Sustainability impact

SUNY Adirondack's Outdoor Education program learns about our region's natural beauty, how to enjoy it and how to help maintain it. The professors, instructors and students frequently tackle cleanup projects, trail maintenance and other volunteer efforts, including:

• 2021: Removed and replaced damaged, impassable bridge and repaired wet spots throughout the college's trail system
• 2021: Removed invasive species and planted 150 native trees and shrubs
• 2020: Planted 150 trees and shrubs in the spring (no students were involved because of the pandemic) and 75 apple and nut trees in the fall
• 2019: Removed honeysuckle and planted blue spruce, white spruce, elderberry and white birch trees
• 2018: Removed old culverts and replaced with a bridge to minimize erosion; removed a half-acre of honeysuckle and planted sugar maple, white oak and sycamore trees
• 2017: Planted balsam fir, sugar maple, white oak, white birch, elderberry, silky dogwood and arrow wood viburnum trees
• 2016: Removal of honeysuckle at Pilot Knob Preserve

• The college is a few years into a 20-year agreement with Active Solar of Galway on the Pheasant Hollow project, a 1.5-megawatt solar array in Rensselaer County.
• SUNY Adirondack obtains more than 25 percent of its energy from this, reducing the college's carbon footprint, realizing utility cost savings, diversifying its energy portfolio and hedging against price volatility.
• Geothermal systems were installed in Bryan and Eisenhart halls, and at SUNY Adirondack Saratoga.
• SUNY Adirondack is committed to energy conservation efforts using Johnson Controls across campus.
• Adirondack Hall was built under strict guidelines of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines, a green building certification program used worldwide.
• SUNY Adirondack offers electric vehicle (EV) charging station in its North Parking Lot.

SUNY Adirondack offers interdisciplinary experiences in many of its courses, helping students see connections among subjects and concepts. The college's sustainability efforts are also intertwined in its course curriculum, allowing professors to draw parallels between humanities, arts, science, math, language, business, etc., and our natural environment.

The Outdoor Education program teaches recreation with preservation in mind, while Agricultural Business focuses on ecologically sound methods. Other courses that incorporate aspects of sustainability include:

• AGR102: Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture
• AGR103: Sustainable Food
• AGR112: Agro-Ecology
• ART111: Art of the Western World I
• ART112: Art of the Western World II
• BIO110: Marine Biology
• BIO161: Soil Science
• BIO205: General Ecology
• BIO215: Ethbotany: People & Medicinal Plants
• CHEM105: Environmental Science
• ENG101: Introduction to College Writing
• SCI155: Environmental Issues in the Adirondacks
• SPH111: Public Speaking
• VET103: Introduction to Animal Agriculture

SUNY Adirondack conducted a campus waste audit, sorting garbage and recyclables to determine the efficacy of its container system, and how much garbage campus creates. What we found helps us educate others on what can be recycled and informs signage around campus.

We also reduce waste by:

• Offering reusable mug discounts in Chartwells dining;
• Using paper straws;
• Offering water filling stations in the Student Center, and Warren, Adirondack, Bryan and Eisenhart halls;
• Using clearly labeled waste and recycling bins throughout campus;
• Purchase of paper products and electronics from vendors dedicated to ecological stewardship;
• Chartwells and Seasoned collection pre-consumer food scraps for compost;
• Seasoned uses locally sourced vendors for as much as it can, reducing carbon footprint by reducing shipping and supporting sustainable agricultural methods;
• Cleaning products used throughout SUNY Adirondack's three locations — main campus in Queensbury, Seasoned in Glens Falls and SUNY Adirondack Saratoga in Wilton — are certified "green" with Green Seal or UL Environment EcoLogo