By Robert Kost

Today SRB had the pleasure of welcoming Rick Martella, the Vice President of Corporate Affairs form Aramark Corporation to address our organization on behalf of the dynamics and initiatives of his corporation. Martella, who has held several diverse positions ranging from Business & Industry to developing Aramark’s growth strategy, is among other roles, currently responsible for Aramark’s strategic commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Within that aspect Martella spoke of four focus areas of Aramark; Health and Wellness, Community Development, Employee Advocacy, and Environmental Stewardship.

With respect to Aramark’s four areas of focus Martella elaborated on the several initiatives Aramark is engaged in and how they tie into Aramark’s core competencies. One such program that was mentioned was Aramark’s Recycling Program, which has been able to successfully reduce the company’s energy consumption across the board in areas of water and energy utilization to food and waste disposal. Another aspect that Martella highlighted was about Aramark’s commitment to Employee and Community engagement, which was broadcasted by a short video clip. Martella then moved on to discuss some of Aramark’s different business units and how they interact with Aramark to make it successful by creating cross business teams, issuing grants to health-care and wellness fairs, and various company sponsored events. Martella then consummated his visit by addressing and engaging the membership with questions and comments related to his function in Aramark and Corporate Social Responsibility.

By Bridget Quint

Students for Responsible Business (SRB) and Temple Students for Fair Trade teamed together with the Temple University Graduate Students’ Association (TUGSA) and Temple’s own Alta Gracia intern to set up a meeting with Jim Hanley, the Temple University bookstore manager to discuss the potential for growth of Fair Trade clothing products in the university bookstore from the Alta Gracia brand (Fair Trade manufacturing plant located in the Dominican Republic). At the meeting, we presented Hanley with Thank You cards and friendly petitions for carrying more Alta Gracia on campus that were signed by over 100 Temple students as a follow-up to nationally renowned anti-sweatshop activist, Jim Keady’s presentation to Temple University’s Business Ethics students.

The outcome of the meeting was a commitment to bring in more advertising for the Alta Gracia brand, with emphasis that buying Alta Gracia products means support for fair trade and a living wage for workers, as well as commitment to rearrange the floor plan of the bookstore to place the Alta Gracia clothing racks in a more central location so the brand will be more visible to students waiting in line. This commitment is for the back-to-school week in January 2012, when the bookstore experiences a busy season with longer waiting times for students to notice and learn about the strategically located Alta Gracia products. Future meetings are being planned to talk about introducing Fair Trade food items and small products to the bookstore, too! Along with bright advertising to promote Fair Trade awareness and encourage Temple students to choose Fair Trade certified products when available.

At the meeting, we also learned that Temple University is the #1 seller of Alta Gracia products of all Barnes & Noble college bookstores in the nation. Additionally, Temple University ranks at #11 of the top 20 sellers of all college bookstores in the country. These statistics come straight from a letter from Knight Apparel (owner of Alta Gracia brand) to the Temple University bookstore as of November 9, 2011.

So what IS Alta Gracia? “Alta Gracia is a new brand of t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies on college campuses all over the country that offers students, their families and alumni the opportunity to give the workers who sew this clothing a pathway out of poverty” (Alta Gracia website). Their idea is to pay workers a wage that enables them to provide adequate food, clean water, clothing, shelter, health care, child care, and education for themselves and their families. In other words, Alta Gracia pays a “living wage” without charging more than other major brands, while having a direct positive impact on the lives of Alta Gracia workers and their community.

Key pillars of Alta Gracia’s labor code:

1. Pay more than three times the standard industry wage to each worker, a “living wage,” and enough to make sure that workers can feed, clothe, house and educate their families.
2. Respect the rights of the people who manufacture Alta Gracia clothing as workers as well as human beings with rights to a safe and healthy work environment, to form a union and to be treated with justice and respect.
3. Receive verification by the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC) to verify compliance with these standards through on-site monitoring of the factory in the Dominican Republic.

Alta Gracia products have affordable price points for college students, offer a vintage, worn-in, or classic style of collegiate wear and promote human rights, Fair Trade, and global dignity. So please consider supporting and purchasing more Alta Gracia products to show the university that we demand higher standards on our campus, especially during this holiday shopping season.

For more information on Alta Gracia, please feel free to contact Maria DiGeorge, Temple’s Alta Gracia intern at tuc59053@temple.edu. For more information on becoming a part of Temple Students for Fair Trade, please contact Bridget Quint (bridget.quint@temple.edu) or Dakota Scholl (Dakota.scholl@temple.edu).

