Episode 22: Elisabeth Reed, Office of Sustainability

John Twork  0:10  
Welcome to Redbird Buzz. I'm John Twork from University Marketing and Communications. Our guest today is Elisabeth Reed, the Director of the Office of Sustainability at Illinois State University. Elizabeth earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Arts and fashion apparel design from Savannah College of Art and Design. She then arrived at Illinois State in 2008 to become a fashion design and merchandising instructional assistant professor, a position she held until assuming her current role leading the Office of Sustainability in 2019.

It's my pleasure to welcome Elisabeth Reed to Redbird Buzz. What's the word Redbird? Tell us a little about your journey to Illinois State and to becoming director of the Office of Sustainability Elisabeth?

Elisabeth Reed  1:04  
Well, thank you so much for having me here today. This is really exciting. I do have kind of an untraditional path as far as getting to, you know, arrive in this position. Sometimes people think well, how in the world did you go from architecture and fashion design to sustainability? But actually, within the fashion industry, sustainability is becoming more and more something that we really need to consider and think about. And I learned that along the way through my research and teaching within Fashion Design and Merchandising here at Illinois State. One of the things being that the fashion industry is one of the world's biggest polluters. So you know, and then even back to thinking about architecture with building materials and using the land appropriately, it was all kind of connected. And so when this position opened up, it was very exciting to think about taking sustainability across the campus and to so many other majors beyond the fashion department. And so, here I am today.

John Twork  2:03  
And we're coming to you from the Office of Sustainability. Just a few steps away from the Bone Student Center on that end of the campus. We hear the word sustainability a lot, I think. But what what does sustainability mean?

Elisabeth Reed  2:18  
Yeah, right. It is kind of a buzzword, right in many ways. And if you look it up, you probably would find lots of different definitions. Actually, within the last year or so we had a taskforce of about 30 different faculty, staff, and students help us to develop our first campus wide sustainability strategic plan. And as part of that, we work together to define the definition of sustainability and what that means here at ISU. So I can read this to you a little bit. It's kind of a mouthful and try to break it down. Sure. So it's a little bit more understandable. But our definition is at Illinois State University, we define sustainability as a practice to which we consider the implications of our individual and collective actions. So thinking about what you're doing, just as an individual, how you're consuming, and then collectively, what does that look like--and the interconnectivity among people and ecosystems coexisting within communities and across the globe. So again, those choices that we make, those implications, what does it mean for the Bloomington Normal Community? What does it mean for individuals across the globe, as we purchase products all across our world, and then and a vision for an equitable and thriving planet for generations to come. Of course, we want ISU to be around for many, many years and all future Redbirds. And so, thinking about what does the campus look like for them? What does our world look like for them? So thinking about those implications in the present, and then very far in the future as well.

John Twork  3:49  
Sustainability is an important part of the Illinois State mission, and has been for quite some time. Can you tell us about the history of the Office of Sustainability and its current mission and perhaps where it's looking to go in the future?

Elisabeth Reed  4:03  
Sure. The Office of Sustainability started in 2011, with President Bowman but before that, we had a very passionate and engaged group of faculty and staff called the Green Team. And so they did some really exciting work or even just starting recycling in the 80s. And then, you know, planting different trees as we can see how beautiful our Fell Arboretum is and that commitment along the way, they also had a Local Foods Dinner and so it really just kind of, you know, then eventually became a need for an Office of Sustainability and that's what we have today. And moving forward our straight sustainability strategic plan is our really our roadmap for the future and that's been really exciting to put that together with the group, you know, a group of different faculty, staff and students from all over campus all different areas, representing sustainability in their departments or units and So that really is where we see our future is now we've developed certain goals and commitments. And we can use, you know, all of our different campus partners to help us implement those goals. 

John Twork  5:12  
When it comes to sustainability, something that strikes me is small actions that individuals can take can make a big impact. And so students on campus here, and faculty and staff as well can participate in those kind of small actions and some big actions too through the Office of Sustainability. Can you talk about some of the opportunities for members of the Illinois State campus, it seems to me like there's sort of a waste reduction category, and then an education category, and also an engagement category. Let's start with waste reduction, and some of the different programs and engagement opportunities you have for the campus community.

