WEST CHESTER, PA — West Chester University is expanding public access to its sustainability programs this fall with seminars, campus tours and community events focused on waste reduction, energy use, environmental health and sustainable practices.
The university’s Office of Sustainability will hold a Sustainability Showcase Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Sykes Student Union Ballrooms. The event will cover green roofs, responsible purchasing, recycling, waste reduction and sustainability education.
The office will also run weekly Sustainability Research and Practice Seminars at noon on Wednesdays. The 50-minute programs, held in Sykes 255 A/B and on Zoom, bring together university and community experts examining environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The fall seminar schedule begins Sept. 23 with a program examining the political, economic, colonial and environmental dimensions of banana cultivation. Other sessions will address bird-building collisions, ecotourism and whale shark habitats, landscape art, corporate social responsibility, textile production, greenhouse-gas emissions, residential renewable energy and food insecurity.
Recordings of the seminars are archived at https://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/srca_sp/.
West Chester University is also opening several campus sustainability sites to the public through a series of one-hour tours.
The first, scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, will examine the green roof at the Sciences and Engineering Center and The Commons. Participants will meet at The Commons dining hall at noon.
A North Campus sustainability tour is scheduled for Oct. 15, followed by a Gordon Natural Area tour on South Campus on Oct. 26. A Nov. 13 tour will examine the university’s geothermal pumphouse and its role in campus energy use. All tours run from noon to 1 p.m.
The Office of Sustainability and West Chester Green Team will also hold a community panel on plastics and health Oct. 22 at the Business and Public Management Center, 50 Sharpless St.
A reception begins at 6 p.m. in Room 102, followed by the panel at 6:30 p.m. in Room 116. Panelists include West Chester University faculty members Elliott Arnold of Earth and Space Sciences and Megan Fork of Biology, along with acupuncture and Chinese medicine practitioner Erika Prinz Ben-Zur.
Elizabeth Gombosi of the West Chester Green Team will moderate. The organization will also present its Environmental Leadership Award to Rachael Griffith, sustainability director for the Chester County Planning Commission.
The university’s Sustainability Council meets monthly during the academic year, with remaining fall meetings scheduled for Oct. 9 and Nov. 13 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Philips Lower Level Conference Room and through Zoom. The Sept. 11 meeting has already occurred.
The Office of Sustainability and Sustainability Council coordinate the university’s environmental, economic and social sustainability efforts across teaching, research and campus operations. The university also holds bird walks each semester in the Gordon Natural Area.
The programs are free and open to the public. Additional information is available at wcupa.edu/sustainability or by emailing sustainability@wcupa.edu.
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