Tufts Office of Sustainability serves as a resource, a catalyst, and an advocate for environmental sustainability at Tufts. Often we serve as a bridge between ideas and their practical implementation. The Office of Sustainability (OOS) is supported by the university and works to:
- Enhance Tufts' reputation as a leader.
- Ensure that Tufts' efforts are comprehensive and focused on meaningful projects
- Identify, evaluate, and implement opportunities for leadership
- Promote the strength of Tufts sustainability efforts, including those of faculty and students.
- Measure Tufts' progress toward commitments and regional goals
- Identify sustainability opportunities that may provide Tufts with significant benefit such as reduced risk, financial savings, and avoided problems/fines.
- Opportunities in new buildings and master plan implementation
- Energy efficiency and climate change
- Water
- Solid waste
- Coordinate among other existing programs and sustainability efforts (e.g., food, transportation, landscaping, planning and policy, personal action, and related citizenship activities)
- Integrate sustainability issues into research, scholarship and student life.
- Work with interested faculty to develop meaningful class projects and support students in those efforts.
- Work with interested students on academic and extra-curricular projects
- Provide student internships when possible.
- Identify appropriate ways for faculty and student research to be pilot tested on campus
The well-known Tufts Climate Initiative (TCI) is now part of the Office of Sustainability.
The Office of Sustainability is housed in the same office space as Tufts Institute of the Environment, but we are two separate (but easily confused) entities.