Category Archives: Sustainability

We’re kicking our CO2 habit

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You may have heard that UMass Lowell was recently recognized as the highest-rated campus in Massachusetts by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). This means that we’re in the top 10 of over 900 colleges and universities across the nation who use this sustainability rating system.

It’s an incredible accomplishment, but we’re not doing it for the recognition.

We’re doing it for you and the planet. Whether you hope to major in one of our sustainability-focused majors or minors or just want to learn the ins-and-outs of every day sustainable living, we’ll be here to show you the ropes.

These are a few of the programs we have in place that will help you learn to make a difference in the world:

sustainability initiatives at umass lowell
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The green scene at UML: Sustainability at University Crossing

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the green scene at umass lowell: sustainability at university crossing

Guiding you as you realize your potential to take on a world of opportunity is our number one priority.

We want the world to be a better and more sustainable place for you, your loved ones and for future generations.

But we’re not here to check a box for the show of it or to make a splash (we’re pretty big into conserving water and resources tbh). That’s why lot of our sustainability efforts are ingrained into the very fabric of the university—even down to the design and construction and furniture we use in our buildings. It’s all hidden in plain sight.

Most people, don’t realize at first a lot of the things they see around campus are actually calculated, sustainable choices UML has made.

Today, we’re going to explore these choices in a building you might be familiar with if you’ve toured campus: University Crossing.

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Let them eat grass

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There were over 100 sheep on the UML campus a few weeks ago.

No lie, for every sheep that was on campus, I *herd* a sheep/goat/lamb pun (which is to be expected working in an office with creative and fun people). But the sheep weren’t here so everyone in my office could make puns, at least, that wasn’t the only reason.

They were here on a working lunch.

UML Facilities hired Goats-To-Go in an effort to find a sustainable, safe and cost-effective way to maintain the green areas of campus that are difficult for humans to get to (think areas overrun with bees, poison ivy and gopher holes).

But what ~we~ thought of as a sustainable solution was, in reality, the biggest all-you-can-eat salad bar on campus to these sheep.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see them in action, but my coworker, Alfonso, pulled through with this great video.

Like this video? Check out more from Alfonso.

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Raise the roof! It’s growing food

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raise the roof it's growing food

Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle with eating vegetables (and eating healthy in general). Don’t even get me started on organic produce. Until fairly recently, I didn’t understand what made it better, and I didn’t really want to understand… But since society is demanding more locally sourced, organic options, I thought I’d learn more about organic vegetables. Apparently, it’s good for your body to *not* eat things genetically modified and coated in pesticides.

Anyway, it’s a pretty health-focused community here at UML. Not counting all the healthy activities available to students, the people I work with directly do healthy eating challenges, and University Crossing has a stair climbing challenge. This sounds terrible if you know anything about the stairs in UC. But it’s good cardio, so there’s that.

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