Why is sustainability at our 25th Reunion a concern?
- Like many large festivals, Reunions has a large environmental footprint. For example, alumni travel on average 1,900 miles round trip, which equates to a travel-related carbon footprint of ~7,900 tons of CO2 (comparable to the annual electricity use of 1,500 US homes).
- In addition, Reunions weekend generates a massive amount of landfill waste. The Greening Reunions Alumni Group (GRAWG) estimated that Reunions 2022 sent more than 320,000 single-use plastic cups to landfills and generated 110 tons of waste.
- If music festivals are developing roadmaps to reduce their environmental footprints, and sporting events like the WM Phoenix Open have gone zero waste; Reunions can make meaningful progress as well! We care about the future of the planet for ourselves and for our tiger cubs, and we want to do our part.
- If you’d like to learn more about the broader alumni efforts to make reunions more sustainable and communicate your support of these initiatives, check out the Greening Reunions site and their open letter to President Christopher Eisgruber.
