Green Teams Program

What is a Green Team?

Green Teams are groups of faculty, staff, and students volunteering to take specific actions to help their organization (college, department, building, etc.) operate in a more efficient, innovative, and healthy way. Typically, Green Teams focus on making their operations more sustainable through the easy to follow Green Paws Program and other initiatives unique to their departments. Currently, the University has 116 Green Teams, with 33 of them at the Commonwealth Campuses, operating in various departments.

The Sustainability Institute sponsors the Green Team program and supports it with information, resources, and training. What initiatives are these teams working on? Check out the success pages.

See the tabs above for more on forming your own Green Team, signing up for an orientation session, learning resources, and locating a team in your unit. For more information contact Lydia Vandenbergh at (814) 863-4893.

Benefits

The ability to work with co-workers to make positive change:

• It's more effective (and more fun!) to work with others
• Connection to 116 Green Teams and more than 1,000 members around Penn State
• Bring recognition to your unit for having a Green Team
• Invitation to annual Green Team lunches and special training sessions
• Access to the best and latest information, resources, events and news available from the Sustainability Institute that can help you and your Green Team succeed.  Everyone on our list gets regular updates and announcements from our office via our AIR Newsletter for Green Teams specifically.

How to Form a Green Team

• Identify co-workers who would be interested in working on greening your area.
• Contact Lydia Vandenbergh to set up an orientation meeting or sign up for any of the monthly sessions available through Adobe Connect or in person. 
• Obtain a Letter of Support from the Leadership in your office
  • Getting support from those in leadership roles can boost morale and promote the credibility of your team. Ask your Office Head/Program Director to write a letter in support of the formation of your Green Team. Be sure to share the letter with your fellow Green Team members and mail or email a copy to Lydia Vandenbergh, 108 Land and Water Research Building.
  • You can use this draft letter as a tool to create your own personalized request for leadership support.
  • Check out this example letter written by Penn State Dubois' Chancellor supporting her Green Team's efforts.

    

• Expand your team!
  • Invite more co-workers to join your team using this sample invitation.
  • Include a copy of the letter of support from your supervisor along with the invitations to join the team.
  • You can also post this flyer somewhere in your office to market your team.
• Complete the Green Team Registration Form. Officially registering can help us to help you!
• Contact Lydia Vandenbergh to collaborate on organizing your first meeting.
  • Invite coworkers to your meeting using the sample meeting invitation with the meeting time.
  • You can also use these tips for meetings and sample agendas.

Update Information

To ensure that we provide your Green Team with the most accurate and up-to-date information, we ask that you let us know if there are any changes to your existing team. Please use this form to update the following:

• Green Team Name
• Green Team Leader Information
• Green Team Member Information
• Green Team Contact Information

Green Team Resources

Green Teams are on the front lines of learning about sustainability, engaging others in that pursuit, and celebrating success. The Sustainability Institute has compiled a variety of tools to help teams build awareness about sustainability issues, inspire others to take an interest and change behaviors and how to communicate these ideas with others. Several of the ideas were created by teams and we will continue adding new resources as they are developed.

Orientations and General Resources

Resources by Category

Existing Teams

Green Teams at Commonwealth Campuses

Green Teams at University Park