Supporting Tower Hill’s Capabilities to Assess Environmental Impact

Authors: Giovanni Mannino; Jenna Currie; Eric Lopes

Advisors: Darren Rosbach; Laureen Elgert

Category: Undergraduate

Abstract/Description:
Sustainability is a term that houses a lot of different meanings, yet the most common is the term surrounding one’s impact on the environment, which is hard for institutions to maintain. Almost always, an institution’s sustainability is marked by their carbon footprint emissions and the goal of this project is to find a way to help Tower Hill Botanic Garden’s monitor and manage their carbon emissions and therefore their environmental impact. This was achieved in three steps:
-Establish indicators that are appropriate, useful, and relevant to the institution.
-Develop a tool based on these indicators to assess current, past, and future sustainability efforts.
-Implement and engage the staff and the public through use of the tool, and align current sustainability plans with other institutions similar to Tower Hill.
Through experience, which included guided tours and interviews, and research, we were able to undergo this plan and not only view Tower Hill’s carbon footprint emissions, but also view the change in emissions over time and show which sources serve as more impactful to the overall footprint. More research relayed back different recommendations for Tower Hill to lower their carbon emissions, and ultimately make them more sustainable.

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