Sustainable Abigail

Who is Sustainable Abigail?  

She is a sustainability advocate at your service! If you’re worried about recycling, have ideas about addressing food waste, or concerns about your role promoting sustainability on campus, Abigail is a great resource to turn to. Whatever your sustainable inquiries may be, Abigail is ready to address them all! Simply write to her by filling out the google form found below. Any question is valid and appreciated and will stay anonymous, so don’t hesitate to ask!

Have a question?

Use the Sustainable Abigail Question Form to send it directly to Sustainable Abigail herself!

Or, check out the most recent Sustainable Abigail advice below as well as the Complete Collection of Sustainable Abigail Columns below that for some great insight into big questions on campus and beyond!

Most Recent Issue:

published: 04/04/18

Dear Sustainable Abby,

I’m a big fan of the EcoRep Newsletters, and often find myself reading through the various facts and figures as I sit in different bathroom stalls around campus. While I definitely appreciate the reading material, I also always can’t help but see the irony in the group that does so much for sustainability using so much paper to talk about sustainability! To be honest, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Is there an alternative option to promoting and publicizing these newsletters and sustainability in general that doesn’t involve using so much paper?

-Puzzled about Paper Waste

Dear Puzzled about Paper Waste,

I’m glad you wrote in with this question, as it is actually a point that has been brought up to us a few times before. Honestly, we EcoReps all agree with you: it is ironic that we use so much paper to promote sustainability! Unfortunately, that is not to say that it is an easy fix. Producing Newsletters is one of our ways to connect with the Bates Community, and share exciting Sustainability updates, news, or upcoming events, as well as lend advice about how to be sustainable on the Bates campus. That said, we recognize the double-edged sword that is printing these messages and updates on many sheets of paper. One thing that at least alleviates some of my worry about this is that all of Bates paper is 30% recycled! Hooray! Nonetheless, we’ve also been brainstorming about ways to help account for the sustainability that is lost when we print out newsletters. One of the ideas that we’ve had and are hoping to get started is to print on student-recycled paper that has only been used on one side. That way we’d be using paper that someone had disposed of already, rather than the pristine and clean empty pages that could be used for other things. Of course, this is just one thing that we’ve thought of, but we’d love to hear thoughts from students on campus about how to account for the paper waste that newsletters produce, because I’m sure there are a lot of great and creative ideas out there! If you have an idea, go ahead and send it to me through my google form, which can be found in the Batestoday, or through my question envelope, which hangs on the bulletin board in Commons. A final note I want to share with you is that if the paper newsletters irks you so much you can’t bear to read it, we do have other mediums through which we share the newsletter so that we can reach as many people as possible. When a newsletter comes out, (which is monthly!), we share it on our Facebook page “Sustainable Bates,” our instagram “BatesEcoReps,” our website “www.bates.edu/sustainability,” and also our news listserv called “EcoRep News.” We are excited about these different platforms to share our newsletters and more, so definitely check them out if you have a chance! We’ll keep brainstorming about how to account for the newsletter paper waste, and again, let us know if you have ideas. Have a great day!

-Sustainable Abigail

Dear Sustainable Abigail: The Complete Collection

  • Issue #15
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I keep hearing rumors about a garden at Bates; what’s the deal with that? Do we have one now? Are we going to have one in the future?  Help! I am a huge…
  • Issue #14: Efficient Lighting?
    Hi Abby! One thing that I’ve been thinking about recently (especially with the recent change in daylight) is the way we use lighting on campus. Can we adjust the lights across campus to be more…
  • Issue #13: Turning Off Lights?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, One refrain that has persisted from my very first introduction to living a more sustainable life to now is to always, always turn off lights whenever leaving a room. Of course this…
  • Issue #12: Renewable Fuel Oil?
    Dear Bates Community, We Ecoreps have been hearing a lot of talk about some confusing sustainability terms that are often thrown around Bates and can be quite frankly isolating to those who aren’t as familiar…
  • Issue #11: Separating Recyclables From Trash?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I live in Cheney house, and I notice that the recycling is being filled with trash and the trash is often filled with recyclable materials. Do Bates students just not care about…
  • Issue #10: Yogurt Packaging?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I’m a huge yogurt person! Unfortunately, I always feel bad eating yogurt in Commons because we just have the individual yogurt cups (unless it’s a Sunday hooray for Greek Yogurt!), and it…
  • Issue #9: Learning About Sustainability?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, Hello! Let me start by saying first, I really value Bates initiatives that aim at increasing Sustainability, and there is nothing I dig more than a campus that cares about such things.…
  • Issue #8: Solar on Campus?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I am a first year at Bates, and one of the reasons I love it so much here is for all the efforts I see daily to make the campus a more…
  • Issue #7: Liquid Disposal in Commons?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I’ve always admired commons for their commitment to sustainability–with the mug club, the local food, and the various waste bins. However, I’ve also always wondered what happens with the liquid waste? Especially…
  • Issue #6: Have Any Ideas?
    Dear Everyone, Thank you so much for participating in changing the way we interact with and appreciate our world. I know at times the environmental plight can seem overwhelming and dire, and the individual impact…
  • Issue #5: Dorm Room Too Hot?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I live on the third floor of a house on Frye street and, up until recently, I’ve really loved living there. But with the changing weather and the heat being turned on,…
  • Issue #4: Dorm Sinks are Wasteful?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, There’re still many people who don’t turn off the faucet when applying soap/brushing teeth etc. Is it possible to change all the faucet to the kind we have in the new dorms,…
  • Issue #3: Food Waste and Compost?
    Dear Sustainable Abigail, I am very confused about where the our food waste goes to be turned into compost once a plate is put on the revolving dish rack. Does it stay on campus? Does…
  • Issue #2: Trash in Dorms?
    Hi Abby! I am living in Adams this year and I have noticed students putting the trash bags from their room into the larger bathroom bins. I was under the impression that all trash from…

Have ideas about sustainability on campus that you want to implement? No need to ask Abigail; apply for your own Bates Green Innovation Grant!