Kristen Sorek West is providing a roadmap for how a small group of employees can move the needle on sustainability at Yale, though that was never really her intent. She simply wanted to ensure that Yale School of Management Executive Education, where she serves as Director of Marketing, was being a good environmental steward. And that started with getting a new coffee maker.
“We had a pod machine and we knew pods were not environmentally friendly,” Sorek West says. While not the highest-impact shift, Sorek West understood that switching coffee makers was a tangible change that would build excitement for other sustainability projects among the program’s 22 staff members.
Last fall, Sorek West jumpstarted Executive Education’s sustainability committee, which had gone dormant during the pandemic. She organized it around a few guiding principles:
- The committee should be small—her committee has only six members.
- It should be cross functional, with representatives from most departments.
- Priorities should focus on what’s achievable in order to build and maintain enthusiasm.
- Work should be guided by rubrics such as Yale’s Green Events Checklist, which is now incorporated into dozens of Executive Ed events.
One of the first things the committee tackled was re-evaluating program gifts—things like notebooks and pens that are given to thousands of program participants every year. After reviewing their inventory and sustainable alternatives, the program now gives out notebooks made from stone paper, refillable pens manufactured from meadow grass, and water bottles made by Miir, which donates a share of profits to environmental projects
“We saw an opportunity to have a big impact, to rally around the durability and longevity of a gift,” says Sorek West, who notes the gift shift took about a year from start to finish.
One key to winning buy-in, Sorek West says, was finding sustainable swag that was of similar cost—or, if it was more expensive, making the case about why the expense was worthwhile. That kind of savvy—and tapping into existing resources in New Haven—have propelled the committee’s sustainability work.
In early January, the group held a textile recycling drive after Sorek West learned the New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority accepts used bedsheets, clothing, and the like for recycling. The team advertised it around the office, provided bags to Executive Ed employees, and ultimately transported 18 30-gallon trash bags full of old textiles to the transfer station.
“I just love this work,” Sorek West says. “Messaging is so often a culprit of a project’s demise, or a champion of its success. What better challenge for someone in my field than to try to communicate with those who are ambivalent, or who don’t believe what I believe, or people who are interested but don’t know how to engage.”
“These projects might seem small,” she adds, “but to affect change you need to start small.”
Each month, Yale Sustainability features a ‘Sustainability Champion of the Month’—a student, staff, or faculty member who is leading the charge toward a more sustainable campus. If you know a sustainability champion at Yale, email sustainability@yale.edu and tell us about them.