Barnard College

Part of our Profiled Universities

Institution: Barnard College 

Location: New York, United States, North America Focus Area:Circular Campus initiatives to reduce waste and increase access. Circular design & production, circularity in theatre design, repair, reusereuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification. 

Expertise: Circular Campus initiatives to reduce waste and increase access. Circular design and production methods in theatre, repair, reuse

Key Projects:

Social enterprise, research, publications

• Circular Campus, an initiative designed to build practices and policies to reduce waste, emissions, and costs, reimagining patterns of consumption on campus, and increasing access and affordability for our students

• Fixup, a social enterprise dedicated to repair, reuse, and circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. alternatives to overconsumption and waste. (Co-founded by Professor Goldmark)

• Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet (Island Press 2020) Professor Goldmark’s recently published book explores healthier modes of consumption for individuals and sustainable models of growth for businesses. The book takes readers on a journey to radically reimagine what a healthy relationship with our stuff might look like

• Professor Goldmark has published several articles on circularity in theatrical design, production, and repair.

   

Teaching and student engagement

• Problems in Design and Theatre Practicum Since 2011, the Barnard College Department of Theatre has developed a circular design and production initiative, promoting and measuring reuse in departmental productions. This project has been supported by classwork, including in-class design exercises and life cycle assessments of commonly used theatrical materials. Find out more

• First Year Seminar: Things and Stuff Scope 3 emissions (consumption and waste), Barnard seeks to engage with its students in circular practices. The Office of Sustainability and Climate Action is directed by Associate Professor of Professional Practice Sandra Goldmark, whose work focuses on circular economy solutions, in particular repair. Her First Year Seminar, Things and Stuff, examines material culture, waste, and circular economy solutions

• Digital Humanities Center Summer 2020 Student Cohort In spring 2020, the Digital Humanities Center summer cohort has been learning about the inequitable human and environmental impacts of technology—from design, to resource extraction, to unsafe production environments, to consumption and use, to recycling and pollution. Their research has culminated in a Scalar book project that shares their research and traces these impacts through the life cycles of a textbook and a laptop. As part of this process, they are also imagining alternative futures for these objects within a circular campus economy related to a new Sustainability initiative at Barnard. Find out more

Campus Management

• Circular Campus Working Group to examine three major areas of focus: reuse and access, waste stream diversion, and food and dining. Policies and programming would promote the purchase of locally and sustainably sourced new items as well as initiate a robust ecosystem of exchange for students, faculty, and staff

• Give and Go Green is an on-campus collection of items students do not wish to take home with them at the end of the school year. Barnard, with help of partners, cleans and stores these items over the summer and sells them to new and returning students in the fall at the Green Sale. In 2018, Give and Go Green prevented more than 21,000 kg of carbon-equivalent emissions related to consumption

• Rebear, a used clothing sale that features mending stations and design challenges. In addition to promoting circular consumption patterns within the student body, the event addresses the broader need for sustainable consumption through panel discussions and informational displays, a used clothing sale that features mending stations and design challenges. In addition to promoting circular consumption patterns within the student body, the event addresses the broader need for sustainable consumption through panel discussions and informational displays

• Procurement: When selecting a new dining services provider in 2019, Barnard College chose Chartwells, a firm with a commitment to sourcing practices that are humane and advance sustainability by reducing waste to landfill, buying local, promoting fair-trade products, and more. The College’s business services department makes efforts to re-home used furniture, promote internal reuse, and introduce 100% recycled paper to its copiers. Waste collection on campus includes single-stream recycling and organics, (the organics collection on the campus has been expanded through the help of a grant from the Citizens Committee for New York City)

• Student led initiatives: There are a number of formal and informal student-based initiatives, including a student led survey to explore access to art supplies and materials, and a student social media group dedicated to exchange and reuse. Academic programming engages students in the waste cycle; students from the Environmental Science department have created waste management plans for the College, some of which have been successfully implemented. These practices lead to waste diversion from landfills, (also lowering the College’s carbon footprint)

Connect with:

Professor Sandra Goldmark, Associate Professor of Professional Practice & Director of Campus Sustainability and Climate Action

Leslie Raucher, Associate Director of Campus Sustainability and Climate Action

Find out more:

Since 2012, Barnard College Department of Theatre students, faculty, and staff have been investigating and developing practices to foster more sustainable design and production methods in theatre. Their work has crossed from the classroom, to their season, to professional work done off campus by faculty. They are currently focusing on sets, costumes, and props, with an emphasis on emissions reduction though circular design and production methods.

The Department of Theatre’s goal is to create a systemic, trackable, institutional approach so that 'green' and 'circular' becomes part of 'business as usual' for the industry.

Office of Campus Sustainability and Climate Action

Barnard College aims to become the United States’ first 'Circular Campus.' This framework is designed to reshape patterns of consumption on campus, reducing waste and emissions by addressing the full cycle of procurement, reuse, and disposal, while increasing access and affordability for our students. Together, we can build a replicable framework for college campuses and beyond.