News Archives

Students, Dining, Recycling Get High Green Grades

BU jumps to a B- in Sustainable Endowment Institute rankings By Vicky Waltz BU earned a B-, up from a C last year in an annual report released last week by the Cambridge-based nonprofit Sustainable Endowments Institute. The study — the country’s only independent evaluation of sustainability in campus operations and endowment investments — annually […]

Future Challenges: Beyond the Energy Crisis

The global economy, geopolitics, technological innovation and security are all issues that will come into play as the world transitions from energy produced largely by oil to other, less polluting sources over the next 50 to 100 years, according to a panel of Boston University energy experts. The three experts – Professor Cutler Cleveland of […]

Mayor: Boston to be a World-Class Biking City

BU bike lane is city’s first By Vicky Waltz After two years of construction, Commonwealth Avenue is not only safer and more attractive for pedestrians, with wider sidewalks and crosswalks and more greenery, it’s also more bicycle-friendly. In addition to eliminating a lane of traffic on the street’s westbound side, crews have built the city’s […]

Freshman Publishes Book on Global Warming

Abhishek Seth (COM’12) spreads awareness of global warming with his new book, Save My World. By Davide Nardi (CAS’11) Abhishek Seth has traveled to India, Germany, Canada, and across the United States with his family, taking photos along the way. He could simply have posted the pictures on his Facebook page, and left it at […]

A Greener BU: Look Mom, No Trays!

New dining policy part of sustainability initiative By Vicky Waltz What’s scarlet and white and green all over? University leaders have the answer: an ecofriendly, sustainable Boston University. During yesterday’s Matriculation speech, President Robert A. Brown welcomed both the new freshman class and a new University era by announcing the formation of the Boston University […]

Pointing Fingers and Naming Names: "Poisoned Profits" Indicts Big Business for Polluting the Environment and Harming Children’s Health

By Michelle Salzman Creating a stir in environmental health circles, recently published Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children (Random House), blames big business and chemical companies for introducing toxicants into the environment to the detriment of the health of American children. The book makes its case, in part, by telling heart-rending stories of […]

Tonight, "Go Green" with the Sox

See a game for free by helping Fenway recycle By Davide Nardi (CAS’ 11) The Celtics aren’t Boston’s only “green” team this summer — the Red Sox and Boston University are getting in on the action with a new recycling program designed to make Fenway Park more environmentally friendly. Tonight, the ballpark is giving between […]

Commentary: Can we be pleased with the progress we have made in the development of energy efficiency and the mitigation of climate change?

Mark Halle –

“As the first decade of the 21st Century closes, can we be pleased with the progress we have made in the development of energy efficiency and the mitigation of climate change?”

IISDs Mark Halle responds to the question posed by Comment:Visions and European Voice for their December 2009 issue, saying, “On the eve of the Copenhagen COP, we have lowered expectations so far that it recalls the pop culture title by Richard Fariña: Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me. We all hope to be pleasantly surprised by Copenhagen, but we are all secretly girding ourselves to explain away a disappointment. But pleased with the progress we have made…? Cmon.”

Comment:Visions, is a project of Euronews channel and Brussels-based European Voice newspaper. The project explores the personal views of thinkers, innovators and scientists about possible solutions to such challenges as global warming, overpopulation and dwindling resources.

Going My Way?

BU launches ride-sharing Web site for road travelers By Vicky Waltz When Elyse Goldberg needed a ride to Connecticut for the Thanksgiving holidays, she avoided the bustle and expense of train and bus stations. Instead, she found a cheaper, quieter ride through the Boston University RideShare program, a new online ride-matching system that pairs up […]

Green Energy Powers Faculty Office

CAS prof builds a carbon-neutral workspace By Vicky Waltz If BU made professors pay every time they flipped a light switch or powered up a computer in their offices, Nathan Phillips wouldn’t pay a dime. Every appliance in his zero-carbon office runs on renewable energy, rather than energy that generates carbon dioxide — the leading […]