Creation of Green Team Signals Green Light for Green Thinking
After Tomoko Traphagan started a modest plastic recycling program in the Bridgeway building, she soon learned the truth about being careful what you wish for. She became the logical choice to represent DIIA at a monthly meeting of the Green ‘Horns, a volunteer organization of UT Austin employees dedicated to helping staff and faculty reduce their personal environmental footprints and that of UT Austin overall. Now Traphagan, joined by Cindy Story, is heading DIIA’s fledgling Green Team volunteer initiative, joining 13 other Green Teams across campus helping faculty, staff, and students work together on campus environmental issues at the departmental or building levels.
The campus Green Teams are independent initiatives of UT Austin departments, but they are supported by the Staff Sustainability Network (SSN), a cooperative project of the Campus Environmental Center and the Office of Environmental Health and Safety. Besides Traphagan and Story, several division staff members have been active in the launch of DIIA’s Green Team, including Associate Dean Rob Bruce, Associate Director Susanna Herndon, Mario Guerra, Jane Ann Parker, Keene Haywood, Rebecca Baughman, and Steve Knoll.
Heeding advice to think big by starting small, the team has hatched an initial two-stage strategy for using education to inspire action. In stage 1, the team is working to put systems in place for buying green, working green and disposing green. Ideas for stage 2 initiatives are in the works, including projects supporting Earth Day, local cleanup efforts such as at Waller Creek, forums for invited speakers, and sustainable approaches to running the workplace.
In a recent—paperless—e-mail message to DIIA staff, Traphagan shared news of several promising developments for the environmental movement:
- a rare household hazardous waste collection for Travis County residents by the City of Austin on April 5
- a conversation about climate change with experts from Hewlett Packard and the World Wildlife Fund
- Earth Day on April 22
- an Exchange magazine article It’s [NOT] Easy Being GREEN concerning environmental management studies in the McCombs School of Business
- a National Geographic presentation of Human Footprint on April 13
- an online short film The Story of Stuff with sustainability expert Annie Leonard, winner of an award at the SXSW Interactive Festival
The mantra of the Green ‘Horns is to bleed orange and think green. Traphagan’s Green Team colleagues are doing that and more, as their energy and enthusiasm are testing the team’s plans to start slow and small. Traphagan can dare wish that DIIA’s response to the team’s efforts will soon be making the other UT Austin teams green with envy.