Tracy Collins and Jillian Nitray

Credit: Gosia Sklodowska/Jon Chapman

Tracy Collins and Jillian Nitray work in the FAS Human Resources (HR) Department. Passionate about taking responsibility for the environment, they are looking forward to pushing their office further along in recycling and energy use. Their biggest concern is paper recycling, since their office uses lots of paper. In addition to requesting bigger blue bins, and ordering recycled content paper, they purchased 17 Smart Strips, which are power strips that stop drawing energy when computers are shut off.

Tracy and Jillian are also looking into promoting the use of green cleaning and bathroom paper products, switching to energy efficient hand dryers, posting signs that encourage making double-sided copies, distributing the Green Tip of the Month, and including efficiency and conservation on the agenda at staff meetings. Every new hire packet put together in the HR department includes a flyer about the FAS Green Program, greening office supplies, saving energy, and recycling, with a "Turn Me Off" sticker for computers attached.

Tracy is developing her awareness of environmental impacts because she wants her children's children to have a good earth in which to live. An animal lover with two cats, Jillian has found a new interest in the environment after crying in front of the TV watching a program about polar bears on Animal Planet. She realizes now that she "never really thought about it before." Upon taking a leave of absence, she turned her house green. Now she has all her appliances on power strips, uses green paper and cleaning products, saves paper and breaks down boxes to be recycled. Upon returning to work, Jillian asked her supervisor if she could spend some money to save energy and reduce waste.

Both Tracy and Jillian are excited about working with the Harvard community and learning more about how to reduce their ecological footprints at work.