Newcomb Waste Audit
Newcomb Dining Hall Waste Audit Project quantified food waste produced by students in the Newcomb Dining Hall at the University of Virginia to heighten awareness among the student body and reduce waste.
ViewTHINK GLOBAL/ACT LOCAL PROJECTS
For ten years, from Fall 2009 through Fall 2019, nearly 1,800 students in the Global Sustainability foundation course completed Think Global/Act Local Projects. Each semester student teams collaborated with diverse community partners to implement meaningful research service learning projects in the community. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the community projects were disrupted in 2020.
See the partners page for more information.
Filter >
Sustainability Guide: Marketing
The goal of our workshop as a whole this semester has been to create a student sustainability guide that increases awareness of current environmental issues and increases participation in sustainability efforts around grounds.
ViewSustainaBALLERS
University communities have always been a principle forum for social change and with the growing global debate over environmental issues and sustainability, this forum must be used to channel education and awareness.
ViewDiscovery Museum Exhibit
Our group, Team Discovery, planned and executed an exhibit at the Virginia Discovery Museum to read about wind energy, study an actual wind turbine up close, and participate in hands-on activities.
ViewElementary Energy Education
To excite, to engage, and to educate the youth about sustainable energy sources in hopes of promoting more awareness throughout the Albemarle community.
ViewEnergy Education at Henley
The goal of our project on wind and solar power was to educate and inspire the students of Henley Middle School as a part of the overall “Wind for Schools” initiative.
ViewRenewable Energy Education in Albemarle
Our team goals for this project were to work with Western Albemarle High School students to teach them about renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.
ViewEnergy Education Kick-off
We chose to help organize a kick-off event for the greater Charlottesville community to spread awareness, knowledge, and excitement about wind and solar energy.
ViewFine Arts Cafe Waste Audit
We hope to curb wasteful habits within the Fine Arts Café as well as the University of Virginia community and to raise student and staff awareness of more sustainable food options and habits.
ViewFine Arts Cafe Herb Garden
Our project addresses the pressing issue of unsustainable food production through the establishment of a garden, which will grow basil as a local herb source for the U.Va. Fine Arts Café.
ViewLocal Food Show at the Fine Arts Cafe
To improve upon the Show that occurred the year before, educate the UVa population about local food and its many benefits, as well as informing participants about the initiatives of the Fine Arts Cafe to support local food.
ViewSustainability Guide: Format
The purpose of our workshop was to develop and establish a Sustainability Guide accessible to all students at the University.
ViewProject Observatory Hill Waste Audit
The intent of our publicity efforts on food waste was to raise awareness among the student body of the collected audit data and its impact.
ViewRunk Dining Hall Waste Audit
We conducted a waste audit of Runk Dining Hall In order to address the problem of excess food waste that eventually accumulates in landfills.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: Beer Run
Better Business Challenge: Beer Run, a local restaurant and alcohol retailer.
ViewBetter Business: Clay Fitness & Nutrition
Better Business Challenge: Clay Fitness and Nutrition, sustainable issues in energy and leadership
ViewBetter Business Challenge: C’ville Coffee
Better Business Challenge: C'ville Coffee, encouraging customers to reduce paper towel waste.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: McGuffey Art Center
Better Business Challenge: McGuffey Art Center, a local exhibition center in downtown Charlottesville.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: Midtown Music
Better business challenge: Midtown Music, vintage instruments of all kinds, sustainability issues revolved primarily around transportation, energy, and leadership.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: Mudhouse
Better Business Challenge: Mudhouse, a coffee shop located on the historic Downtown Mall that serves delicious coffee in a hip, funky atmosphere.
ViewBetter World Betty’s Better Business Challenge
The Charlottesville Area Better Business Challenge is a new competition that incentivizes local businesses to integrate sustainable practices into their core business strategy.
ViewProject Green Light
Project Green Light is designed to address the multi-faceted problem of incandescent light bulb inefficiency and consumer wariness of compact fluorescent light bulbs.
ViewEnvironmental Club at Burley Middle School
The environmental club begun at Burley Middle School was designed to meet weekly to discuss environmental issues and ways students can make an impact.
ViewNorris Dorm Recycling
We worked to identify the current recycling habits of Norris' residents through a waste audit & survey and raise awareness about the importance of recycling after.
ViewRecycling in Elementary Education
To combat the widespread lack of education about environmental responsibility in America, we have devised lesson plans and the "Trash Dash" to help elementary students learn about these issues.
ViewApartment Recycling
Many off-grounds apartments do not provide recycling services, and we aim to push the student voice to raise awareness of the issue.
ViewResource for Local Food
Hoos Local: providing a constantly expanding resource to educate and increase awareness about local food options and opportunities in Charlottesville to the Uva community.
ViewStormwater Reuse
To reduce inefficient use of potable water we decided on implementing a feasible storm water system in the proposed FMSEAS building after forming a cost benefit analysis and justifying the system financially and socially.
