Sorry, Kermit, It IS Easy Being Green: A Summer Program Model for Sustainability Education in Veterinary Research

Global climate change negatively impacts human and animal health, a challenge that continues to grow. Veterinary students and professionals alike often care about the significant environmental impact of biomedical research and sustainability in general. However, time and appropriate resources often are lacking to drive change. Therefore, we implemented an experiential learning opportunity for students in a veterinary summer research program to equip students with the required knowledge and opportunities to promote sustainability efforts in their summer research environments. After completing an online training course introducing key principles of sustainable biomedical science, students proposed and assessed different ways to reduce their research group's environmental footprint. This program resulted in numerous benefits. First, students actively participated in improving their respective laboratory's sustainability efforts by proposing actions to their mentors and peers. Second, awareness in the broader College of Veterinary Medicine and Biochemical Sciences community spread, and senior colleagues were introduced to new ideas, leading to downstream sustainability improvements even after students concluded their research in their labs. Third, students were able to showcase their pride and engagement at conferences, in poster presentations, and on their professional resumes. As this program took relatively little effort to organize and maintain, we can only urge other veterinary colleges to pursue this opportunity.