down to
Earth
30 percent of its food purchases are deemed
local, ecologically-sound, fair or humane—far
surpassing the movement’s recommended
level of 20 percent. Non-food initiatives
include LEED-certified construction
standards, programs for donating unwanted
dorm items at the end of the school year,
irrigation retrofitting and stormwater
Higher education institutions like Johns
Hopkins University are committed to
sustainable practices that connect them
to the local community.
collection, and many other efforts.
To Goresko, Baltimore is in a good place
to continue the hard work of improving its
environmental impact.
“According to a research study done by
the University of Maryland, the climate
in Baltimore will be the same as the
current climate in Mississippi in 60 years,”
s a global leader in scientific Addressing the specific needs of Baltimore Goresko says. “So it’s critical that the city
research, it’s almost no surprise is a key focus for the office. Among the many can continue to implement strategies that
that Johns Hopkins University is eco-friendly initiatives already in place: A address resiliency and climate mitigation
dedicated to improving its own strain on program called Johns Hopkins Local, which while thinking about equity and justice
the Earth’s resources. The Baltimore-based facilitates building, hiring and buying within for its residents. When it comes to hotter
institution is committed to going greener— Baltimore city and is meant to demonstrate summers and wetter seasons, there are a lot
and it’s putting in the dollars to prove it. a commitment to supporting the local of challenges ahead of us. But we’re a resilient
economy while reducing transportation city, and I’m excited about all the things that
and shipping emissions. Goresko points are going on.” Q
A
Last April, on Earth Day, the university
announced a landmark deal with a Virginia
solar farm to buy 250,000 megawatt hours
of renewable solar energy each year for the
next 15 years—the largest renewable energy
agreement of any university in the country.
The solar energy will power two-thirds of
the university’s electrical needs. The deal
gets the university closer to a goal Johns
Hopkins announced in 2008 to reduce carbon
emissions by 51 percent by 2025, and it’s
part of a larger commitment to making the
institution more sustainable as a whole.
increases citizens’ access to composting and
recycling and, in turn, reduces air pollution.
Work meant to increase area access to mass
transportation includes matching funds
provided by Baltimore’s city-run Live Near
Julian Goresko, Johns Hopkins’ new director Your Work grant program so staff can live
of sustainability, who was brought on to locally and limit driving.
last year. Goresko works with stakeholders
across the institution to measure and
to a robust waste-reduction initiative that
Leading the charge to greener pastures?
lead the Office of Sustainability’s initiatives
42
“ I’m often thinking about how to maximize the
good we can do—not just for the institution but
for Baltimore as well.”
manage environmental impact and explore
opportunities to improve.
Many green practices are already part of the
institution’s operations. On the Homewood
campus, the school’s main hub in Baltimore,
existing sustainability programs just related
to food include purchasing local, antibiotic
“I see myself as an internal change agent and hormone-free milk, eliminating dining
for Johns Hopkins,” he says. “So I’m often hall trays to reduce cleaning-related water
thinking about how we do things differently and energy consumption, supplying
and how we build a relationship to really compostable to-go items and installing water
maximize the good we can do—not just for and energy-saving appliances, among others.
the institution but for the Baltimore region The campus participates in the national Real
as well.” Food Challenge movement, and more than
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