Sustainable Living Hub

 About the Sustainable Living Hub:

The Sustainable Living Hub focuses on the sustainability themes of food, transportation, grounds, and student life. Please click on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) icons to the right to see the theme websites in the Living category

The Sustainability Project Laboratory

All Hubs of the Office of Sustainability contribute to the Sustainability Project Laboratory. The Sustainability Project Laboratory is a database of sustainability-related project proposals. This resource hosts projects and project ideas that can be adopted by faculty, staff, and students for course projects, capstone or senior projects, theses, and more.

Propose a sustainability project that will result in a simultaneous benefit to people, the planet, and prosperity (for faculty, staff, or community members)

Request a sustainability project for an Ohio University course or for research (for faculty or students)

The History of the Sustainable Living Hub

Dr. Theresa Moran, as the Director of Food Studies and the inaugural Sustainable Living Hub Coordinator, led an initiative to advance OHIO's institutional procurement of regional food and, on a parallel track, advance the OHIO Student Farm (338 West State St., Athens, OH  45701) as a site of interdisciplinary and experiential learning.  The Farm to OHIO Working Group which evolved from these efforts will continue as a partnership with Culinary Services, the Center for Community Engagement, Community Food Initiatives, and Rural Action, funded by the Sugar Bush Foundation. Dr. Moran holds the honorary title of Associate Professor of Instruction, Environmental and Plant Biology, Adjunct.

The previous Hub Coordinator Dr. Kim Thompson came to Ohio University in 2014. Dr. Thompson's key initiative was the research and development of green roofs on campus and in the community. She served on the Green Roof Infrastructure subcommittee of the Sustainability Executive Committee and the Ohio University Science Fair committee.  Dr. Thompson was the faculty advisor for The Green Initiative and The Plant Club and represented OHIO on the Greater Ohio Living Architecture (GOLA) Center’s Steering Committee.

Dr. Thompson initiated and led an interdisciplinary group of faculty, administrators, and students to fund and install a vegetated rooftop on the Schoonover Center for Communication. Her focus was on supporting and engaging students in creating green spaces on campus, reducing their carbon footprints, and advocating for policies and decisions that will help us achieve our sustainability goals on campus and in the community.  Please visit her Schoonover Green Roof Project website.

Kyle Butler, the current Hub Coordinator’s key initiative will be to take teaching and learning at OHIO outside the classroom box by promoting outdoor teaching, provisioning popular spaces for holding outdoor classes, and building a pilot outdoor classroom on the Athens campus.