Interested in making your workplace greener? Become a Sustainability Leader! This group of staff volunteers works with the Office of Sustainability to create sustainable workplaces throughout campus.
As a Yale Sustainability Leader, you can expect to:
- Spend a few hours each quarter educating co-workers about sustainable office practices. You might focus on waste reduction and recycling efforts, energy saving measures, or green purchasing.
- Join us for a quarterly lunch training to receive updates and information on Yale’s sustainability initiatives and to discuss the progress and challenges within your workplace.
- Create or join a “Green Team” in your offices or department to encourage your colleagues to join this effort.
Contact the Office of Sustainability for a schedule of upcoming meetings.
Starting a Green Team
Green Teams form the foundation for employee engagement in sustainability across Yale. It’s easy to get started.
Spread the word. Advertise your decision to start a Green Team around your office. It should be open for everyone to join!
Announce yourself. Once you have a list of interested colleagues, send out an announcement for your first Green Team meeting. Most green teams meet every month for 30-60 minutes, often over lunch.
Run your first Green Team meeting. It’s a good idea to have an agenda prepared for your first meeting. Here are some talking points/activities:
- Have your team walk around the workplace and identify a list of improvements to be made. Most teams find it easier to start with small projects and work their way up to more challenging changes.
- Complete the Green Workplace Certification checklist and choose priority items to start working on. Team members can form subgroups to work on each item or group of items.
- The Office of Sustainability can provide you with stickers, flyers, and other sustainability messages to display around your workplace. It’s great to have some of these items at the first meeting.
Keep Meeting! After your first meeting you can use your monthly meetings in a variety of ways. Here are some ideas:
- Tour Kroon, the LEED Platinum Building for the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (195 Prospect St.)
- Watch documentaries on environmental topics or invite guest speakers to come and present about recycling, green purchasing, composting, or any sustainability topic of interest.
- Take fun quizzes to test the team’s knowledge of sustainability issues.
- Hold inter- or intra- office competitions. Bring in a scale and measure how much garbage each unit or department in your building is creating per capita–make it a fun competition!