My focus

I hope all of your internships are going well so far!

The position I took on at Maricopa County Green Government Program was focused on a program called OffSET (Office Sustainability Empowerment Tool). The other intern and I were going to evaluate different county departments such as Flood Control, Environmental Services, Air Quality, Library District, Medical Examiner's Office, and Public Health among others and determine their sustainability efforts focusing on air, energy, waste, and transportation. We worked with a program the previous interns created that provided a checklist of what to look for when doing these assessments. There are three levels for these departments to complete along with certificate with the completion of each level. In addition, the standing of each department for OffSET is posted on the GGP website to show what each department has done and how much further it needs to go. We looked at how many lights were being used and what kind they are, how many plants offices had, how many offices had natural light capability, what is getting recycled, how employees get to work in terms of transportation, etc. Assessing these departments not only taught me about the efforts they are putting forward, but also the type of work they are doing and how they implement office sustainability into their everyday routines.