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Salem State Celebrates October as Campus Sustainability Month 2024

Celebrate ´ºÃÎÖ±²¥â€™s sustainability highlights from academics to solar power to green transportation to sustainable landscape. Visit 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 ´ºÃÎÖ±²¥.