Click here to visit the Alta Gracia website.

On Thursday, November 17^th, the Green Council held its monthly meeting.  All of the members including myself (the Green Council Rep. for SRB) discussed the details of one particular project that we all agreed on executing together as a collaborative group. When we had our last meeting in October, we talked about the possibility of collaborating on an event for Earth Day, April 22 of 2012. Once we were stricken by this idea, we all thought that this would be a very important project and beneficial to the entire group to collaborate on it.  There are many steps that need to be taken so that we can start working on the logistics of such a very important project.

We all agreed on doing a “Green Scavenger Hunt” around campus, on Earth Day or during that week. The goal of this event will be to introduce the Temple community to all the Green Places on campus. We understand that most students who are not supportive or unaware of sustainability practices are also unfamiliar with simple day-to-day alternatives that are accessible to them. So, on Earth Day we plan to reinforce a greener state of mind, and also embark students into a journey to improve their engagement with the Earth’s natural environment. Please be on the lookout for this event in April 2012, as the day approaches all the details will be available on the SRB website!

By Robert Kost

This past Wednesday, November 16^th, SRB had the pleasure of welcoming Chris Waldron, the Director of Sustainability from the Philadelphia Zoo, to our weekly meeting to speak on behalf of the many green and sustainable measures that the Philadelphia Zoo has undertaken and endeavored into. Chris, who has been working at the zoo full time since 1995 has had experience in every aspect of the zoo’s culture, from cleaning bathrooms, giving pony rides, being a zookeeper to working as a curator. However, his most notable and recent position is as the Director of Sustainability where he has implemented astronomical changes, which have drastically reduced the Philadelphia Zoo’s carbon footprint and pioneered America’s oldest zoo as an environmental friendly green innovator.

One of the altruistic measures of sustainability that the Philadelphia zoo engages in community conservation government programs, and is backing reforestation based park projects where it helped to plant a countless number of trees in a variety of parks, most notably Fairmount Park. Additionally, Chris has also taken the Zoo’s infrastructure to a next level where he has completely redesigned and retro commissioned buildings, walkways, and water systems to be more sustainable and cut back on their consumption of fuels and materials. These changes could be seen all throughout the zoo from an advanced HVAC system, which decreased on energy consumption by 30% (or $300,000) in one building alone! Additionally, the zoo has constructed and designed an advance and aesthetically pleasing wetlands system, which actually serves a dual purpose as an animal exhibit, and natural water purification system, where the water is so clean that the zoo will be able to stock it with fish. Chris also spoke on how the Philadelphia Zoo is constructing a new exhibit house, which utilizes state of the art heating and cooling systems, such as geothermal systems, in addition to large windows and spaces to be heated and lit. More interestingly however is how this building and several others utilize Ornilox glass; a specially and uniquely engineered glass to reduce the amount of bird strikes on buildings that otherwise claim many birds. This glass utilized special ultraviolent and pattern capabilities that the bird recognizes as filled space and will be deterred to fly into.

With an operating budget of around $23 million annually, and with around 10% energy price increases one might ask how much the zoo is saving and how they are able to save.  One way they save is through 42 initiatives (through 2018) that the Philadelphia Zoo has created, include they initiate in strategically buying energy, upgrading systems, and making Operational changes to reduce their carbon footprint, in addition to being a part of a Demand Response Program, to reduce the possibility of brownouts on high energy usage days in the summer. Chris and the zoo have also retro commissioned their water systems to save around 55%, or around $1 million annually. Additionally, through investing in renewable energy credits and initiatives with PECO the zoo actually receives money back from certain projects (around $60,000 so far) and could offset their energy consumption by around 20%. Even more stunning is the zoos monthly savings on electricity through just replacing their old lights with new and efficient ones, which amount to around an astounding $7,000. The Philadelphia Zoo also maintains great city relations and relations with zoo’s across the United States where they are a member of AZA, The Association of Zoos and Aquariums; where they work with their partner zoos to collectively swap animals, reducing the need to capture them from their native habitats.

With all of the Philadelphia Zoo’s sustainable innovations and initiatives, which is helping the zoo to reduce their carbon footprint on the environment while saving money, generate awareness, and educate the public; Chris Waldron is ensuring that America’s oldest zoo is also America’s greenest zoo.