Elisabeth Reed  5:49  
Sure, one of our more exciting ones, and new on campus as far as waste reduction is composting. And so even though those are Yeah, different categories, as far as you know, waste reduction or education, engagement, they overlap in so many ways. And so composting is something that some students might be familiar with, but a lot might not be familiar with. So we want to make sure that we're introducing something on campus, we want to make sure that our students are really educated on and informed on this topic, so that they can, they can participate in a meaningful way and then hopefully be able to do this and you know, moving forward as well in their life. So composting is something that we've had at ISU for many, many years way before I was in this position. But it was at the back of house behind our dining centers. And and it's you know, it's foodwaste, so it's it's gross, and stinky and that kind of thing. So it's not something that we really want to, you know, advertise put on the front of a magazine or anything like that. But at the same time, it's really, really great work. So when I learned that we were composting in our dining centers, I did want to, you know, advertise that just showcase that to everyone, because it's really incredible how much food waste we are diverting from landfill already, but it was behind the scenes and so it's something you know, trying to communicate to others about what we were doing and then thinking, Okay, well, we're already doing this, how can we expand those efforts and allow for the rest of our campus to participate in composting as well. And in fact, I did have a lot of faculty and staff asking for ways that they could compost, you know, at ISU, or they've got some banana peel or coffee grounds from their office or that type of thing. Where can I compost this? In addition, our dining centers have our takeout containers for our students have always been for 10 plus years have been compostable takeout containers. We are technically a foam free campus, so we do not purchase Styrofoam. We shouldn't be purchasing Styrofoam. And so our takeout containers could be composted if we had, you know the the capability of doing that. So, about a year ago, we partnered with our compost hauler Better Earth Logistics that are based in Peoria, just 45 minutes from campus. And we set up compost kiosks across our campus in three different locations. And this is an opportunity for anyone here on campus to be able to use those kiosks. But we were also concerned, what are they going to throw in there? What are the students--Are they going to be prepared to be able to you know, know what you can put in there? You know, beyond food waste, you can you can put all of these compostable products in there. What did that what does that look like? And you know, does this go in there? Does that not go in there? So what we did was we developed a quiz. So very easy little quiz, but informative, quick quiz on our website. So if you want to participate in the composting program, then you would just go onto our website, you take the five question quiz. Even if you get all the answers wrong, you still get moved along on the quiz because we want it we want it to be accessible. But when you do get the answer wrong, we tell you what the answer is right there. So you quickly learn okay, this, this kind of item doesn't go in the compost and this does. And so we tried to break it down and again, educate them, so that they feel empowered to be able to use the compost kiosks on campus. So this is something just as an example, I think, across the university that hey, this is something ISU has been doing for a long time, right? And now we've expanded it now we can expand it even further. What else are we doing across campus that might be behind the scenes or somebody's doing in a classroom that we could, you know, expand and grow even further. And so composting has been a great example of that as far as waste reduction but also, you know, strengthening what we're already really doing.

John Twork  9:38  
Sure. And a number of other programs that students and faculty staff can engage in. Tell us about Fix It Friday, Pass it On share shop, those are all kind of interconnected in a way right? And also incorporate your background and fashion and merchandising.

