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imageDispatches from the Smart & Sustainable Campuses Conference

University of Maryland
April 18th-19th 2007

 

AASHE's staff participated in the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference at the University of Maryland.  During the conference, Sam Hummel journaled some of the ideas presented here.  The posts are in reverse-chronological order.  The most recent entries are at the top.

Plenary: Wrap-up and Next Steps
Afternoon, April 18th

Peggy Bagnoli has run the EPA's College and University Sector program for many years.  She gave a re-cap of the growth of the Smart & Sustainable Campuses Conference and the growth of the campus sustainability movement in general. 

EPA has a number of new campus environmental initiatives as well as 19 on-going voluntary and free partnership programs.  Call them up!  Take advantage of them!  They can bring your campus free marketing and recognition.  One new program is the Campus Environmental Resource Center website that is being developed under an EPA grant to NACUBO.  Another new resource is EPA is developing is a Smart Growth Primer.

After Peggy's talk, it was announced that she is changing to a job in the EPA where she will not be working with colleges and universities any more.  In an emotional tribute, Peggy's many contributions were recognized with high praise, a framed and signed copy of the conference poster and many hugs.

Plenary: Sustainability Coordinators' Perspectives on a Sustainable Campus
Lunch, April 18th

Matthew St. Clair
Sustainability Specialist
University of California's Office of the President

Nan Jenks-Jay
Dean of Environmental Affairs
Middlebury College

Dave Newport
Director, Environmental Center
University of Colorado, Boulder

They go by a lot of names: "sustainability manager", "sustainability director", "sustainability coordinator."  Whatever the title, the last few years have seen an explosion in the creation and hiring of people in these positions on campuses in the US and Canada. 

Sustainability Coordinator positions are very important for connecting the dots around campus.  But beyond connecting people across departments and silos, they provide leadership and vision.  They also help members of the campus community maintain a global perspective, bursting the bubbles we often create by talking about global warming, interdependency, and upstream and downstream impacts. 

Schools demonstrate their commitment to being a good member of the ecological community by hiring and empowering a sustainability coordinator.

One challenge is balancing the desire to have the sustainability coordinator position pay for itself in savings and the recognization that sustainability coordinators produce value, such as education, that can't be monetized.

One thing Middlebury has found is that reaching out to alumni generates a tremendous amount of goodwill.  The Middlebury sustainability coordinator speaks at alumni weekends and writes to alumni throughout the year.  The response has been fantastic. 

Nan Jenks-Jay argued that sustainability coordinators should not be afraid of talking to their trustees about sustainability.  She said that the corporate world is actually ahead on a number of sustainability issues and the members of the boards come from that world.

Something that also has worked well at Middlebury has been trusting students to learn, participate and lead on these issues.  They've put students on committees and let them present to the trustees.  This has increased the excitement on campus for everyone, students, faculty and staff.  

Dave Newport seconded this by saying that students have taught him the most important lessons he has learned.  He recounted the work experience that led him to his current position, highlighting the important leadership students took in that work.  He encouraged the audience to "pay attention to the students" and seek to understand the wisdom they can offer.

It is important that sustainability coordinators be good communicators.  It is also important that they be willing to "give the credit away."  Their role is to facilitate everyone doing the work, not to take credit for the work.  

Plenary: Breaking Down the Barriers to Sustainability to Sustainability on Campus
Morning, April 18th

Tom Kimmerer
Executive Director
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

Tom tracked the environmental and community impacts of growing, buying and drinking a cup of coffee.  He used it as an example of the global interdependence that characterizes sustainability, and warned that small changes in one area can have impacts that we cannot predict in other areas. 

Bringing the idea of interdependence to campuses, he discussed the need for all sectors of campus communities to cooperate in the sustainability effort.  In particular, he identified several institutional barriers to that kind of cooperation. 

The first barrier he discussed is the "landlord - tentant" relationship between the operations and academic sides of campuses.  On too many campuses, the students and faculty pursue education within facilities without having any deep relationship with the construction, maintenance and operation of those facilities.  This is unfortunate because there is a tremendous amount to be learned by treating the university facilities as a classroom.  Tom gave examples of schools, such as Norther Arizona University, Berea College and Oberline College, that are discovering huge benefits in breaking down the barrier between the operational and educational departments.

A second major barrier Tom discussed is the relationship between campuses and their suppliers.  Right now, most schools get products and services through detailed purchase orders.  Tom gave examples from several schools that are pursuing more collaborative relationships with suppliers in order to extend producer responsibility.  In particular, some schools are finding success with the use of requests for proposals (RFPs).  In RFPs, the schools define the need they have and let producers compete to propose the best product or service solution for their need.  

He wrapped up by plugging the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

Plenary: Climate Change and the Bottom Line: Smart Investing in a Low-carbon Future
Evening, April 17th

Mindy Lubber
Executive Director
Ceres

She opened by arguing that global warming is the most pressing sustainability issue facing us. 

She described the wide range of activism happening aroung global warming and compared it to the Vietnam anti-war movement. 

