I am writing to thank letter writer Barbara Doughty of Portland, who asked for clarification regarding a reference to the use of water bottles in a recent story about Unity College (“Unity College should keep consistent in the details,” Sept. 17).

I want to thank Barbara for celebrating Unity’s sustainability mission, our affordable education for environmental leaders and our facilities designed with impact in mind. It’s good to know people are noticing what’s happening at Unity!

I would also like to offer clarification regarding the water President Melik Peter Khoury shared on move-in day. Let me assure you, we provided refreshment to new students, families, faculty and staff without distribution of harmful plastics.

Dr. Khoury and our student government president shared tap water and frozen treats from coolers on an electric cart during that warm August morning. Frozen treats had paper wrappers and wooden handles. Water went into personal bottles or paper cups. Perfect for our new anaerobic system.

We face many nontrivial resource challenges, including the use of fossil fuels to produce disposable water bottles. That’s why Unity distributes “Take Back the Tap” reusable bottles to students. That’s why Unity was the first college to divest its portfolio of fossil fuels. That’s why dining services diverts all food waste to AgriCycle Energy, an anaerobic processing facility, where it is converted into energy.

With over 600 guests on campus that day, Unity College only produced a single bag of refuse. We’re pretty proud of that.

Are we perfect? Not at all. But I invite Ms. Doughty to visit Unity College to see that we strive to be an exemplar of sustainability education for Maine, the nation and the world.

Thank you, Barbara, for caring enough to ask and for noticing the important work at Unity College.

Dr. John Zavodny

chief of staff, Unity College

Unity

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