After years of leadership in the academic study of the environment, the University is now seeking to move ahead in the arena of environmental practice.

Harvard has undertaken a new initiative, named Greening the Crimson (GTC), to unify the University effort to make Harvard committed to "environmental sustainability."

Leaders of the initiative, which was an outgrowth of the already-established University Committee on the Environment, say GTC will initially focus on two significant changes: the establishment of an interest-free loan fund for environmentally-beneficial renovation and the effort to include green concerns in large-scale University planning.

"The quest is about empowering the organization [Harvard] to undertake continuous improvement," says the Coordinator of GTC initiative Leith Sharp. She says that the new program has the potential to be "quite transformational."

Sharp is currently creating a proposal to be submitted to Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 next month on the specific actions the initiative will take over the next few years to advance this mission.

Getting everybody together

While Harvard has put environmental concerns at the top of the list for years, according to Tom E. Vautin, associate vice president for facilities and environmental services, up until now these efforts have lacked some broad University-wide plan.

And these past efforts have often been made without participation or cooperation with students or faculty members. GTC, however, has pledged to "engage and involve the Harvard community of Faculty, students and administrators."