The Refinishing Touch Blog

Labels: Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Da Vinci Arts Middle School, Education, Green, Valley View Middle School

Labels: Education, Environment, Green, New York, Schools

With the environment continuing to be a constant concern to throughout the world, we are excited to see how schools and universities across the country are encouraging green practices in the future leaders of sustainability: students.

Colleges and universities in California are implementing new programs to encourage students to minimize their impact on the environment in several ways. Because public transportation is less than ideal in their areas, schools such as San Diego University, UC San Marcos and UC San Diego are rewarding students who opt to carpool and bike to school. Some incentives include prime parking spots for carpoolers and hybrid car users and free parking for 10 days for students who bike the majority of their trips. Some, such as UC San Diego, even upgraded their university bus programs to reduce the number of buses in use while employing biodiesel technology.

Some colleges go a step further and offer financial incentives and free give-aways to students who don't drive to campus. According to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Stanford University is offering non-driving students up to $282. Others offer free bicycles and helmets. Some commuter colleges go even further by offering students the option of taking all their classes in fewer days to reduce the number of cars on the road.

These incentive programs in colleges and universities are just more examples of how sustainability is a continuously growing priority not only in businesses and governments, but also in younger generations. It's great to see schools and students take steps in unison be more environmentally conscious - and produce future business leaders with green values.

Labels: Education, Sustainability, university

This week, the Sustainable Endowments Institute released its 2009 College Sustainability Report Card the only independent evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities of colleges and universities with the 300 largest endowments in the United States and Canada.

We like the Report card – it highlights commitments to sustainability and aims to provide accessibility to information for schools to learn from one another's experiences.

According to the Institute's methodology, grades are determined by assessing performance across 43 indicators in nine main categories, and ultimately, the Institute's position is that the Report Card's drive is to enable universities to establish more effective sustainability policies.

The San Francisco Chronicle took a look at this year's results and made note of some of the Report Card's most significant statistics. Or click here for the report itself.

Most notably, this year's report card showed that

• 45% of campuses have made strides to fight global warming by cutting carbon emissions

• 59% have high-performance green building standards for new buildings

Other stats pulled from the report card showed that

• 42% of the included universities use hybrid or electric vehicles

• 37% purchase renewable energy

• 30% produce a quantity of their own with wind or solar generators

Harvard, Dartmouth and the University of Washington received the highest marks, while Juilliard School, Howard University, Regent University, and Samford University received the lowest.

We are thrilled to see an organized external body taking the lead in recognizing and holding the nation's largest competitors accountable for their contributions to sustainability. As you well know, sustainability is an issue of great importance to us, here at TRT. We believe that extraordinary efforts deserve recognition, and we extend our congratulations to this year's top ranked universities.

Labels: College Sustainability Report Card, Education, Sustainable Endowments Institute, university

Because we have our roots in the government, hospitality and education sectors, we like to keep an eye on any news that comes from each of those industries.

This week, the LA Times recognized a meeting of the minds in education that is set to begin on June 21^st in Santa Barbara and will bring together 70 universities within the state of California at the 8th annual California Campus Sustainability Conference. The four day conference will be packed with workshops and speeches covering topics including energy efficiency and ways to achieve carbon neutrality. It is sure to be a productive and innovative event for universities, an area which we have seen a tremendous willingness to explore going green, and in California, the state that perhaps more than any other supports environmentalism.

In the recent past, we've talked a lot about President Obama's green agenda, and think it is a tremendous movement to see organized events like the Sustainability Conference continue to gain momentum across various sectors in our nation. Though many of us have been out fighting for environmental reform for many years, as we continue to see an increase in visibility for these issues, we are inspired and encouraged to continue in our efforts.

The universities we have had the pleasure to work with have recognized tremendous benefits from going green and we know intimately how much they care about furthering these initiatives. We look forward to sustainability becoming one of the cornerstones of organizations in all sectors, and to it bringing continual vitality and feelings of purpose across all industries.

Labels: California Campus Sustainability Conference 2009, Education, Sustainability

We were digging through some past articles about 'Going Green,' when we stumbled upon one that really caught our attention in The New York Times back in July, called "Green, Greener, Greenest." The article focused on how colleges and universities can't resist be noted for a 'best' ranking. We believe going green on college campuses creates an opportunity to both the students and administration of the school.

This year was the first year The Princton Review included a new category; the "green rating" in its annual guide for colleges. The ranking was generated by points gained from such things as renewable power sources, energy-efficient buildings, and "environmentally preferable food." It was noted that now some schools have even begun creating sustainability-related degrees.

An interesting statistic that came from a Princeton Review survey of 10,300 college applicants said that 63 percent of applicants' decisions could be influenced by a college's commitment to the environment.

Some colleges with the top ratings were Arizona State, Bates, Binghamton University, the College if the Atlantic, Harvard, Emory, Georgia Institute of Technology, Yale and the Universities of New Hampshire, Oregon and Washington.

Now with this 'Going Green' campaign growing enormously day-by-day, colleges will be striving to be the 'top green campus.' We at the Refinishing Touch have helped many colleges in their effort to go green by refinishing existing pieces of dorm furniture which is turn saves the environment and cuts costs at the college. We plan to help many more colleges and universities in the future and will help them achieve the ranking of 'Greenest' college which they desire.

Labels: 2009, Calculate your Carbon footprint, College, Education, Energy Efficiency, energy efficient buildings, Green, green rating, New York Times, renewable power, The Princeton Review, university

It seems the recent financial state of our nation has begun affecting our educational sector. News of cutbacks and hiring freezes has surfaced, raising eyebrows and concern levels even amongst some of our nation's most prestigious educational institutions.

Boston University announced its plan to freeze non-critical hires in anticipation of rising demand for financial aid, while universities such as Stanford and other California universities have responded with plans to tighten their belts as well - all in an effort to brace themselves for expected budget cuts.

When news that the Ivy League's 'Big Red,' Cornell University, had responded to financial difficulties with budget cuts of its own, we were again struck with the overwhelming realization that distressing times often result in defining movements. In the days to come, individuals, families and corporations will continue to restructure their daily lives according to the vitality of our nation and its economic prosperity. We have all been urged and invited to redefine the way we manage our assets, and to reclaim control of our financial health

Today, Americans are exercising their right to vote in one of the most focal Presidential elections of our time. Whomever the American people choose to elect into office will be responsible for leading our nation out of a global financial crisis with a renewed sense of establishment towards restored economic security.

As the election campaigns have shown, education is a common priority throughout our nation. Further education is preparing our future generation of leaders. The Refinishing Touch is proud to have had a hand in collaborating with universities and looks forward to work yet to come. We can't think of a better investment than one in our future.

Labels: Education, Election, Financial Crisis