Scripps’ Office of Sustainability will award up to $2,000 for students’ sustainability projects (Naomi Friedman, left)
By Tess Miller ‘27
College campuses are some of the best places to advance sustainable practices—and Scripps is no exception. Recently, the College launched its Green Initiative Fund (previously called the Innovation and Sustainability Fund), to provide students up to $2,000 to fund sustainability projects on campus.
“This fund was created to support student leadership and offer resources to help them implement projects themselves,” says Naomi Friedman, sustainability coordinator at Scripps. Bon Appétit, the College’s dining partner, helped establish the fund and contributes to it annually. Scripps donors also can support the fund to create more opportunities for students to flex their creative muscles to promote sustainability.
For years, Scripps has made strides toward becoming a more sustainable campus. In 2008, President Lori Bettison-Varga created the Presidential Advisory Council on Sustainability, which is now the Sustainability Committee. Over the next decade, the College introduced new initiatives, such as the Green Bike Program, which allows students, faculty, and staff to rent bikes on a 24-hour basis and provides a raffle where students can win a bike to use throughout the academic year. Scripps Scrapps, launched in 2017, encourages students to donate dorm items to promote reuse and decrease waste, and the campus olive harvest invites the Scripps community to collect the olives from the campus trees to make Scripps College Olive Oil. Additionally, Scripps has revived publishing its annual sustainability report to track progress toward carbon neutrality.
“Climate change is already impacting our campus,” Friedman says. “Anything that we can do to mitigate effects or adapt to changes is so important for Scripps’ longevity and to ensure that future students have the best planet that they can.”
A mechanism for student leadership at Scripps
Students have a significant influence on campus sustainability efforts. In addition to the Green Bike Program, Scripps Scrapps, and the Olive Harvest—all of which included student leadership—every year Scripps hosts the Sustainability Fair to connect clubs, organizations, and departments from The Claremont Colleges that focus on sustainability. Not only does the fair bring the Scripps community together, says Friedman, it also inspires students, faculty, and staff to establish their own sustainable practices on campus.
Student clubs like Scripps Scrapps have a long history of leading campus sustainability initiatives
“Colleges are great places to innovate and try to find creative solutions for the climate crisis,” Friedman points out. “No one knows the Scripps College campus like the people who live and study here every day. [They] can use that intimate understanding of campus to develop creative, innovative solutions to help make Scripps a more sustainable place.”
These collaborations are only one of the many reasons college campuses like Scripps are incubators for earth-conscious practices. Here, students can share outcomes from their sustainability projects with peers and other institutions to expand their impact. Access to funding is another benefit, allowing students to experiment with theories in a low-stakes, high-impact environment.
“Students are why we’re here, so I try to meet with them to understand the issues they’re seeing and discuss proposed solutions. They have a great influence on what I prioritize,” adds Friedman. “As Scripps invests more in student-led sustainability practices, it empowers everyone in our community, including students and faculty, to get involved. That’s really exciting!”
Scripps College’s 2025 Day of Giving is raising support for sustainability initiatives! Visit the campaign site to make a gift.