ViewSustainable Clothing Alternatives
Clothing is not very well considered when one decides to live a “green” lifestyle. Our objective is to make our student body aware of the importance of wearing and supporting sustainable clothing.
ViewTimbercreek Composting
Restaurants generate an unbelievable amount of waste, which simply sits in a landfill decaying and releasing harmful methane gas into the atmosphere. So we worked with a local, family-owned farm, Timbercreek Organics, to promote restaurant composting.
ViewUVA Bike Share Research
To provide the research necessary to approve the implementation of a University of Virginia Bike Share program.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: Tea Bazaar
We partnered with the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar to aid with the business’s sustainability efforts and take the weight off of the business owner’s shoulders.
ViewWatershed Workshop at Camp Albemarle
To teach the public in the Charlottesville area how their actions directly affect the Chesapeake Bay.
ViewWind Turbine Education
The central goal our group is to effectively and efficiently convey the functions of wind and solar energy to students at Henley Middle School in Crozet, Virginia.
ViewZero Waste Football
The objective of our initiative is to reduce as the amount of waste traveling from Scott Stadium to the landfills by making Scott Stadium “zero‐waste.”
ViewSTARS: Building, Dining, Purchasing
Focusing on the “Building, Dining Services, and Purchasing” categories includes the operations of the Fine Arts Cafe, the purchasing and allocation of computers and paper supplies, and the use of cleaning supplies on the premises.
ViewSTARS Sustainability: Climate, Energy, Water
This project will assess the School of Architecture’s Energy, Water, and Climate expenditures according to the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS).
ViewSTARS Sustainability: Education
To research, gather, and assess information necessary for the University of Virginia's School of Architecture's STARS report within the category of "Education and Research".
ViewSTARS: Grounds, Transportation, Waste
We have analyzed the annual facility summaries of Campbell hall provided by our community partners to determine consumption trends and identify unsustainable areas that we can improve.
ViewSustainability Guide: Greenformation
To develop a comprehensive sustainability guide for University students by researching initiatives at other universities that had been successful in promoting sustainability.
ViewSustainability Guide for Students
With over 50 sustainability-related organizations available to students, some problems arise that may actually prevent further growth of such sustainable activities.
ViewAdvocating Renewable Energy & Conservation
The main objective of our team was to amend the policy in Albemarle County to facilitate the installation and ownership of residential wind turbines.
ViewWaste at West Range Cafe
The West Range waste audit formed the basis for making current recommendations and will serve as the control for determining future implementation success.
ViewObstacles in Paradise
To design activities that facilitated a relationship between the community’s families and the natural environment, while also encouraging team-building skills and knowledge of the local ecology.
ViewCity Schoolyard Garden Symposium
City Schoolyard Garden is a non-profit organization based in Charlottesville, Virginia interested in broadening its own horizons through a symposium event that would include similar garden programs from the region.
ViewLesson Plans For Paradise
Lesson plans for paradise – Education and encouragement for Portsmouth students to become environmental stewards
ViewCharlottesville Placemaking
With our transportation, block size, and building density maps, we have discovered where sustainable places exist within the City of Charlottesville.
ViewBarracks/Rugby and Greenbrier
The new movement of the times focuses on connecting human beings to the environment in a different way: through the creation of livable cities and towns that enhance both the quality of life of their inhabitants and the quality of the environment.
ViewLocust Grove and Martha Jefferson
The objective of this project is to educate the neighborhoods of Martha Jefferson and Locust Grove about sustainability through transportation, health and safety, green versus urban space, culture, and density.
ViewStarting a Movement
Starting a Movement aims to expand student knowledge of the sustainability methods and initiate a trend that inspires long-term student participation and awareness.
ViewJohnson Village, Fifeville, Ridge Street
Using precedents of successful sustainable places, we determined a sustainable pattern language in our investigation of sustainable places in Charlottesville.
ViewRenewable Energy Open Dialogue
Our group’s objective was to host a Renewable Energy Dialogue for the UVa and Charlottesville communities by bringing together students from different disciplines.
ViewGlobal Sustainability World Cafe
A World Cafe in which professors at the University of Virginia could collaborate on how to include more topics of sustainability into their courses.
ViewReducing Waste at the Pav
The Pav, a popular dining location on grounds, has huge untapped potential to become more sustainable.
ViewKidwind Project
In order to educate the UVA and Charlottesville-Albemarle communities on the viability of wind energy, our team constructed and tested several wind turbine designs, including both horizontal and vertical axis turbines.
ViewBelmont and Woolen Mills
We plan to address the sustainability issues in the Belmont and Woolen Mills area using a sustainability evaluation chart to evaluate certain criteria such as walk-ability, pedestrian density and resources, such as access to schools and community engagement centers.
ViewPeer Institutions
This report provides a compilation of research on successful implementations of sustainability in the curriculum by comparable peer institutions, and a recommendation on how to begin integrating it here at the University of Virginia.
ViewSTARS and Daylighting in Campbell Hall
As a team, we set out to update the STARS report for Campbell Hall and perform a lighting audit in the studio areas of Campbell Hall with the hopes of implementing an effective daylighting system.
