Reunions Sustainability Action Plan
Open Letter to President Christopher Eisgruber
Add your name to the Open Letter here:
bit.ly/GreeningReunions
As proud alumni and enthusiastic Reunions-goers, we are deeply concerned about Reunions’ large environmental footprint. As the university’s signature event and its largest at 25,000 attendees, Reunions helps foster the loyalty alumni have for Princeton. While a large part of Reunions planning is alumni-driven, Princeton hosts the event and sets the framework. But Reunions is not covered by Princeton’s Sustainability Action Plan.
In keeping with Princeton’s leadership in environmental and climate research and in the spirit of “Princeton in the Planet’s Service and the Service of Humanity,” we are calling upon Princeton to work with alumni to adopt a Reunions Sustainability Action Plan before Reunions 2024. To move decisively toward a zero waste and carbon neutral Reunions 2026, the plan should include timetables to:
If music festivals are developing roadmaps to reduce their environmental footprints and sporting events like the WM Phoenix Open have gone zero waste, Princeton can do this. The Greening Reunions Alumni Working Group has worked for the past 3 years to develop actionable recommendations, in partnership with Princeton’s Director of Reunions and Director of the Office of Sustainability. The alumni group assessed Reunions’ environmental footprint with respect to climate change and plastic pollution, the two biggest threats to the environment according to the UN:
Adopting a Reunions Sustainability Action Plan will require funding, and it makes sense that Reunions attendees and Princeton should shoulder the responsibility. Currently the costs of Reunions’ environmental footprint are already being borne by the communities around the world that are most vulnerable to climate change, and by communities near Levittown, PA where Princeton’s landfill waste is sent. Furthermore, plastic waste persists for centuries, eventually making its way to the world’s oceans where it causes irreparable harm.
The alumni group has started the ball rolling, with two key initiatives for Reunions 2023: 1) raising over $30,000 from alumni to purchase carbon offsets from Princeton’s offset partner, Climate Vault, which will offset >20% of the travel carbon footprint, and 2) partnering with the company TURN to pilot a reusable (orange!) cup service at the Class of ’98’s 25th Reunion, with one-time support from the Princeton High Meadows sustainability fund. These initiatives can be scaled up across Reunions, but only with institutional support from Princeton.
Sincerely,
Alumni of Princeton
Cc: Director of Reunions Mibs Southerland, Director of the Office of Sustainability Shana Weber, Executive Vice President Treby Williams, Provost Jennifer Rexford
Add your name to the Open Letter here: bit.ly/GreeningReunions
For more information or to get involved, please email us:
greening.reunions@gmail.com
bit.ly/GreeningReunions
As proud alumni and enthusiastic Reunions-goers, we are deeply concerned about Reunions’ large environmental footprint. As the university’s signature event and its largest at 25,000 attendees, Reunions helps foster the loyalty alumni have for Princeton. While a large part of Reunions planning is alumni-driven, Princeton hosts the event and sets the framework. But Reunions is not covered by Princeton’s Sustainability Action Plan.
In keeping with Princeton’s leadership in environmental and climate research and in the spirit of “Princeton in the Planet’s Service and the Service of Humanity,” we are calling upon Princeton to work with alumni to adopt a Reunions Sustainability Action Plan before Reunions 2024. To move decisively toward a zero waste and carbon neutral Reunions 2026, the plan should include timetables to:
- Offset 100% of the carbon footprint with alumni contributions to alumni-vetted offset providers
- Divert >95% of waste from the landfill by composting food waste and eliminating single-use plastic
- Reduce carbon footprint of meals by 20% by offering and encouraging beef-free and vegetarian menus
- Livestream faculty-alumni panels to enable virtual participation
- Produce annual progress reports on Reunions’ environmental footprint and publish on a sustainability page on the Reunions website, starting with a Reunions 2023 report by the end of 2023
If music festivals are developing roadmaps to reduce their environmental footprints and sporting events like the WM Phoenix Open have gone zero waste, Princeton can do this. The Greening Reunions Alumni Working Group has worked for the past 3 years to develop actionable recommendations, in partnership with Princeton’s Director of Reunions and Director of the Office of Sustainability. The alumni group assessed Reunions’ environmental footprint with respect to climate change and plastic pollution, the two biggest threats to the environment according to the UN:
- Travel accounts for 90% of the carbon footprint of a typical festival. For Reunions, where alumni travel on average 1,900 miles roundtrip, this percentage may be higher. The alumni group estimated the carbon footprint of Reunions 2022 travel as more than 7,900 tons CO2—comparable to the annual electricity use of 1,500 US homes, or 8% of Princeton's 2021 campus emissions.
- Reunions weekend generates a massive amount of landfill waste—110 tons in 2019, or 7% of Princeton’s 2022 campus landfill waste. The alumni group estimated that Reunions 2022 sent more than 320,000 single-use plastic cups to landfill, including 170,000 industrially-compostable cups.
Adopting a Reunions Sustainability Action Plan will require funding, and it makes sense that Reunions attendees and Princeton should shoulder the responsibility. Currently the costs of Reunions’ environmental footprint are already being borne by the communities around the world that are most vulnerable to climate change, and by communities near Levittown, PA where Princeton’s landfill waste is sent. Furthermore, plastic waste persists for centuries, eventually making its way to the world’s oceans where it causes irreparable harm.
The alumni group has started the ball rolling, with two key initiatives for Reunions 2023: 1) raising over $30,000 from alumni to purchase carbon offsets from Princeton’s offset partner, Climate Vault, which will offset >20% of the travel carbon footprint, and 2) partnering with the company TURN to pilot a reusable (orange!) cup service at the Class of ’98’s 25th Reunion, with one-time support from the Princeton High Meadows sustainability fund. These initiatives can be scaled up across Reunions, but only with institutional support from Princeton.
Sincerely,
Alumni of Princeton
Cc: Director of Reunions Mibs Southerland, Director of the Office of Sustainability Shana Weber, Executive Vice President Treby Williams, Provost Jennifer Rexford
Add your name to the Open Letter here: bit.ly/GreeningReunions
For more information or to get involved, please email us:
greening.reunions@gmail.com
