Salem State Celebrates October as Campus Sustainability Month 2024

Salem State Celebrates October as Campus Sustainability Month 2024

Celebrate Salem State University’s sustainability highlights from academics to solar power to green transportation to sustainable landscape. Visit www.salemstate.edu/sustainability or follow sustainable_ssu on Instagram to learn more.

Sustainability in Academics

• Dozens of sustainability courses are offered across the curriculum.
• In response to student interest, a proposal to tag sustainability courses in the course catalog to make it easier for students to find them is progressing through the internal review process.
• Over 1,400 students, faculty, staff, and community members participated in Earth Days programs in April 2024.

Energy

• Seven buildings have rooftop solar arrays with a total of over 1 MW of installed capacity. The newest is a 96 KW solar array installed on the Administration/Theater Complex in early summer.
• The North Campus Decarbonization Plan to bring fossil fuel-free energy to Horace Mann and the Meier Lab Addition in conjunction with Project Bold is advancing.
• Draft decarbonization plan for O’Keefe and Gassett was just completed.
• 47% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2004.

Green Transportation

• Great options for getting to campus without a car are a differentiator for Salem State.
• 23 parking spots have electric vehicle charging.
• New changes make Salem States’s excellent access to MBTA bus service even easier as credit cards and other contactless forms of payment are now accepted on Bus #455 and other bus lines.
• Salem Skipper shared minivan service still goes anywhere in Salem but now also goes to pre-set locations in Beverly and Danvers.
• The two Bluebike hubs on campus are connected to 16 more hubs across the City of Salem and our rail trail easily connects campus to downtown Salem.

Sustainable Landscape

• 59 new trees, 17 species, have been planted in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation Greening the Gateway Program and are being incorporated into academic coursework.
• Three low-mow zones and one pollinator garden provide further habitat.

Recycling and Waste

• 173 tons of food waste composted in FY24.
• Freecycle tables in all five Residence Halls are diverting items from the trash.
• Over 70,000 pounds of textiles have been recycled since May 2019 when SSU installed three white textile recycling bins on campus

Learn more about the important sustainability initiatives at Salem State University.