Elisabeth Reed  9:53  
Absolutely, yeah, fix it. Friday was something that actually started when I was teaching in the fashion design and merchandising program and was excited I needed to take that with me here to the sustainability office and expand our reach again, a little bit more too. So Fix It Friday is a free clothing repair service. Open on Fridays, obviously, in the past, we've traveled all around Bloomington Normal--coffee shops, libraries, all that kind of stuff and just set up sewing machines, and we fix whatever people need for free. The idea being that, you know, we're kind of quick to discard things, going back to that principle of if, if it's broke, let's fix it, right. And so, and clothing, you know, students might not have the capability of sewing that button on, they might not have the thread and the needle and all that kind of stuff. Maybe they even they know how to do it, but they don't have the supplies. Also, you know, it gives our students an opportunity, whether it be they are fashion students, or students that just are able to sew, the ability to give back and communicate that message of repair as well. So Fix It Friday is one part of that you mentioned a couple others. The Share Shop is a fairly new store that we have here on campus, a partnership with student government association, students approached us with a great idea of having a resource sharing free store kind of a thrift store for our campus. And it is really just taken off in the last year. So it is open throughout the week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And we have all kinds of clothing items, shoes, accessories that have all been donated to us from the campus, from students, faculty, staff, and also from the community as well that donate to our office. And then our students put up put them all on display in a great little shop. And then students can come and quote unquote shop because it's all free, right? For any of those items. We have household supplies, bedding, school supplies beyond just you know, clothing and that type of thing. We have a variety of clothing, some casual things, but also a lot of career clothing. Our most popular items are definitely Redbird apparel that whenever anybody donates Redbird anything, those go really really quickly. And so that's been a huge success. And it's really exciting to see the students working the shop, and then students coming in as well. Again, it's that message of reuse. And then if there is something in the shop that you know is missing a button, then they can go right across the they're right next to each other Fix It Friday and the Share Shop both have a little space in our office and they can get items repaired right there. So it's that's a great collaboration amongst those things. Oftentimes students will, you know, say I want to participate in sustainability, I want to be more sustainable. But shopping for sustainable clothing is more expensive if it's organic cotton or that type of thing. But what we'd like to say is that it's actually not--shopping secondhand is one of the easiest things you can do to be sustainable. And guess what? It's free at the share shop. Yeah, so it really is for everyone. It's not you know, it's for it's for all of our students to be able to come here and participate in sustainable shopping experience.

John Twork  9:53  
Sure. And in some of those items are collected through pass it on as well. Right? 

Elisabeth Reed  10:35  
Yeah, absolutely.So not only just the donations that we received throughout the year, but also we have an incredible program at ISU that is called pass it on. And this is one of those programs that have been around for a really long time too- it started with a social work class, the students were just really over 20 years ago, actually, that were just really, you know, frustrated with seeing how many things were being thrown out at move out. So they put together they worked with housing and a couple other groups on campus and put donation bins outside in the lobbies of each of our residence halls. So as the students are moving out, they can donate any of those gently used items, even some, you know, non perishable food and things that maybe they didn't get to either. And then we take all of those items now for the share shop and then also because it's so many items, we will also work with some local community, you know, organizations for those donations as well. So yeah, really, we really are trying to divert as much as we can from landfill and in fact last year after collecting a bunch of items for move out, we did a big front yard freecycle event where we put all of our items that we received from move out out onto the front lawn of our sustainability office. And students during Welcome Week were able to come and just again take anything they wanted for free we had little mini fridges and you know the Rubbermaid drawer type of organizers that are great for dorms, little lamps, all kinds of you know laundry hampers mirrors so We're hoping to do that we're we're planning on doing that again this year, and hope it'll be even bigger and better during Welcome Week, as we, you know, live and learn from last year and can advertise next year. So, yeah, very exciting.

John Twork  15:14  
I think I stopped by that and saw someone walking away with an air hockey table.

Elisabeth Reed  15:19  
Your I know that you never know what, you know, some of the community had donated some items as well from apartments. And so we really would love for that to be you know, as students are moving out of the residence hall, sometimes, you know, they're taking a train or they're traveling or something and or they know they're going to live in an apartment next year that they're not going to need that little mini fridge. But they only used it for nine months. So you know, why not give it back to another Redbird you know, who could use it next year. And, and so we really encourage those students who came to that freecycle, to Hey, when you move out, and you're done, we'll take it back, you know, so we can reuse that next year as well, really trying to create that culture for our students, you know, to think about those things and, and then hopefully, they can take that out wherever they go, as well.

