In 2019 the Sustainability Fund was established to support the Office of Sustainability, which has a goal to work toward a Yale where sustainability is seamlessly integrated into the operations, scholarship, and daily life of the University, positioning Yale as a local and global leader. The Sustainability Fund supports student research assistant to develop programming, communications, events to advance the work of the Office of Sustainability. Thanks to the generosity of many alumni, the Fund has raised over $70,000 to date. We hope you will support the Fund. Gifts can be made to the Yale Blue Green Sustainability Fund at any time!
Over the past four years, the Fund has provided over $70,000 in much needed financial support to develop student environmental leaders. For 2024-25, the Office of Sustainability has hired seven undergraduate and graduate student researchers to provide them with hands-on training and work experience in the field of campus sustainability. Collectively, these YBG Fellows will support the Office’s efforts: • to provide thought leadership and direction to the University on sustainability, • to help ensure accountability on Yale’s sustainability performance, and • to build a culture of sustainability across Yale and beyond.
This year’s student researchers will focus on the School of Architecture’s Zero Waste Plan; provide vital assistance in communications for the Office in graphic design, photographic and videographic presentation of sustainability work; develop expanded social media presence and enhanced communication about sustainability events; and improve sustainability data collection and analysis. You can meet this year’s YBG-supported researchers here, as well as the nearly two dozen Yale students who are serving as residential college sustainability coordinators and peer educators.
In previous years, the Fund supported student projects to:
• create student travel surveys to support scope 3 emissions data gathering,
• develop student-focused outreach programming on climate adaptation and resiliency,
• evaluate faculty research linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,
• enhance graphic design for sustainability communications,
• work to manage the School of Architecture design waste,
• shape a Campus Biodiversity Plan with recommendations for plantings and a business case.
• collect data with The Schools of Management and Architecture for the Yale Bike Map
We are proud of the work the Office of Sustainability is doing to support student environmental leaders at Yale. These and future student projects at Yale are dependent in part on our financial contributions. We hope that you will join us in supporting this vital enterprise at Yale with a generous gift to the Yale Blue Green Sustainability Fund. Thanks for your support, and go Yale Blue Green!
Becky Bunnell ’78, Paul Chapman ’70, Anne Crawley ’76, Sustainability Fund Co-Chairs