Student Life

Schwarzman Center

Location: 168 Grove St, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: A center dedicated to cultural programming and student life at the center of the university; will be completed in 2020
Did you know? Schwarzman Center is being designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. 
  • The center advances Yale vision of a more unified, accessible, and innovative university
Get involved: Get your event green certified

Silliman College - Acorn

Location: Silliman College Byers Hall, 4th floor on the left, 505 College St, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: A student-run café in Silliman College that values community, sustainability, and affordability
Did you know? Sillman College was certified Platinum through Yale’s green certification process tailored toward coffee shops.
  • Rather than buying new furniture, items were donated by seniors moving out the previous summer and from the college itself
  • The team partners with Eleva Coffee, a non-profit coffee company based in Brooklyn that supplies fair trade, single-origin coffee beans directly from farmers in Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. The company also uses compostable coffee bags and delivers coffee orders in NYC on bicycle.
  • Customers, after ordering specific number of drinks, have access to a personal mug that is stored and cleaned at the Acorn. Unlike their other mugs, personal mugs can be taken out of the café, and brought back later. This reduces disposable to-go cups.
  • Plans to use food grown in the newly planted Silliman Gardens in the courtyard
Get involved: Visit the café.

Berkeley College - Yale Dining

Location: 205 Elm St, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: Yale Hospitality serves 14,000 meals a day in 16 residential dining hall and 17 retail outlets. Yale has a dining hall in each of its residential colleges that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the student population.
Did you know? Yale Hospitality prioritizes food purchases that meet one or more of the following criteria: food that is local or regionally sourced and produced in ways that support environmental and food-system resiliencies, using fair labor practices, and humane treatment of animals.
  • In 2001, Alice Water, the renowned chef and food activist, launched a program serving only seasonal and sustainable food at Berkeley college. This has been a popular program and Yale Dining has been continually transitioning to healthier and more sustainable food in all dining halls.
  • Waste reduction: Single-stream recycling bins are in every dining location. Over 95% of pre- and post-consumer waste from dining halls, retail locations, and catering events is also composted.
  • All animal proteins are antibiotic- and hormone-free, all the eggs are cage-free, and all the beef is grass-fed and grass-finished. Some 80% of the menu offerings are vegetarian or vegan—including many of the pastries made at the Yale Bakery.
  • Yale has cut the sodium content of its offerings by 37%, and has upped the use of herbs and spices to add flavor. Yale’s Blended Burger is 60% beef and 40% mushroom duxelles—a mix of mushrooms that enhances umami, the rich, savory mouthfeel that characterizes meat. And because these burgers use less beef, Yale can afford to buy a higher-quality beef.
Get involved: Enjoy at meal at a Yale Hospitality outlet. 

Old Campus - Spring Salvage

Location: 344 College St, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: An annual resource recovery/ waste diversion program held during undergraduate student move-out that aims to divert reusable materials from the waste stream during student move-out. Materials are donated to Goodwill Industries of Southern New England.
Did you know? Spring Salvage results in over 50,000 pounds of reusable material collected per year
  • Materials either get sold in local stores for reduced prices (going back to the community). Materials that can’t be sold are recycled to be repurposed.
  • Yale’s Old Campus has been furnishing all dorm common rooms to reduce the amount that students need to buy and the amount that is discarded during move-out. Franklin and Murray colleges also have furnished common rooms.
Get involved: Donate to Spring Salvage or another donation drive throughout the year. 

