Green Office Certification Profile - Cynthia Rueda & Leslie Culpepper
Green Office Certification Profile by Mary Ann Wilson
Cynthia Rueda & Leslie Culpepper
GEM & Policy Faculty Support Staff
Note: Interview was conducted with Leslie Culpepper
How did you come to the decision to do the Green Office program?
I was in a staff meeting a year ago and there was a representative from Sustainability. She gave a very brief description of the Green Office program, and I just thought: “Wow. That sounds cool! I want to get green-office certified.” That’s pretty much what happened.
How long did it take you to complete certification?
A really long time, about a year, because I got side-tracked a lot, so I initiated the process and then Cynthia got hired sometime in the spring, and I gave the project to her because I hadn’t moved on it the way I wanted to, but I still thought it should be done and that it was a good thing to do. Cynthia has done a great job.
Did you have any up-front costs to implement any of these changes?
I have a lamp and I’ll buy the appropriate light bulbs for it, but it was determined when we were doing the certification process that there was no point in throwing out perfectly useable light bulbs, so they’re just going to be used before I buy the compact fluorescent light bulbs. There was not a ton of things that were purchased so I don’t think the costs were much at all, if any.
What are the challenges, if any, in maintaining a green office?
Yes. We keep scrap paper by the printer and professors have the option of using that paper, and sometimes they get confused and then they get upset because they want clean paper. So there’s a certain amount of just educating them about the changes in the office and I guess that’s open to challenges.
Have you gained any insights from implementing this program that may be helpful to others?
I know that my insight was that I got very enthusiastic and I didn’t follow through as well I would have liked, so that’s something that I need to work on for myself.
Published: Monday, November 07, 2011