ViewParadise Creek: The Seven Steps of Stewardship
The protection of the Paradise Creek area and the Elizabeth River in general cannot be sustainable solely through on-site project, but rather requires that surrounding communities and business be educated and engaged in the process.
ViewParadise Creek: Sustainable Playground Designs
Paradise Creek Nature Park (PCNP) is an urban park that includes about 11 acres of wetland restoration and an area designated by the US Navy as safe haven for wildlife -which needs visitors.
ViewSustainability in the UVA Curriculum
To achieve knowledge of how current programs at UVa have integrated sustainability-related curriculum into their existing programs.
ViewSustainUVa App
The SustainUVa app will create a centralized, up-to-date platform for sustainability-related events, information, and groups that will increase the sustainability engagement and education of the UVa community.
ViewZero Waste Pilot Audit
Pilot audits are conducted to experiment, on a small-scale, the effectiveness of a school’s campaign in reducing waste before determining a large-scale approach at waste reduction.
ViewZero Waste Football Initiative: Scott Stadium
A combined effort over the past two semesters between student groups and community partners to revise unsustainable practices at Scott Stadium and to reduce waste produced up to 90%.
ViewBetter Business Challenge: Wild Wing Cafe
The Better Business Challenge is a friendly competition among businesses to incorporate sustainable practices in their day-to-day operations.
ViewBiking on Grounds: Engineering
To find a tangible solution for improving cycling on grounds, we addressed the deficiency in parking space and adding more bike lanes to city and campus streets.
ViewSustainable Biking Initiative at UVA: Education
Our mission, given to us by UVA Parking and Transportation and Global Sustainability, was to educate the University of Virginia community on biking around Grounds.
ViewCycling Around Grounds: Bike Share
To bolster the bike share program already in place with our own polling and research and get a clearer picture of what affect a bike share program would have on people and grounds.
ViewBicycling on Grounds and Beyond
In collaboration with the UVA Parking and Transportation Department, the Encouragement Group influenced people to use biking as a mode of transportation.
ViewUVA Biking: Enforcement
To educate and enforce the rules of the road for bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians for a safe and problem-free University of Virginia community.
ViewZero Waste Football: Behavioral Changes
Develop a method to reveal people’s knowledge about a Zero-Waste concept and to effectively use this information to alter their behavior to promote a zero-waste initiative.
ViewZero Waste Football: Project Precedents
We contacted other schools and athletics organizations that had already implemented some sort of zero-waste program and inquired about behavioral changes, product conversion, personnel involvement, and receptacle distribution.
ViewZero Waste Football: Product Conversion
As the Product Conversion faction of the Zero-Waste initiative, we are looking for sustainable alternatives for the concession products at Scott Stadium.
ViewZero Waste at Scott Stadium
The Waste Quantification team set out to provide a rough empirical analysis of the waste flow leaving Scott Stadium on a typical game day.
ViewZero Waste Athletics
Zero Waste Athletics is a student group at the University of Virginia, which focuses on reducing the landfill waste produced by concessions at athletic events by 90%, diverting the waste into recycling and composting.
ViewAHIP and Habitat for Humanity
To assist in AHIP and Charlottesville’s Block by Block initiative in the 10th and Page neighborhood by eliminating substandard housing and keeping affordable housing.
ViewGreen Neighborhood with AHIP
The goal of this project is to research some of the most well known up-and-coming sustainability building techniques, LEED, Passive House, EarthCraft, and Energy Star, in order to assess whether they would be beneficial for the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program (AHIP) to incorporate into their business plan.
ViewCommunity Outreach of Crozet, VA
Problem: the energy inefficiency of older homes in Crozet and lack of education on how to make the home more sustainable.
ViewProject Act Locally
In search of a successful green construction method for the Albermarle Housing Improvement Project to use in their local housing renovations.
ViewCommunity Partner
To assist the Albemarle Home Improvement Program in implementing a sustainable approach to renovations of low-income housing, our team has focused on identifying precedent programs/projects to inform possible approaches and funding strategies.
ViewUrban Precedent and Funding
Precedent and financing on an urban level: to find relevant examples that Albemarle Housing Improvement Program could apply to their project site.
ViewGenerating Interactive Signage
The Paradise Creek Nature Park seeks to provide children with access to a sustainable nature park where they can learn about environmental issues and cultivate a relationship with nature.
ViewBarracks Rd, Lewis Mt, the Meadows
Our objective in this project was to analyze three neighborhoods –Barracks Road, Lewis Mountain, and the Meadows, and to figure out what works in these areas in terms of walkability and accessibility to basic necessities
ViewSustainable Places: JPA, Fry Springs
We have evaluated portions of JPA on terms of sustainability and constructed the following report using all the information gathered so that this analysis can be delivered to the PLACE Design Task Force.
ViewSustainable Places: Downtown Mall, Starr Hill
Studying the success and sustainability of two places, we instantly recognized that Downtown is a popular commercial destination, while Star Hill is mainly a residential area with not much attraction for visitors.
View