The Office of Sustainability is located in the Facilities
portion of the ROTC building. It is composed of a full time staff
member and student sustainability coordinators.
Sustainability
at St. John’s is an interdisciplinary mission, and requires the
dedication of individuals from all different fields and majors on
campus. The Student Sustainability Coordinators on campus are just
that: a diverse group of students that come together to make St.
John's University a little greener, one day at a time. Currently,
eight Student Sustainability Coordinators work on the Queens
campus.
Some of the
initiatives Sustainability Coordinators work on include: promoting
and maintaining the Single Stream Recycling system on campus, the
Organic Garden, new compost initiatives, and promoting national
competitions such as RecycleMania and Campus Conservation
Nationals.
One of the
main responsibilities of Sustainability Coordinators is to monitor
the recycling system on campus. This encompasses recycling in the
Residence Village, Townhouses, classrooms, and offices. By
routinely checking the dorms and buildings on campus,
Sustainability Coordinators ensure that recycling bins are present,
and check that students/employees are following the Single Stream
Recycling policy, as well as making sure trash is not mixed in with
recyclables.
Sustainability Coordinators also create
posters and campaign for the Nation-wide competitions, RecycleMania
and Campus Conservation Nationals. During competition months,
Sustainability Coordinators promoting the idea of increasing
recycling, and conserving energy by talking to students, holding
pledges, and raffles.
Another task
of Sustainability Coordinators, with the help of Earth Club, is
managing the Organic Garden located by the Softball field by
Donovan Hall. Weeding, watering, planting, harvesting and various
other tasks are done in the garden during the summer season and
fall semester. Preparing the soil and transplanting plants from the
green house are also done at the beginning of the planting season
around March. All produce harvested from the garden are donated to
the soup kitchen at St. John's Bread and Life in
Brooklyn.
Student
Sustainability Coordinators also work on compost initiatives to
help. Coordinators are responsible for collecting pre-consumer
waste for making compost, as well as maintaining the compost system
on campus. Compost produced is used in the organic garden as well
as the lawns around campus.
To learn more about the
Office of Sustainability, please contact:
Thomas
M. Goldsmith
Director of
Environmental and Energy Conservation
Department of Facilities Services
(718)
990-8008
goldsmit@stjohns.edu
Raelynne Lee
Sustainability Department Assistant
(718)990-5054
sustainability@stjohns.edu