Phone:
800.257.7751
TTY:
802.258.3388
Fax:
802.258.3508
Mailing Address:
PO Box 676, 1 Kipling Road
Brattleboro, VT 05302 USA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Ingalls (laura.ingalls@worldlearning.org) in Washington, 1.202.646.6973
World Learning Selected for 2009 Brattleboro Sustainable Business Award
Annual award recognizes area organizations that have made extraordinary efforts to reduce their environmental footprints.
BRATTLEBORO, VT (August 19, 2009) -- World Learning/SIT has been selected as one of three businesses and organizations to receive Brattleboro Climate Protection's 2009 Sustainable Business Award. The Awards are given annually to Brattleboro-area businesses and organizations that are making extraordinary efforts to reduce energy and water use, lower carbon
emissions, use renewable fuels, reduce solid waste, promote local food production, and use recycled materials and other environmentally-friendly products. The awards will be presented September 1 at Brattleboro's Selectboard meeting.
The Award recognizes World Learning's various initiatives to "green" buildings and operations on the organization's Brattleboro campus and headquarters. These efforts have to date included the following:
- Undertaking a major lighting retrofit project that replaced most incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescents, and replaced over 1200 fluorescent light fixtures with high-efficiency ballasts and lamps, saving 55 tons of CO2 and approximately $12,000 annually;
- Designing and installing a wood pellet boiler that heats two buildings, saving 1,241 gallons of heating oil annually;
- Cutting solid waste production by two-thirds by composting food waste and cardboard;
- Returning compost for use in a newly established SIT Farm that grows vegetables for students, staff, townspeople, and the local food bank;
- Replacing paper towel dispensers in dormitories with hand towels, saving $3,000 annually and avoiding 2 1/2 tons of waste;
- Installing low-flush toilets that are saving approximately 510,000 gallons of water annually;
- Switching to environmentally-friendly cleaning products to improve the overall health of staff and students;
- Signing in 2008 the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a national effort to make campuses more sustainable and address global warming.
"We are deeply honored by this award," said Adam Weinberg, incoming President and CEO of World Learning/SIT. "As an organization engaged across the world in efforts to promote sustainable development and environmental stewardship, we take very seriously our own footprint right here in Vermont. This award is a tribute to the hard work of many students, staff, faculty, and community members brought together by the shared belief that all change begins locally."
Learn more about World Learning:
The Experiment in International Living
SIT Study Abroad
SIT Graduate Institute
International Development Programs
World Learning works globally to enhance the capacity and commitment of individuals, institutions, and communities to create a more peaceful and just world through education, training and exchange programs.
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