John Twork  16:03  
And that culture extends into educational opportunities as well. And you have some excellent opportunities, including sustainability city tours, there's one coming up in Zurich, Switzerland, that sounds fantastic. And really interesting. Tell me about that. 

Elisabeth Reed  16:18  
Yeah, sure, this is something that actually wanted to start when I started in this position, but then, you know, that thing called COVID happened, right, we couldn't really travel places, but I think, you know, getting our students out and seeing, exposing them to, you know, different areas of the world, and how other, you know, cities, communities, cultures, to help people you know, live and their different choices and could really make a great impact on them for their future. And then how what they you know, their future careers and that type of thing and their decisions that they make moving forward. So we have we built this program called sustainable city tours where we are choosing different sustainable the, you know, the most sustainable cities across the world, and going to those cities and learning from them. And so while we do make a little bit of a carbon footprint, by traveling to them, we are looking at ways to offset some of that too, where we do some service or donations and things in that in those local areas or here, you know, places in need as well. But the the idea is really that we will be visiting with different different organizations, companies. One of the places that we're visiting in Zurich is OekoTex, which is if you buy, you know, like a towel at Target or something, a lot of times on the label, it'll have a little tag on there that says OekoTex on it. And this is a certification process for sustainable textiles. And so that particular brand of towels, or sheets, or whatever it might be, has had to go through a pretty rigorous process of how that fabric was created, whether it be the dye that it was used, or the people that are putting those products together. So that's going to be really exciting to learn from that company and the different organizations that they work with. So we'll be doing, you know, that type of visit where we're visiting with with companies, and then also some local organizations, and just really trying to understand how that that city, you know, why is it the most sustainable city in the world? And that one of the most sustainable cities in the world and and what can we bring back here? Each evening of our tours to we will do kind of a reflection, it's easy for the students, you know, in those situations to think like, Oh, why can't we be like that? There's no you know, maybe get down and there's not much hope for us. What are we you know, but I really want them to be empowered, I want to flip that idea and think, Okay, this is what Zurich is doing. We're not Zurich, right, but what can we take from these trips, and we can bring back to Bloomington Normal and implement in our own way. Right. So those those conversations will be really great on the on the trip. Moving forward, we have another one to Reykavik in January. So we're gonna continue to go to these exciting sustainable places and get inspired.

John Twork  19:12  
And who are the students who are on these trips? Do you have to be a specific major or involved in some kind of level with the Office of Sustainability?

Elisabeth Reed  19:19  
No, absolutely not. I mean, it really any student can apply to be a part of the trip. We have a max right now about 12 students to go on each of the trips. And we'll see if that you know, changes or grows, we can adapt but right now it's 12 students and they really represent so many different areas of campus and that that's the same for our student interns in our office. I have students that are marketing majors I have students that are in sustainable majors maybe right, with one of our like a sustainable renewable energy major or maybe in student environmental health. But I also have students that are Music Education major or graphic design. A fashion design. I really it really is, you know, a they're from everywhere. And it really says, you know how sustainability is, is really everywhere on our campus and in our world.

John Twork  20:14  
And a way that you can sort of engage with those various disciplines is through something called a rolling garden where you can literally like roll into any classroom--tell me about that. That's another new project, right?

Elisabeth Reed  20:29  
Yeah, this was actually another student initiative as well, which is really exciting when they come to us with these different ideas. partnered with a horticulture professor here on at ISU to come up with this idea of really, it's a Yeah, it's exactly what it is, is a rolling garden, it is a garden that is grown under an LED light. So you could have it in a classroom with no windows and still grow, you know, basil, and all kinds of things. And so we have actually have three of them. And they can, one of them right now is in our office. And then we have a to a couple other places on campus. One is in a residence hall. And I think the other one is in a classroom right now. And yeah, they can grow, you know, you can, you know, as far as the class or the residence hall, they can kind of say, these are the things we'd like to see growing in here. If it is a classroom, they might be able to use what's in there, depending on what their mission is. But for like the residence hall example, it's really just, you know, allowing for the students that maybe are not familiar with how certain plants grow, to get, you know, a look at that have a part in it, watering it, and that time caring for it. And seeing you know, it growing under LED lights is unique as well. And it's just, you know, in the middle of January and February, also nice to see something green, growing indoors as well. So it has all kinds of different missions and so many opportunities, you know, for people to be able to use those gardens as well.

