Green Passport's Global Footprint Grant

The Green Passport Program (GP) would like to support students to study an aspect of sustainability while studying abroad. This type of grant, known as the Global Footprint Grant, has already been successfully implemented at Ithaca College and Middlebury College and can be easily tailored for your institution. Unfortunately, the GP is not in a position to offer funds for the grant at this point, but the hope is that institutions may be able to contribute $500 - $1,000/year to assist their students in this initiative. Possible developments may allow for all grantees to be entered into a friendly competition, hosted by the GP, which would reward them in some way.


The Global Footprint Grant (GP-GF Grant) can be implemented by any institution in the manner outlined below. Provided to download is an Explanation of the Grant and Application Form and a Poster that can be easily revised for your institution and shared with your students.
GP-Global Footprint Grant.doc
Global Footprints Grant Poster.docx

For examples of past grantees and their projects, please see the links below.

http://www.ithaca.edu/oip/abroad_sustainability.htm
http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ump/sap/sustainable/grants.htm

If your institution chooses to offer the Global Footprint Grant, please let us know, so that we can highlight the work of your students and perhaps host a competition.

Steps to Implementation:

1) An institution/department/program provider agrees to budget a certain amount of money (minimum suggested would be $500-$1,000) to support a student to do sustainability research while overseas.

2) An application process and description of the grant is made available to students who will be studying overseas. Consider whether all students or only those enrolled on a semester or year long program will be considered eligible for the grant.

3) Students apply as per the guidelines proposed by the institution. It is encouraged for students to have on-campus mentors who are familiar with the aspect of sustainability that the student proposes to research, as well as, when possible, an overseas mentor.

4) A student is selected. It is encouraged to allot half of the grant monies to the student before they travel abroad and to grant the remainder of the money upon successful completion of the research and re-entry onto their home campus where they are required to present their research findings in some manner. We would also be pleased to have student grantees submit material related to their research to the GP program upon completion.

5) The student is mentored while overseas by the home campus faculty/advisor and/or the overseas mentor and conducts the research.

6) The student returns to the home campus and presents the research and submits research results to the GP program.

7) In the future, the Green Passport Program may select the most outstanding grantee and will create an award, yet to be determined. Under consideration are donations from Heifer International, cash, travel related products, etc., as well as carbon offsetting of the student's trip. In order to implement such a 'competition' we need to know who is involved, so please contact us if this is you!

NOTES:
Students are asked to propose a research topic of study on the subject of sustainability that they can reasonably accomplish while overseas. Students are also asked to find a faculty member to assist them in organizing their research. [Students may also pursue the option to do their research as an independent study project to earn credit. The extra work and tuition necessary to do this will be the responsibility of the student.]

The grant application/proposal review can be done by an individual at the institution or by a by a committee composed of faculty, staff and/or administrators involved with sustainability. The grant recipient will be expected to conduct research on their chosen topic and to present it at a time and place agreed upon with the faculty mentor and/or institutional grant manager. Additionally, documentation of the research will be posted on the GP website.

The grant funds will be administered by the sponsoring organization with half of the funds given to the student before his/her departure, to assist him/her with research related costs. The remaining funds will be awarded after the student has completed their research and submitted documentation and completed their study abroad program.

The Green Passport Global Footprints Grant was developed in January 2007 by the Office of International Programs at Ithaca College as a Carbon Offsetting initiative, i.e. in order to offset the carbon generated by the necessary travels that OIP employees do every year. Carbon offsetting has gained much attention recently, as carbon pollution contributes significantly to global warming and thus threatens the sustainability of life on earth. In order to assist people to offset the carbon generated by their travels, businesses have developed that allow people to contribute funds, proportionate to the amount they travel, to projects that seek to reduce global warming (such as planting trees and developing alternative energy sources). Rather than pay money to an outside agency, the OIP decided to initiate its own carbon offsetting fund, by investing in their students, by educating them, and by giving them opportunities to educate others on the issues surrounding sustainability, in general. To learn more about carbon offsetting, visit http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbon_offset.html.

An ecological footprint is widely used as an indicator of environmental sustainability. It is commonly used to explore the sustainability of individual lifestyles in terms of their overall consumption patterns and uses of energy. A global footprint stresses the need to examine our combined footprints and/or to examine the effects of our own footprints on people and environments in other countries and cultures, thus the name of this grant. Visit http://www.footprintnetwork.org/ for more information.

Suggested Research topics:

Sustainability covers a wide array of fields. Sustainability topics would include anything that looks at ways of reducing the human impact on the global environment and on energy consumption. We are interested in students conducting research on what is being done overseas in terms of sustainability initiatives that could be useful information for students at their home campuses and elsewhere. Students are encouraged to work with themes with which they are already familiar in order to have a basis for comparison and a knowledge base from which to work. Examples may include:

1) What is the average home size in the country/community where you are? How are homes constructed? How does it compare to US home sizes and what are the implications for sustainability?
2) Are there particular communities or organizations that are working on sustainability initiatives? What do those initiatives look like and what can we learn from them?
3) Is there a consciousness of the need for energy conservation? How is this manifested and what could be done to change it?
4) What do the people in the country where you are studying eat and where does their food come? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
5) What does the health care system look like? Is there a traditional medicinal practice still in use? How does that practice depend on the natural environment and its conservation?
6) How are people in the country where you are studying generating power? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
7) How are media such as film, newspaper, theater, and/or music being used to educate about sustainability or the need for resource protection and conservation? How does that compare to the US?
8) What kinds of transportation do people use and how do they use it? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
9) What is the family structure like? How do families work together to consolidate resource use? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
10) What are innovative technologies that are being used in order to reduce energy consumption? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
11) Are children being educated about the need to be conscious of the earth’s carrying capacity and their role in caring for the earth? How does that compare to the US and what can be learned in terms of sustainability?
12) How are local businesses taking leadership in their community to educate about the need for sustainably produced products? How does that compare to the US?
13) What is the role of poverty, equality and justice in our ability to reach a sustainable global lifestyle? What do you see around you that can inform you of this?

Just about every major area of study can find related topics to study and/or ways that they can be helpful in communicating with others about sustainability themes.

Faculty Advisors:
It will be up to the student to locate a faculty member who can serve as their faculty advisor. The student will need to describe the Green Passport Global Footprints Grant to the faculty and ask for the necessary assistance, as well as a signature on the application form attesting to the fact that the faculty member agrees to be the grant advisor to that student. Faculty members are welcome to contact the Green Passport Program with any questions.