Author Archives: Liliana Varman

Yale is on track to meet the goals outlined in its 2010-’13 Sustainability Strategic Plan, according to a progress report released Monday by the Office of Sustainability. The report tracks the progress that the University made through the end of the 2011 fiscal year, the first year following the plan’s introduction in September 2010, said »

After spending four days by himself in the Mojave desert without access to food, Stephen Blackmer FES ’83 DIV ’12 found his calling. The 49-year-old had spent his life working to conserve New England forests, but said that trip expanded his views on how to protect the environment. In 2007, two years after his return, »

A small group of graduate and undergraduate students have committed to meeting weekly to discuss options for enhancing the Yale Farm’s sustainability. Though still in their initial stages, the workshops are intended to lead to the construction of a compost toilet for the Yale Farm, said Kendall Barbery FES ’13, a special projects coordinator at »

Since joining forces with the New Haven Office of Sustainability a year and a half ago, the Yale Community Carbon Fund has worked to expand renewable energy use in the city. Having exceeded its goal of installing programmable thermostats in 125 New Haven low-to-moderate-income homes in the 125 Homes Project, the Fund is now in »

Beginning this semester, the Yale Office of Sustainability and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History have partnered to create Citizen Science, a new initiative that aims to engage Yale community members with urban ecology on campus. The goal of the Citizen Science initiative is to train a group of Yale students, faculty and staff »

This spring, wood will take center stage at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies as students hope to boost appreciation of the material in unconventional ways. The environment school’s Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry is hosting a semester-long event entitled “The Art of Wood,” which aims to celebrate the cultural and aesthetic values »

Students interested in the intersection of religion and environmental studies can engage in a special interdisciplinary course this month at the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale. Starting Thursday night, a three-part series of classes on the intersection of environmentalism and Jewish ethics will be taught by Noah Cheses, an associate rabbi at »

Yale’s “father of green chemistry” announced that he will leave his position as science adviser and assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development in mid-February to return to Yale. Paul Anastas has been on public service leave from the Yale Center of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, where he »

A guest lecture series at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies is bringing undergraduates and graduate students together to discuss the United States farm bill. The series is a student-organized independent study that aims to give students an understanding of the U.S. farm bill and how it affects other areas of food and »

A 66,000-pound fuel cell arrived at Millennium Plaza behind City Hall Sunday morning, bringing the city’s total fuel cell count to five. The fuel cell will provide the majority of electricity to City Hall and the Hall of Records at 200 Orange St., as well as 60 percent of the heat and 30 percent of »

A new Yale study adds to the body of evidence that climate change is connected to carbon dioxide. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels dropped shortly before ice formed in Antarctica 34 million years ago, according to a three-year study conducted by the Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics. The study’s results — which were published online »

Although much of the University’s sustainability efforts are conducted by paid professionals, Yale is also giving students and faculty a chance to get their hands dirty while going green. Established in the fall of 2010, the Yale Sustainability Microloan Fund gives students, faculty and staff money to develop money-saving sustainable projects the University will implement, »