John Twork  21:57  
Students who are intrigued by sustainability, you know, that seems like they get more and more involved, the more that they find out and there's opportunities for them to sort of grow that passion here, through engagement opportunities, registered student organizations, there's the student sustainability committee, and then also the green team. Can you just talk about some of those engagement opportunities for students and also faculty and staff here on campus? Yeah,

Elisabeth Reed  22:24  
sure. Absolutely. So yeah, there's so many great registered student organizations we mentioned, Fix It Friday is one of those as well, the students, you know, if they have any kind of sewing ability, just basic sewing ability, they can be a part of that. But also, the student sustainability committee that you had brought up. That one is a is a great committee to be involved with, and really hosts a lot of important events that we host across campus. One being our Earth Day breakfast that's coming up, it sold out very quickly. But we have a different keynote speaker each year and the committee is really the group that helps to sponsor that and put that on, and features local sustainable foods and just a really great inspiring message from a speaker that we are bringing in. But they also host the Zero Waste tailgates that we have each fall. And that's another event, but also an opportunity for our community to learn about sustainability in a really fun way. And for our students to engage with the community and to talk with them about, you know, sustainability at at ISU and while we're just having fun, right, we're getting ready to cheer on the Redbirds and having fun at a tailgate and, but we're doing it in a super responsible way. And the students have been such a great model for that. And that committee has really helped to, you know, show our campus how you can have fun, but still be responsible with what you're consuming and how you're discarding it. So that's been a great committee for students to be involved with. We have several others sustainable state horticulture club, brown boots, which is another newer organization on campus for hiking and getting outdoors. And so there's yeah, there's just so much and it's very exciting to see the students come up with these ideas and the cleanup events. Student Environmental Health Association is hosting a big cleanup for Earth Day. So they're very active and we can barely keep up with them. It's really exciting.

John Twork  24:30  
I mean, it all sounds so impressive. Can you provide a from your vantage point--How Illinois State is distinguishing itself? It seems like Illinois State is distinguishing itself. How are you distinguishing yourself in this office as a sustainability leader?

Elisabeth Reed  24:49  
Yeah. So there are different ways that we can do that through some reporting mechanisms. Right now. You know, after COVID It was just you know, really tough to get kind of back in the groove with the students engaged in. So now we kind of feel like we've hit that, you know, a good pace now. And so we can start to look at more reporting now that we're kind of back in gear with the students and events and activities that we're doing. So one of the things that's very exciting as this this time of year is, with Arbor Day coming up at the end of April, we are a certified Tree Campus, higher education, certified Tree Campus, higher ed, which is very, that kind of a mouthful for meaning that we really take our, you know, our campus, the trees and the arboretum and our grounds. We treat it with, you know, the utmost of care and are constantly wanting to, you know, plant more trees and think about the canopy in that way. We've also, it's exciting just to Bloomington-Normal that Bloomington is a Tree City, the town of normal is a Tree City. And so we can work together with each of those groups as well to, to you know, better ourselves. The other thing that we we do a lot is participating in different conferences and showcasing what we're doing. So we look forward to doing that in the fall. And there are some different ratings and things that kind of go along with that. And we'll be submitting those reports as well.

John Twork  26:30  
So for our listeners, across the country, many alumni listen to the Redbird Buzz, they might think that all of this sounds really exciting, but it's really far from wherever they're at. But can you provide some some insight as to how anyone anywhere, whether you're right here on campus, or in California or across, in a different continent can potentially incorporate sustainable practices into their, into their lives to make an impact?

