Green Highlight
SOAP - Clean up and Green up your office!
The primary goal of the Sustainable Office Assessment Project (SOAP) is to reduce SCU’s resource consumption and waste production. Student interns analyze office operations, identify ways to increase efficiencies, and provide case-specific feedback reports suggesting best sustainable practices. SOAP will primarily target paper, office equipment/electronics, lighting, heating, water, and waste. Interns will provide ongoing consultation to answer questions that arise during the process and to assist with the successful implementation of their strategies.
Why SOAP?
SOAP was created to implement the goal set by Father Locatelli's recent signing of the President's Climate Commitment, a pledge to achieve campus climate neutrality. SCU is progressing to meet this goal by investing in green energy, building more efficient buildings on campus and simply using less energy. That's where SOAP comes in.
Through individual consultations, the SOAP interns hope to assess the unique challenges to sustainability faced by staff and faculty in on-campus offices. After visiting and touring the office, the interns discuss problems and potential solutions with staff. In a recent consultation with Graduate Business Programs Office Manager Eric Hagan, the interns helped brainstorm ways to make the GBP's move to the new business school more sustainable and reduce waste during the process.
How to get involved
The interns have been hard at work assembling the SOAP website based on their findings. The site will serve as a place for any SCU community member to look for easy tips on how to make an office more sustainable. Be sure to check back frequently as the content is updated!
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News & Events
Electronic Time Entry coming to SCU!
The Department of Human Resources will implement an electronic time recording system effective with the pay period that begins on June 16th. All employees will record their time electronically through Ecampus. Successful implementation of this project will reduce paper consumption by over 6,000 sheets each month. Make sure you know how the system works! More information regarding the dates and times of Electronic Time Entry Training sessions, held mid April through the end June. Contact Human Resources at 551-1860 or 554-4392 with questions.
SCU Cyclists Group
Do you bike to work, or have you ever thought about biking to work? Join the new cyclists group! Faculty and staff who bike to campus can share ideas about the best routes to take. Join the group on Map My Ride.
Recycled paper
In keeping with the sustainability goals of the University, Central Stores will no longer stock 8 ½ x 11 white virgin paper (SCU inventory # 9000-0011). White recycled paper (SCU inventory # 9000-0010) will continue to be stocked and should be used in all copiers and printers. All paper stocked in Central Stores is now recycled!
Sustainability Science in the Public Interest
Tuesday, May 20 at 11:45 am at the Center for Science, Technology, and Society
Guest Speaker: Keith Douglass Warner OFM Environmental Studies Institute
Concerns about the interlocking dimensions of the global sustainability crisis have stimulated interest in how science and technology can help the transition to a more sustainable society. Applied ecological sciences such as agroecology, biological control, and conservation biology must play a critical role in the management of biological resources. Researchers in these fields frequently serve as practitioners to assist public and non-governmental agencies. They are value-laden sciences because of their public interest character. Classical biological control, the introduction of exotic species to control invasive pests, has become a controversial scientific practice over the past decade. Practitioners claim it is the most sustainable invasive species management tool, while critics assert that these introductions should be seen as merely another risky exotic species introduction. This seminar will use this case to explore divergent assumptions about sustainability and the public’s interest, and propose strategies for reconciling them. Students and faculty are encouraged to attend. RSVP to elucas@scu.edu or (408) 551-6090.
Bottom Line and Beyond (BLAB) Presents: Outdoor Green Short-Film Festival
Thursday, May 22 at 8:30pm, outside on the Kennedy Lawn
Six short documentaries focusing on green issues in our community. Directed, produced, and starred in by SCU students.
Films include: "Going Green: Who Cares?", "Diving for Green", "Facing Fair Trade", "EWaste", "Urinals: The Untold Story", and "Victoria's Best Kept Secret". Bring towels and blankets to sit on. Popcorn will be provided. This event is a great way to engage the SCU community with sustainability issues that directly involve them and Santa Clara, as well as promote the ideas and efforts of our own SCU students. This will be the last BLAB event of the year, and the last few t-shirts will be sold, $10 each with proceeds going to KIVA.
For more events, visit the
Sustainability Calendar. Events with an * denote SCU events.
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What Can I Do? (All about paper!)
by Jenny Gore, SOAP Intern Reduce: Change your margins
Save paper, money, and reduce greenhouse gases! To do this on Microsoft Word: From the drop down File menu, click Page Setup. From the Margins tab, change the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom margins to 0.75" or 54 pt. At the bottom of the screen select default. This one change will reduce paper consumption by 4.75 percent.
Reuse: Old letterhead
Donate old/outdated letterhead or paper. Many children's organizations will gladly take old letterhead or paper with outdated logos to use for crafts. Bay Area organization Resource Area for Teachers (RAFT), accepts a variety of office supplies to provide local teachers with affordable supplies for their classrooms.
Recycle: Recycle paper ream packages
Reminder: Paper ream packaging IS RECYCLABLE. In the past, these wrappers needed to be discarded in the waste bin because their waxy coating put them in a different paper recycling category. Recently, our paper recycler Weyerhaeuser has expanded the types of materials we can give them. Now, all paper types can be recycled at SCU (in the blue paper recycling bags or brown plastic bins) including copy paper packaging. Learn more about recycling in campus offices.
Respect: Help your peers reduce wasted paper
Make it easy to recycle paper! Participation in paper recycling increases when collections begin at your desk. Place a container next to your friend's desk-side trash designated (and labeled!) for paper only. Your friend will be more inclined to recycle twice used paper when it's within their reach!
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Future Sustainability Updates will continue to be distributed to SCU students, faculty, and staff through non-Essential SCU Global E-Mail Distribution Lists. If you are not a student, faculty, or staff member at SCU and wish to receive future Sustainability Updates, please
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