Overview
The Social Outreach team for the Nitrogen Working Group (NWG) is responsible for educating the University of Virginia community about reactive nitrogen, its environmental impacts, and the actions that can be taken at the university and individual level to reduce our footprints. Outreach is performed through a variety of means. First, we have an active presence on Instagram, where we post facts about nitrogen and other sustainability topics, as well as encourage students to reduce their environmental footprints. Follow us at @uvanitrogen!
As the Nitrogen Working Group operates under the wider UVA Office for Sustainability umbrella, we operate with considerable support from Lela Gardner and OFS Student Sustainability Employees. Check out more about our specific projects with OFS here.
Another critical component of our mission is to educate on the impact of food on nitrogen footprints. We do this through extensive collaboration with UVA Dine, through whom the NWG Footprint Team receives its food data. You can check out more about our collaboration with UVA Dine here. We table with UVA Dine the first Thursday of every month when they host their Taste Cart, which is an initiative to encourage plant-forward eating by featuring yummy meals cooked with local ingredients. We also collaborate extensively with the chefs of the dining halls to offer students more plant-based meals without sacrificing the protein-rich foods that students need to maintain health. Check out a handout we made in conjunction with UVA Dine below:
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Poster produced by our team in conjunction with UVA Dine that highlights the benefits of plant-forward eating for nitrogen footprints and the Earth as a whole! |
The “Laundry Project” initiated by the outreach team created awareness about the energy demands of laundry water temperature. This project relies on extensive collaboration with UVA HRL to educate students about sustainable laundry habits. Likewise, the team is actively updating Let This Sink In issues, which educate students on topics of sustainability. So far, a water and a nitrogen issue have been published, with another to come this winter. Check out our issues on this page. The outreach team is also responsible for the creation of the logo and other marketing materials for the NWG.
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Caroline and Liv (former member) hanging up Let This Sink In Journals! |
We owe enormous gratitude to UVA's Office for Sustainability, UVA Dine, and UVA HRL. We couldn't do what we do without these organizations, united in a collective commitment to further sustainability at UVA.
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Molly, Maddie, and Caroline educating members of the Cville community about nitrogen at Gazpacho in the Garden, an event at UVA Sustainability Lab's Morven Kitchen Garden. |
