Founded in 2010, the Green Fund is a student-financed and student-managed fund for sustainability that is independent of our university’s financial vulnerabilities. It finances initiatives that decrease the carbon footprint of the University, decrease waste, increase the University’s use of energy from renewable resources, and increase visibility of environmentally responsible practices on campus. The 15 dollar per semester fee is opt-out, so those students with financial limitations or who do not support the fund have the opportunity to decline payment.

Funds Allocated 2010-2011:

The Green Fund’s total budget for the 2010-11 academic year was $79,755 (split about evenly between semesters).

  • Composting- A total of $1,368.54 was allocated to the highly successful student-led composting project. This project allowed for approximately 800-1,000 students to begin composting their food for use at Long Lane Farm. The funds were spent on an art/publicity project that educated people about composting at Wesleyan, on bucket stickers and refrigerator magnets that show people what they can and cannot compost in order to ensure effective use of the system, on replacing 2 broken compost machines that were damaged during winter storms and purchasing a new machine for the 157 High Street and Bayit community. A winter storage location for the machines has been secured as to prevent future losses. For more information, contact Corey Guilmette at cguilmette@wesleyan.edu.
  • Dorm Energy Competition- $704.56 was given to the first annual Dorm Energy Competition (April Energy Fest), which saw a reduction of 159.2% for the winning dorms. The residents of the winning dorms all received reusable coffee mugs, which the Green Fund financed. For more information, contact Bingxin Wu at bwu01@wesleyan.edu.
  • St. Vincent De Paul Composting- St. Vincent De Paul’s Soup Kitchen, a Middletown Soup Kitchen that a number of Wesleyan students work at, enthusiastically received a $499 composting machine to aid in their sustainability goals and to promote sustainability in the greater Wesleyan community. For more information, contact Leah Lucas at llucas@wesleyan.edu.
  • PlugOut Cycle- The Green Fund purchased a $1,392.24 workout bicycle that feeds the energy that you produce while riding back into the electrical grid. Since Freeman Athletic Center is the most energy consumptive building on campus, this project holds particular promise and we are working with the University to look for opportunities to purchase similar products as our we expire older workout equipment. For more info on the technology, check out the website. For more information, contact eweber@wesleyan.edu.
  • Biodegradable signs- We purchased $1,428 worth of biodegradable signs to be placed above light switches in all of the public places (bathrooms, laundry rooms, lounges, hallways, etc.) in Fauver, Clark, WestCo, Nicolson, and the Butterfield dormitories. These permanent signs will help to raise awareness about consumption and reduce the school’s energy costs. For more information, contact eweber@wesleyan.edu.
  • Powershift 2011- The Green Fund was happy to, in conjunction with the SBC, help a number of students attend this year’s Powershift 2011 conference in Washington, D.C with the hope that the conference would inspire lasting change on campus (2009′s conference was the inspiration for creating the Green Fund!). The 4-day event was touted as the largest youth grassroots convention in history with around 10,000 youth in attendance and it was great that we could have a Wesleyan presence. We provided financial aid to those who needed to subsidize registration fees down to $35. We allotted $210 in total for the cause. For more information, contact Marjorie Dodson at mdodson@wesleyan.edu.
  • “Split Estate” Rights- We also provided $86 in funding for the screening rights for a documentary film “Split Estate” which investigates the environmentally degrading natural gas and oil drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing. Wesleyan uses natural gas in their cogeneration plant and may have financial interests in companies that perform hydraulic fracturing. For more information, contact David Shor at dshor@wesleyan.edu.
  • Long Lane Farm Summer Interns- This summer, two Farm Interns (Charlotte Heyrman and Catherine Herlihey) did important work for Long Lane Farm because of the Green Fund. They each received a stipend of $3,250 ($6,500 total) for their work, which included funds for all of their summer living expenses as well as farming supplies and compensation. The interns worked full time on the farm, producing food for the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, the Free Summer Lunch Program, as well as a farm stand on Main Street Long Lane provides food. They were certified to accept Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program vouchers, which provide low-­‐income families and seniors with access to fresh vegetables. They also organized workshops on the farm, recruiting faculty and members of the local community to share skills and knowledge about healthy ecological practices. For more information, Contact Charlotte Heyrman at cheyrman@wesleyan.edu.
  • Faculty/Staff Community Garden- The Green Fund allocated $3,000 for the creation of Faculty/Staff Community Garden this summer on the Long Lane property which provides plots for faculty and staff to grow their own food for themselves and their families. The garden is up and running and Bill Nelligan, who manages the garden, is using unclaimed plots to produce food to be served by Bon Appetit. For more information, contact Bill at wnelligan@wesleyan.edu.
  • WILD Wes (Working for Intelligent Landscape Design at Wesleyan)- We gave a total of $30,219 to the student group WILDWes. $1,175 of this was to partially fund (the rest was paid for by the SBC) speakers for their Spring 2011 student forum (E&ES 420) which taught students about sustainable landscape design and in which they planned and designed their vision for sustainable landscaping at Wesleyan. The result of this forum was an innovative plan for the remodeling of three key sites at Wesleyan. They received administrative approval to completely redesign the WestCo courtyard over the summer and, after garnering the support of the WestCo community, have been working on this remarkable project. The Green Fund is financing this project to the tune of a budgeted $29,044. The project will feature aspects of permaculture design, indigenous plants, and produce real environmental and monetary savings for the school. For more information, contact Emma Leonard at eleonard@wesleyan.edu.
  • Green House- We have also promised funding of approximately $30,000 to a Green House. The Green House will produce food for the students to be served in Bon Appetit year round and will provide work for one additional Bon Appetit student worker who will cultivate the food. Construction of the project will be occurring over the summer and while contract details are still being negotiated, it will cost approximately $5,500 to level the site and $25,000 to construct the Green House. For more information, contact Andrew Pezzullo at apezzullo@wesleyan.edu.
  • System Programmer- We also spent $1,870.53 on hiring a programmer to create a system where project leaders can view and manage their allocated funds throughout the course of their project (similar to the WSA Tools and Applications that the Student Budget Committee has set up for student groups). This is a one-time, start-up investment that will benefit the Green Fund as long as it exists.

Since some of the projects (Faculty/Staff Community Garden, WILDWes Westco Landscape Design, and Green House) are still in progress, some of their funds may go unused and be reclaimed by the Green Fund. Assuming that everything that was allocated or promised is spent, however, $2,477.13 remain in 2010-11 Green Fund budget. This money, as well as any reclamations, will be carried over to support projects for the coming year.