FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stanford Wins Inaugural Green Bowl Sustainability Contest
Two undergraduates from Stanford University, Isha Kalia and Anushka Vijay, took first place in Green Bowl, a university sustainability competition patterned after the college national football championship. Second place went to Julia Kelly of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
Student teams collected observations and prepared a ten-minute presentation on an institution’s environmental sustainability — the positive, negative and high-priority opportunities for improvement — addressing CO2 emissions, food production, waste, water and educational programs.
The contest was judged by 14 diverse experts in sustainability from across the country, including Gifford and Libba Pinchot, founders of the first MBA program in sustainability, Marissa Rosen, founder of Climate Social and Chris Gassman from University of Pittsburgh's Center for Sustainable Business.
"Our goal is to give students a stronger voice, to connect the passionate with the powerful for the planet," explains Dr. Glenn Hallam (Stanford Class of ‘84), who organized the contest.
Other key organizers and judges were Alina Halstenberg and Viola Phillips Frank, student sustainability leaders from UC Berkeley.
“As much as it pains me, I had to vote for Stanford,” says Frank, a sophomore at Cal.
One component of the contest was crowdsourcing observations about sustainability, using an application called Green Pin (on iOS and Android). Contestants also provided “honest statistics” — data that speaks truth about an organization and can counter greenwashing — misleading claims about an organization’s impact.
16 universities completed nationwide.Other finalists included University of Oregon, Georgetown University, Carnegie Mellon and UC Santa Barbara. The team from Carnegie Mellon assessed Apple, Inc. while a team from UC Santa Barbara focused on Starbucks Coffee. Most of the other teams, including the winning teams, Stanford and RPI, focused on their universities.
Says Hallam, "Our vision is that one day talented students battle for the future of the planet with the same support and tenacity as elite athletes battling for a national championship.”
Winning contestant, Isha Kalia adds, “I’m excited to see where this competition goes and look forward to seeing students continue the fight.”
Contact Dr. Glenn Hallam