Amelia Davis

Staff Writer

Three years ago, Penn State Behrend hired Dr. Sherri Mason as the new sustainability coordinator. With her arrival on campus, Behrend became a member of STARS, which is a sustainability program that ranks different colleges and universities on their performance with sustainability. There are three different rankings: reporter, which is the lowest ranking, bronze, siler, gold and platinum. University Park’s ranking is Gold. Behrend’s ranking is a bronze. Considering this ranking was made before Dr. Mason came to campus, bronze is a good starting point. Behrend’s campus has many different aspects of sustainability including composting, recycling, energy efficiency and more.

Behrend has plans in place to move the office of sustainability into a more central location. As of right now it is located in the science building but, a location easily accessible to all students is ideal. According to Dr. Mason, “Sustainability is one of the pillars as part of Behrend’s strategic plan.” This means that goals of sustainability will be on the forefront of Behrend’s campus. 

Composting is an important aspect of sustainability and a new one for Behrend. All food waste at dobbins is able to be composted including pre- and post-consumer waste.  Bruno’s is currently only composting pre-consumer food waste. With hopes to move towards post-consumer composting with proper signage in the future. Behrend is also composting 3d printing waste while working with Conservation Compost, an industrial composting facility.

In terms of recycling, there are a few options on campus. The blue bins, which can be found all over campus may be used to recycle plastic products. Glass recycling is also available on campus, these can be found in the resident halls. And an on-campus collection site is available for staff and faculty. This is very important since the city of Erie no longer picks up glass recycling.

Dr. Mason has been working on the Sustainability Strategic plan created at the end of the summer with a five-year plan set in place. 2021-2026. Over thanksgiving break, electric and water lines were put in place for the upcoming installment of the new garden being put behind OBS. During the spring, the hoop house for the garden. Which will complement the smaller garden near the chapel. Gardening will be posting paid positions soon for the gardening expansion. If you would like to get involved on campus, Dr. Mason uses groups of student volunteers to assist her with projects like the recycling audit. 

This spring, Behrend will be participating in the Worldwide teach-in.  Where 1000s of different universities and k-12 schools will join together one day to have a climate justice teach in.  There will be six different break out rooms with faculty from all across campus on Wednesday, March 30th from 5:30 -830 pm. If the event is successful, it will become an annual event. Dr. Mason described the event “to be this visual manifestation of sustainability and having a discussion and really thinking about issues around sustainability.” Teaching about climate justice and sustainability on a global scale is just one of the many things Behrend is doing to look forward to a more sustainable future.