Elisabeth Reed  27:02  
Yeah, sure. One of the things that we can just start to do is, it's just being aware of kind of what we're consuming, you know, our lives are so busy and hectic, and we're just kind of go about things. And this is the way I've done it kind of mode, in many ways of maybe kind of taking an audit of your choices, this can look like just looking at the labels of the clothing in your closet to see what they're made of and who who made your clothes, you know, asking some of those questions. We do that a lot of the grocery store, you know, wanting to look about, you know, our local supporting local farmers and those types of things. What about some of the other products that we purchase? And where did they come from? How far did they take to get there, and then, you know, trying to think about and maybe a better way, a better solution. And as we mentioned before, shopping sustainably or, you know, shopping sustainability sustainably doesn't need to be, you know, expensive, it can just be secondhand. So, yeah, and that can be one way. So just kind of auditing, auditing some of our behaviors and then incorporating some things like composting, even if you live you know, we tell our students that if they are living in an apartment or in even the residence hall, that type of thing and their roommates like Oh, that's gross, I don't want to you know, if, if our students can compost and others can as well kind of idea that what one of the things that we recommend for them to do is to compost in their freezer. And so you can easily put a you know, paper bag or something like that in your freezer to start kind of a compost bin. So even if you're in an apartment or a city sort of space like that, and so then you can take that compost if you have that opportunity to be able to compost in your community to take that you know, the the compost from your freezer and just dump it in the compost that your community offers. That might be an opportunity as well.

John Twork  28:54  
Very good tips. This all becomes kind of Top of Mind I think this time of year Earth Day is coming up on Saturday, April the 22nd. And it really is a good opportunity for folks to kind of take a step back and think about sustainability and think about our planet. Do you have any activities or even traditions that you would suggest folks consider in order to celebrate Earth Day?

Elisabeth Reed  29:21  
Yeah, I think get outside get outside and enjoy Mother Nature even if it's whatever the weather is right enjoy it for what what it is and what the earth gives us every day. I think being outside on Earth Day is one of the just just enjoying and saying thank you and being grateful for the air we breathe and the water we drink and the soil that we're standing on. So if there is an act you know as far as planting a tree or working on your garden that day or just taking a walk and you know admiring the birds or whatever and yeah, go hug a tree right

John Twork  30:00  
There's not a better time of year to deal with them right now. That's for sure. Elizabeth Reed, the Director of the Office of Sustainability has been our guest today. Elizabeth, before we let you go, I expect that a lot of our listeners, some may have not even known that this office existed others might be really familiar with it, but but for anyone who wants to get connected, what what's a great way for them to get connected with the office? 

Elisabeth Reed  30:24  
Sure, well, we over the last year or two, we've completely redesigned our website. So it is up to date and has lots of great information. So you have the time, I encourage you to just you know, hop onto our website, sustainability.Illinoisstate.edu. And check out all the different programs. There are some links on there about ways to get involved as well. And our social media is fairly active as well. So it's on Instagram or Facebook,  SustainISU, along with Fix It Friday in the share shop. Those have some great social media pages too. So those are some fun ways to kind of stay engaged with us.

John Twork  30:56  
I suspect for listeners who are within the Bloomington Normal area, they might want to know how they could donate to the share shop. Is that a possibility?

Elisabeth Reed  31:05  
Sure, absolutely. Especially Redbird apparel we're always looking for. They have some items like that so you can donate to our office. We're located at 305 North School Street. And Monday through Friday, 8 to 4:30 donate, you know, any items there and we'll put them in the shop.

John Twork  31:23  
Wonderful. Elisabeth Reed, thank you so much for your time. Happy Earth Day.

Elisabeth Reed  31:30  
Happy Earth Month, Year, everything Earth Day is every day at ISU.

John Twork  31:34  
I'm gonna go hug a tree now and enjoy the beautiful, the beautiful world we live in. Thank you Elisabeth. Thank you

that was Elisabeth Reed the Director of the Office of Sustainability at Illinois State University. For more information visit sustainability dot Illinois state dot edu. Thanks for listening to Redbird Buzz and be sure to tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad

Transcribed by https://otter.ai