owned nature preserve, and includes a large wetlands system with a Great Blue Heron rookery. Working with faculty and students in our Landscape Architecture department, we’re developing plans for a nature park that would include hiking trails, boardwalks and observation decks, with educational signs describing the diverse ecosystems. Research opportunities would include work with wetlands, vernal pools, amphibians, and invasive plant species management.
Compost Technology Center – A proposal submitted to University President Philip Austin would develop a campus-wide compost facility in several phases, the first being a pilot facility that would convert manure from UConn’s dairy center and campus leaf waste into compost, mulch and animal bedding. The longer-term goal is a full-scale facility for composting additional agricultural and landscaping organic waste. Later phases could include food wastes and bio-solids. Consistent with our land-grant tradition, the facility would enable new outreach and research opportunities in sustainable agricultural practices.
A Green Roof for Gant Plaza – On a hot summer day in Storrs, the vast, barren concrete plaza between Gant and the new Physics-Biology building can be as uninviting as a parking lot–and generates about as much stormwater runoff, too. We have a more sustainable vision! Faculty and students are designing a “green” or vegetated roof for the plaza that would reduce and renovate storm water runoff into Eagleville Brook, save energy needed to heat and cool the underlying spaces, reduce the surface “heat island” effect, and provide everyone with an attractive, landscaped gathering place.
Your financial support helps advance these efforts and many more! Check out our website at www.ecohusky.uconn.edu for information about all of our sustainability initiatives, including green building, climate change (like biodiesel production and research), recycling and water conservation. As you can see, we’ve got big plans for projects that often require seed money in order to flourish. Be on the lookout for The Fund For UConn appeal and help us again this year by choosing the Green Campus Fund!
Sincerely,
Rich Miller
Director, Environmental Policy
Page last updated 09/29/08.
