November 11, 2020

The Susquehanna University team that participated in the worldwide People’s EcoChallenge finished seventh among 467 teams worldwide.

Seventy students, faculty and staff members made up the SU Sustainability Warriors – nearly the smallest team among the challenge’s top 10 point-earners — which included multiple teams from Hewlett Packard.

EcoChallenge is an international event to raise awareness about the impact humans have on the environment and the power of collective action.

“What I really like about the EcoChallenge is that participants take on individual actions, but we compete as a team,” said Derek Martin, sustainability coordinator at Susquehanna. “It demonstrates the impact small changes in behavior can have when we all do it together.”

The SU Sustainability Warriors collectively:

  • Saved 1,166 pounds of carbon dioxide.
  • Avoided 204 miles of car travel.
  • Watched 13 environmental documentaries.
  • Engaged in 30 conversations about sustainability.
  • Ate 356 meatless or vegan meals.
  • Enjoyed 7,495 minutes outside.
  • Saved 2,172 gallons of water.
  • Prevented 378 plastic bottles, 422 plastic containers and 210 plastic straws from ending up in a landfill.

This was the university’s third consecutive year competing in the People’s EcoChallenge.