Current and On-going Green Fund Projects

This project is a two-day sustainability-focused hackathon on Tufts' Medford campus designed to combat climate doomism by empowering students across all disciplines to develop concrete solutions to real sustainability challenges facing the university and surrounding community. Participants will work in teams on sponsor-provided challenge prompts, with access to workshops, mentorship from judges and sponsors, and makerspaces including the Data Lab, Nolop, and the Craft Center. Speakers throughout the event will address the urgency of climate action, while skill-building sessions ensure the event is accessible to novices and experienced hackers alike. The core message is that every career path has something to contribute to climate solutions, and the hackathon aims to translate that belief into hands-on, community-rooted projects.

This project proposes integrating environmentally-themed games into Tufts Environmental Hub courses and events as a tool for social learning and community engagement around sustainability challenges. A lending library of curated games covering topics like climate change, resource management, urban planning, and Indigenous knowledge systems will be housed at the Environmental Hub and made accessible to both students and faculty. In Fall 2026, the project will pilot three themed game nights aligned with the Tufts Sustainability Framework, plus a facilitated role-play event engaging 20-50 participants from across the campus community. The underlying premise is that games create low-pressure, exploratory spaces where people with competing values and interests can meaningfully engage with the complex social barriers that slow real-world environmental decision-making.

This project is integrated into CEE-103 (Climate Change Science and Engineering) and aims to identify and map natural gas pipeline leaks on and around Tufts' Medford campus and the surrounding Somerville and Medford communities. Students will purchase and learn to use a handheld methane detector, develop standardized field protocols, and collect geo-tagged data at sites including manholes, storm drains, sidewalk cracks, and dead street trees. All findings will be compiled into a GIS database using ArcGIS and shared with stakeholders including Tufts Facilities and community organizations like Mothers Out Front. The project addresses a critical gap: an estimated two-thirds of Massachusetts natural gas leaks remain unidentified, contributing to climate pollution, ozone formation, respiratory illness, and urban tree loss that disproportionately burden low-income communities. Beyond reducing emissions and improving air quality, the project gives students hands-on environmental measurement experience and produces a dataset that can inform gas company repair prioritization and campus decarbonization efforts.

This project seeks to revive the neglected Grafton Campus Community Garden, restoring it into a functional, well-maintained space for students, faculty, and staff to grow plants collaboratively. In recent years the garden has become overgrown with weeds and fallen out of active use, cutting off a resource that was originally designed to serve campus members who lack their own space to garden. Using Green Fund support to purchase cleanup and gardening tools, the project will clear and rehabilitate the land into workable plots. Once restored, the garden will resume donating harvests to the Travis Fund at the Veterinary hospital while also creating new opportunities for campus community members to connect with the land and each other.

This project aims to reduce bird-building collisions at Tisch Library on Tufts' Medford Campus by applying bird-friendly glass treatments and establishing a volunteer monitoring program. Twenty-four documented collision imprints on the library's glass indicate an active and ongoing hazard, made worse by the building's design and proximity to pollinator gardens and green space that attract birds. Volunteers will be trained to monitor the building and log collision data using the Avian Impact app, while architecture and urban planning students will inform the design of adhesive glass treatments to be installed in early spring. Educational signage will accompany the treated glass to raise campus awareness of bird-friendly architecture. The project positions Tisch Library as a pilot model for making Tufts campuses more broadly bird-friendly, directly supporting the university's biodiversity and sustainability goals.

This project supports the installation of workshop tools and marks a crucial enhancement for the club. The space functions as the manufacturing hub for the project's mechanical team, serving as the primary site for fabricating essential mechanical components and integrating both mechanical and electrical systems. The tool installation in the Tufts Solar Vehicle Project Workshop is more than just a logistical update; it is a strategic investment in the educational capabilities of Tufts University. It supports not only the immediate needs of the Solar Vehicle Project but also the broader educational mission of the university, providing a practical training ground for students and a platform for future outreach projects.

The Library Leaf Project aims to transform the Hirsh Health Sciences Library into a vibrant, plant-filled space that enhances user well-being and educational experiences. Responding to consistent feedback from students and patrons requesting more greenery, this project will introduce a variety of indoor plants to create a more engaging and supportive environment. To celebrate the introduction of these new plants, the project team will host a special event at the library. Educational signs will be placed
alongside the plants to provide users with detailed information about each species, including botanical identity, care instructions, and interesting facts.

The SMFA Garden initiative, proposed by undergraduate student Abigail Harrison, aims to update the existing SMFA Garden, which was originally supported by the Green Fund in 2020. This project will add planters and plants, develop an educational seeding and planting workshop, and add community signage, making the garden a more identifiable shared area for the community. The updated SMFA Garden will continue to provide a space for native pollinators while creating a more accessible shared green space for students, faculty, and staff in the SMFA community.

Sustainable Projects Hackathon

Games for Tufts Environmental Futures

Methane Leak Safari Project

Grafton Community Garden

Bird Friendly Tufts

Hydration Stations in Residential Buildings

SMFA Dye & Fiber Garden

Tufts Solar Vehicle Project Workshop Installation

Library Leaf Project

SMFA Garden

Funded During the 2022-23 Cycle

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