During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were five major projects funded by the GreenFund. The GreenFund provides financial resources to members of the Lehigh community who want to create a greener, more sustainable campus. One-time grants of up to $2,000 are awarded to students, faculty, and staff to facilitate green projects. Each of the five funded projects served to advance sustainability on campus, had a clearly defined, measurable outcome, incorporated publicity, and included education and outreach. All of the projects also demonstrated innovation and creativity and showed potential to continue longer than the original proposed time frame.
Below is a summary of each of the five funded projects from this academic year.
Lehigh Heritage Park
Dr. Jerry Lennon, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, was awarded a grant for his Technical Entrepreneurship class to transform the site of a historic 19th century pumping engine house into a public park. The Lehigh-owned land is the only significant remains of the 19th century zinc industry enterprise. The class is working on plans for next semester, including CAD models, and reviewing survey results to identify customer needs for park.
Centennial School Water Station
The Centennial School was awarded a grant to purchase a water filling station. The goal of the project is to reduce the number of plastic water bottles used by teachers and students. Prior to the installation, an average of 200 plastic water bottles were used per week at the school.
Eco-House Community Garden
The Lehigh Eco-House was awarded a grant to facilitate the purchase of seeds, plants, and materials to create organic, raised bed gardens. The goal was to teach Eco-House residents about sustainable food production and organic gardening while increasing biodiversity, building soil, sequestering carbon, and using minimal land. The garden produced more than 15 lbs of beans, 40 lbs of cucumbers, and 45 lbs of tomatoes...and more! Future plans include shifting toward more perennials to create more permanent biomass, reduce external inputs, and produce larger yields.
Beekeeping Club Live Feed Camera
The Beekeeping Club was awarded a grant to facilitate the purchase and installation of an outdoor live feed camera for the bee hives on Mountaintop Campus. The goal of the project was to spread awareness of beekeeping and the importance of pollinators to Lehigh community and beyond. The camera also provides a means for the club to monitor the hives remotely.
Community Garden Composting Project
The Lehigh Community Garden was awarded a grant to facilitate the purchase of cedar compost bins so that the community garden can produce its own compost, teach gardeners about proper composting methods, encourage the gardening community to divert compostables to compost bins, and utilize the large amount of fallen leaves from adjacent trees as compost.
Are you interested in applying to the GreenFund? Please visit sustainability.lehigh.edu/greenfund for additional information and to apply. For questions regarding selection criteria, contact the GreenFund at greenfund@lehigh.edu.