Service project participants learn about the rich history of the Coldwater Spring area and of other initiatives lead by the National Park Service to restore the area to its natural state.
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In 2016, we also had the pleasure of recognizing two member programs that are excelling in the area of environmental stewardship at the Annual Conference awards banquet: Aurora at Pennsylvania State University and the College of William and Mary. Aurora operates a Zero Waste program (even in the backcountry!), among other great initiatives and William and Mary has a knack for instilling environmentally sound values in their program staff. Each year, the bar gets higher and higher. We are excited to see what next years’ Green Program Award announcement brings.
In addition to continuing work on several standing initiatives, we’ve highlighted a number of needs identified by the ESC to receive attention in 2017:
- Educating the AORE community on implementing environmental sustainability through highlighting various member programs in a quarterly newsletter;
- Collaborating with the conference host team and AORE National Office to coordinate a service event at the 2017 annual conference in Roanoke;
- Developing environmental education guidelines for member programs to utilize in staff trainings; and
- Continuing to work in tandem with the National Office, the conference host team and Event Garde to make the Annual Conference more sustainable.
For more information about the ESC, current initiatives or to get involved, you may contact me, Elise Clausen at [email protected]. Until next time, please share with us what your program is doing to reduce your ecological footprint, promote environmental stewardship and educate your communities about best sustainable practices using #AORECares.