{"603196":{"#nid":"603196","#data":{"type":"news","title":"GT Greek Sustainability Committee Gains Momentum","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith all of the sustainability efforts happening throughout the Georgia Tech campus, it would be easy to overlook the efforts of the Greek community.\u0026nbsp; About a quarter of Georgia Tech students are members of a Greek organization.\u0026nbsp; There are 56 Greek organizations chartered at Georgia Tech, 37 of which have houses on campus.\u0026nbsp; Approximately 1,400 students live in these houses, which is about 17% of on-campus housing.\u0026nbsp; Yet, with such a large presence on campus, sustainability efforts in the Greek sector seem to lag behind those for the rest of campus operations.\u0026nbsp; The Georgia Tech Greek Sustainability Committee aims to change that.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith leadership made up from members of several different sororities and fraternities, the Committee wants to serve as a catalyst and resource for implementing sustainability efforts in the Greek community.\u0026nbsp; As a registered student organization, the Committee takes advantage of working with the Student Government Association, and partners with the Georgia Tech Facilities department and the Office of Solid Waste Management.\u0026nbsp; The Committee\u0026rsquo;s primary effort is to expand recycling services to all of the Greek houses. Currently,\u0026nbsp;about a third of Greek houses have access to recycling infrastructure.\u0026nbsp; Other initiatives include decreasing the use of disposable tableware in Greek houses, energy and water conservation, and cultivating opportunities for Greek members to get involved in sustainability efforts campus- and community-wide.\u0026nbsp; The Committee was chartered about one and a half years ago, and is beginning to enjoy some successes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are several obstacles that make sustainability a much more difficult proposition for the Greek houses than for other campus buildings.\u0026nbsp; First, the Greek houses are not owned or operated by Georgia Tech, but by the Greek organizations themselves.\u0026nbsp; Second, the houses are largely managed by the Greek student leaders, who have a relatively short tenure in the managerial positions that would be responsible for implementing sustainability measures.\u0026nbsp; Third, many of the services, like waste management and food service, which are centralized for the rest of campus, have to be contracted individually by the Greek houses.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Greek Sustainability Committee hopes to overcome these obstacles by inculcating sustainability into the culture of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Greek organizations. They encourage the establishment of a sustainability officer in each house\u0026rsquo;s leadership structure.\u0026nbsp; Further, by continuing to be an active member of the Georgia Tech sustainability community, the Committee will promote the continuity of sustainability initiatives beyond the short tenure of student Greek leaders.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESustainability efforts in the Greek sector lag behind those for the rest of campus operations.\u0026nbsp; The Georgia Tech Greek Sustainability Committee aims to change that.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":" The GT Greek Sustainability Committee wants to serve as a catalyst and resource for implementing sustainability efforts in the Greek community."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2018-03-02 18:21:41","changed_gmt":"2018-07-06 12:57:13","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-03-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-03-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"603197":{"id":"603197","type":"image","title":"GT Greek Sustainability Committe Logo","body":null,"created":"1520015009","gmt_created":"2018-03-02 18:23:29","changed":"1520015009","gmt_changed":"2018-03-02 18:23:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229902","name":"17022413_1881548752113487_7150572095055579897_n.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/17022413_1881548752113487_7150572095055579897_n.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/17022413_1881548752113487_7150572095055579897_n.png","mime":"image\/png","size":21768,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/17022413_1881548752113487_7150572095055579897_n.png?itok=QhOU4FcO"}}},"media_ids":["603197"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/orgsync.com\/154287\/chapter","title":"Greek Sustainability Committee portal on Orgsync"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greeksustainabilitycommittee\/","title":"Greek Sustainability Committee Facebook Page"}],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"166870","name":"BBISS_news"},{"id":"177262","name":"Greek Sustainability Committee"},{"id":"40601","name":"campus recycling"},{"id":"1842","name":"game day recycling"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Communications Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}