By SHANNON O. WELLS
If a little positive reinforcement can go a long way toward furthering laudable behavior, the upcoming Pitt Green Suite Celebration likely will accelerate the University community’s already-robust embrace of sustainable practices.
The inaugural, invitation-only event, on June 29 in the William Pitt Union lower lounge, will recognize and celebrate more than 400 individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to campus sustainability as part of Pitt’s labs, offices and teams certified “Green” by the University’s Office of Sustainability.
Emily Potoczny, Pitt’s sustainability engagement manager — a new position — took a break from preparing for the event to address questions from University Times about the Pitt Green Suite Celebration and the many ways sustainable consciousness is becoming integral to day-to-day life on Pitt campuses.
University Times: What inspired the Pitt Green Suite Celebration? What individuals and entities will take part?
Emily Potoczny: This is the first event of its kind for Pitt’s Green Suite programs. The Pitt Green Lab, Green Office, and Pitt Green Ambassador programs and the HR Sustainability Professional Certificate are all new University-wide offerings in the past few years.
The Pitt Green Suite Celebration on June 29 is the first time the Office of Sustainability has been able to bring individuals who have embraced these opportunities together in person. We’re excited to be able to recognize this sustainability cohort and provide an opportunity for Pitt community members to meet and share their interest and efforts in making Pitt more sustainable, while growing our University-wide sense of joy, camaraderie and collective strength in these efforts.
The Pitt Green programs reflect a diverse campus community that encourages conversation about and knowledge generation from individual experiences implementing sustainable habits in everyday work across our campuses.
UTimes: Will it take place every year?
Potoczny: The (event) will celebrate and recognize all the University’s Green Offices, Green Labs, Green Ambassadors and Sustainability Professionals Certificate recipients since each program began. Moving forward, this will be an annual celebration, including best practice highlights, new member introductions and more.
UTime: How many Green offices, labs, ambassadors, and Sustainable Professional Development certificate holders qualified for invitations? Is your office pleased with the level of participation
Potoczny: Over 400 individuals have been personally invited to the Pitt Green celebration, including green teams supporting our 55 Pitt Green Offices and 25 Pitt Green Labs … as well as all qualifying Pitt Green Ambassadors (33) and Sustainability Professional Certificate holders (28). We look forward to growing this event every year with additional participants in these programs over time.
UTimes: Are there particular offices and entities that stand out in the Pitt Green crowd? What are some examples of their accomplishments?
Potoczny: There are several Pitt Green offices and labs that have achieved a Sustainable Oak designation, the highest level in the Pitt Green suite of programs. These include the Center for Sustainable Business, Disability Resources & Services, Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation + Office of Sustainability, Microbiology Teaching Labs, Renal-Electrolyte Research, Sanchez Lab and Student Affairs at Pitt-Bradford.
Sustainable Oak offices and labs employ 75 percent or more of the sustainable best practices in their respective programs, which cross the full spectrum of sustainability (equity, environment and economics). There are many best practices that reduce resource use and related emissions, including energy-saving practices via appliances and devices, avoided and low-carbon transportation and meetings, and purchasing decisions focused on reuse and waste reduction.
Additional best practices related to building a culture of sustainability are more focused on office communications, including engaging colleagues in sustainability, creating an equitable office, and promoting health and wellness.
UTimes: What do individuals and teams that have accomplished the most have in common?
Potoczny: The most successful teams I’ve worked with have excelled in this important engagement work — they’ve made space to communicate their interests and concerns around sustainability, set goals together and established trust to explore and implement innovative new solutions.
We’ve also started monthly Pitt Green Office and Lab highlights on our website and a monthly newsletter where one office and lab each share their most impactful change or sustainable habit, including recommendations for others — and what opportunities or challenges they need help addressing.
UTimes: What does the Office of Sustainability do to recruit and/or encourage Pitt Green participation and certifications? What, if anything, tends to dissuade offices from taking a larger green-oriented role?
Potoczny: Time to focus on something new and different can be our most precious resource, so we try to make participating in the Pitt Green programs simple and straightforward.
To join in, aspiring Pitt Green Offices and Labs only need to complete a sustainability-actions checklist. New planning tools provide direct links to resources and contacts to get people started. I am also personally available to walk through your office space, meet with your team and suggest actions your office might try.
We’re also launching a new series of quarterly workshops that will dive deeply into one area of sustainable office or lab practices, simultaneously digging into challenges, opportunities and solutions together.
The first, on Aug. 7, will focus on recycling, including market limitations, common misperceptions and questions we all have (including why these persist). In October, we’ll focus on print and paper reduction, which is a University-wide effort, including a change in Pitt’s “managed print” vendor this summer.
Through regular workshops, an annual celebration, and further opportunities to collaborate and communicate with one another, we’re excited for the Pitt Green cohort to be a University-wide network for campus sustainability expertise embedded in every school, division and building across the University. This network provides all employees a close-at-hand opportunity to find solutions, report challenges and share opportunities to make a tangible and daily positive contribution to University-wide sustainability commitments, both by reducing resource use and helping deploy and shape the University’s sustainability culture.
We also have rewards for participation: Green Offices and Labs receive a beautiful plaque made locally with reclaimed wood and a changeable placard with their designation level, along with a window decal. Green Ambassadors receive a limited-edition Pitt Sustainability Welly bottle.
UTimes: What are your goals and expectations for your position?
Potoczny: My role as sustainability engagement manager is new at Pitt this calendar year. I am focused on encouraging resource savings through campus-wide behavior change: I literally cannot do my job without working with Pitt employees daily.
Our Pitt Green programs are one way to get involved with sustainability on campus — and I am focused on growing this community and raising awareness about the Office of Sustainability as a campus-wide resource hub, connector and well of subject matter experts for the University.
I welcome and encourage anyone with an interest, concern or idea about saving resources on campus to reach out via at sustainability@pitt.edu.
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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