Week Twelve of Theo's internship with Sustainable Princeton

The twelfth and final week of my summer internship at Sustainable Princeton was quite slow yet very fruitful. As Christine and I set up the first two of the new drop off points for the BYOB plastic film recycling program at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Princeton and the All Saints Church in Princeton. Other than that, I mostly helped out with smaller things that could easily be completed within the time frame of a week such as setting up events on the Sustainable Princeton Facebook page so people know about the events. 

Overall this internship has been a fantastic experience for me and I have learned a lot of different things in terms of what metrics and measures are used on the ground for sustainability in New Jersey, how to run a vehicle inventory analysis, and how to coordinate with both other non-governmental organizations and local governments among other things. Additionally I have gained experience doing actual policy related sustainability work in terms of my Vehicle Fleet Analysis for Princeton's Sustainable Jersey certification and my work on the application for an energy audit for key Municipal buildings in Princeton. 

Finally I would like to thank Christine and Molly from Sustainable Princeton for giving me this great learning opportunity. I have truly gained a lot from it and I hope that I have contributed just as much as I've gained from Sustainable Princeton. It has truly been an amazing twelve weeks.

Week Eleven of Theo's internship with Sustainable Princeton

The eleventh week of my summer internship at Sustainable Princeton began with me continuing my work on the local government energy audit program (LGEA) as I was finally able to acquire the necessary gas and electrical bills for both the Department of Public Works building and one of the three firehouses in Princeton. Unfortunately, we still haven’t been able to find the required gas and electrical bills for the municipal building housing both the Recreation Department and the Information Technology Department either online or in the Municipality of Princeton’s records. Thus, our only option now is to request paper copies for the past twenty-four months from the utility company PSE&G and hope they get here before my internship is completed. Sadly, this not only means that I wasn’t able to complete the audit application this week but I might not be able to complete it over the course of this internship.

On the BYOB plastic film recycling front, however things are steadily nearing completion. This week I have been following up with the contacts at each of the nine potential drop off locations to schedule a twenty to thirty minute meeting for next week on what the bins are for, what can and can’t go in them, where to drop them off when they get full and so on. 

For the twelfth and final week of my internship I hope to both finish the LGEA energy audit application if I can get the bills in time and meet with our various contacts throughout the week and finalize things on the plastic film recycling front. Overall, this was a wonderful week and it is hard to believe there is only one week left in my internship. It’s been a wonderful experience for me as I feel I’ve not only learned a lot but also given back in a meaningful way to the community that I grew up in!