Old Campus - Bikeshare

Location: 50 share-use bicycles with several locations around Central and Medical School campuses. 
Description: Yale University has partnered with Noa Technologies (Noa) to provide bikesharing to Yale students, faculty, and staff members. Noa uses a cloud-based fleet management software to provide real-time bike location, status, alerts, and analytics.
Did you know? Bikeshare promotes carbon-free transportation (and great exercise!)
  • Yale was awarded gold bicycle friendly university status by the League of American Bicyclists in 2017, one of only 20 other universities in the country
Get involved: Join Yale’s bikeshare or take a bike safety course

La Casa Cultural - Pollinator Garden

Location: 301 Crown St, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: The pollinator garden is landscaping with flowers that provide nectar and pollen for a wide range of pollinating insects. It was designed by the students.
Did you know? Pollinator gardens increase biodiversity. 
  • The garden was created with support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), La Casa Cultural, and Yale Landscaping and Grounds. 
  • USFWS also brought a regional recruiter to La Casa for a career workshop to discuss opportunities in the environmental field with historically underrepresented populations
Get involved: Visit La Casa Cultural or one of Yale’s other cultural centers. 

Environmental Programs

Description: Yale College Environmental Studies (EVST) offers both BA and BS Programs. Energy Studies is a multidisciplinary academic program (MAP) in Yale College designed to provide selected undergraduates with the knowledge and skills needed for advanced studies, leadership, and success in energy-related fields.
Did you know? Yale’s environmental programs train leaders in the environmental challenges of our time
  • Courses range from Environmental History to Ecosystems and Landscapes. Students can choose from 8 concentrations or define their own
  • Energy Scholars has three track:s Energy Science and Technology, Energy and the Environment, and Energy and Society: Economic, Political, and Social Issues
Get involved: Take an EVST course

Sustainability Liaisons

Location: 70 Whitney Ave, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: The Sustainability Liaisions program works to expand the culture of sustainability throughout Yale College. Students act as sustainability coordinators in the residential colleges and on various teams to improve sustainability in Yale College.
Did you know? The Liaisons bring sustainability to the student population and residential colleges through information gathering and public campaigns. 
  • Conduct energy surveys, benchmark energy use, and produce reports with suggestions for improvements
  • Assess waste infrastructure, conduct waste audits and host awareness campaigns
  • Empowers students around sustainability solutions through messaging, seasonal campaigns, and fun activities on campus
Get involved: Join the Liaisons or another sustainability student group on campus: Yale Outdoors, Yale Student Environmental Coalition, Yale Sustainable Food Program

Payne Whitney - Bulldog Sustainability

Location: 70 Tower Parkway, New Haven, CT 06511
Description: Bulldog Sustainability support sustainability efforts on campus, specifically around Yale Athletics. The team of students act as environmental educators by equipping sports teams and fans with the knowledge and skills to play and live more sustainably. The group also functions as an in-the-field operations team that works on improving waste management at Yale’s sporting events and athletic facilities.
Did you know? The zero game waste day initiative focuses on reducing tailgating trash from Yale College undergraduates.
  • Home game activities include: reusable water bottle sales, engaging activities for fans, and social media campaigns.
  • Launched in spring 2014, this program enabled the composting of paper towels used to clean exercise equipment in the Israel Fitness Center of Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
  • Green Team Certification educates and encourages Yale athletes to be sustainability leaders on campus and to adopt environmentally-responsible practices for their teams. Once a team has reached a minimum threshold to meet the ‘Green Team Certification’ they are then entered into an annual competition for the best certification score. The checklist includes various sustainability efforts teams can integrate into their programs each season.
Get involved: Get your team green certified

Yale Farm

Location: 345 Edwards St, New Haven, CT 06511 
Description: Academic farm that produces dozens of varieties of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers, and is home to free-range laying hens and honeybees. It hosts the Yale Sustainable Food Program and offers a hands-on collaborative learning experience for students and members of the community.
Did you know? Each Friday afternoon from the start of the school year through late November and from after spring break through May, the Yale Farm serves wood-fired pizza made right on the Farm to volunteers and visitors at 4:30pm while a student does a short presentation on a food-related topic as part of the knead 2 know series. 
Get involved: The Yale Farm has volunteer days for Yale affiliates and community members regularly throughout the year. You don’t need to have any farming experience – just show up for as long or short as you’d like.