The average Sustainability Pledge rate at most Harvard schools is 22%, but not at the Graduate School of Education. The HGSE Green Team set an ambitious goal of breaking records this year, and they achieved it. This fall, over 560 people, or 45% of the school, took the Harvard Sustainability Pledge. The Green Team, consisting of staff members from multiple departments and students, worked together to spread the word about the Pledge throughout the school. The team used every outreach method at their disposal, including emails, posters, monitor screens, tabling, and word of mouth to encourage their colleagues and classmates to take the pledge.
The goal of the Sustainability Pledge is to encourage people to think about their daily actions that affect the environment and pledge to make a few small changes. The cumulative impact of all of these changes multiplied across the school and University can amount to a significant impact.
The Sustainability Pledge has a section where people can enter their own ideas that are not already listed. A few personalized pledges from the HGSE community included:
- I already use canvas bags when I go grocery shopping but when I went to the Wine Cask last night and the cashier asked if I needed a bag (I did), I thought why not take my canvas bags into stores other than food stores (clothing, shoes, etc.).
- Use cloth, not paper napkins, at home.
- Use a clothesline again, as in the "old days." At least start with big items like sheets to save one dryer load at a time.
- At the office I'm trying to print on the backside of formerly printed pages. Most of what we print doesn't circulate anyway.
- Close off areas of the house to reduce use of oil heat this winter.
- Grow our own veggies and flowers
This fall, over 560 people, or 45% of the school, took the Harvard Sustainability Pledge.