N Footprint Workshop

Colleen Orr (CC ’17) and I attended the N Footprint Workshop in Durham, New Hampshire in June.  Colleen presented Colorado College’s preliminary N Footprint. Representatives from 18 of the schools involved in the program – ranging from Boston University and Colorado State to Dickinson College and the Marine Biological Lab.

The three day workshop was packed with information and we were able to learn a lot from each other. Some of these miscellaneous facts include:

1. Small liberal art schools seem to consume far more milk per person than other institutions (CC purchases 240,000 lbs of milk a week!)
2. Carbon neutral energy sources are not necessarily N neutral.
3. Local Food Initiatives will have a smaller impact on campus C and N footprints than simply reducing the amount of meat we eat.

Colleen’s senior research is examining the N and C savings associated with the proposed sustainability initiative at CC.