She explained that in her work with Ceres she advises investing firms who understand that global warming is a major risk factor that they need to take into account with their trillions of dollars in investments.

She described how Citigroup and Morgan-Stanley are realigning their investments and real estate portfolios to consider climate risk.  The NY Stock Exchange is now taking up the issue.  Public-employee funds are making it an investment criteria. 

But, we can't ask other countries to act unless we act here in the US.  (Because we are the largest consumer of energy in the world, we have no legitimacy with countries like India and China who are planning 500 new coal-fired power plants.)  Higher education is a key player in getting the US to act.  However, we need action throughout society, from business to education to government.  And, it must be bold action.  She named the ACUPCC as an example of the kind of bold action we need.

Q&A:

What is a specific example of the new kind of investments the large investers are making?

Energy efficiency is a good example of something that is getting a lot more investment.  Biofuels and wind farms are also getting a huge amount of money.  The million roofs program is driving big investment in solar.  A lot of money is going into carbon sequestration and clean-coal technology.  She would argue that there are more dollars available right now than there are good projects right now.   

Do you see nuclear power playing a large role in reducing carbon?

Until we solve the waste storage, we need to be cautious moving forward.  Also, we need to make sure the financial incentives are in the right place first.  Energy efficiency and renewables need to be getting equal incentives.  But, nuclear is definitely something that seems to be back on the table.

 

Award Ceremony: 2006 College and University Green Power Challenge and Recyclemania
Dinner, April 17th

EPA Green Power Awards

Colleges and universities are leading the way on voluntary green power purchasing, buying more than 1 billion kWhs of clean, renewable energy last year. .

This year, EPA Green Power Partners program decided to recognize the largest green power purchasers in each athletic conference in order to inspire competition between schools.  The conference champions recognized as winners tonight were (ordered by largest total conference purchase):

University of Pennsylvania Ivy League  
New York University University Athletic Association  
Pennsylvania State University Big Ten Conference  
Duke University Atlantic Coast Conference  
University of California, Santa Cruz Ass. of Div. III Independents  
Connecticut College New England Small College Athletic Conference  
Western Washington University Great Northwest Athletic Conference  
University of Utah Mountain West Conference  
University of Central Oklahoma Lone Star Conference  
Syracuse University Big East Conference  
University of Washington Pac-10 Conference  
Evergreen State College Cascade Collegiate Conference  
Oberlin College North Coast Athletic Conference  
University at Buffalo Mid-American Conference  
University of Colorado, Boulder Big 12 Conference  
Rowan University New Jersey Athletic Conference  

The Ivy League conference purchased the most green power, thanks to three schools: University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Yale University. 

Recyclemania Awards

Recyclemania is a campus vs campus recycling competition.

Grand Champion  - source reduction and recycling

California State, San Marcos

Per Capita Classic - amount of recyclables collected per person

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

Waste Minimization  - least waste per person

University of Texas at Austin

Most Tons Recycled Overall  -  highest gross tonnage

Rutgers University

 

Workshop: Fostering Student Involvement in Campus Sustainability
Thursday morning, April 17th

Paul Roby and Sarah O'Neill
Castleton College

Civic engagement is a big focus at Castleton College. The biggest civic engagement project on campus is their Green Campus Initiative which is student led.

Started in 2005 as a service-learning project in a class. They started with recycling.  The students collected data on student attitudes towards recycling, studied what percentage of trash could be recycled and ran a recycling collection pilot. The students then took their information to the administration and got their buy-in to implement a recycling program, including composting.

This is a success story of letting students learn and lead in their own community. It was also the first project on campus that broke down many of the operational and academic silos on campus. The stakeholder engagement was wide and important. BUT, they made a big mistake in that they overlooked the custodial staff in their stakeholder engagement process! Fortunately, they were able to overcome that problem.

Since the start of the program, they have integrated it into the Civic Engagement program, with students performing many of the services required to make the recycling program work. Besides involving the students in their community, it also is important because it allows students to see the fruits of their labor. Students continue to participate in on-going data collection, reporting and program reviews. The data shows the program has been a tremendous success: saving money, reducing litter and providing meaningful civic engagement for students.

The administration has now adopted the idea of expanding sustainability on campus. There is now a Sustainability Work Group and speaker series. And, the college is considering adding sustainability to its mission statement.

Claire Roby
Eco-Sense
American University

American University (AU) has a number of projects going on that are led by the Eco-Sense student group. A highlight: they passed a clean energy referendum raising student fees to pay for renewable energy projects.

Claire encouraged staff and administrators in the audience to work with students.  She said it is important because students are energetic, are politically active, are cheap to employ and real-world problem-solving helps them build their resumes and learn new skills.

Staff can empower students by seeking their input, making themselves available to students and helping them understand campus operations and decision-making processes. Staff need to be patient with the regular turnover in the student body. Having a committed sustainability coordinator can make a big difference.

Students need resources. Faculty and staff can make a big difference by helping with publicity, hiring students for campus sustainability internships, funding travel to conferences. At AU, turning over small revenue-making operations, such as battery and cellphone recycling, has providing much-needed funds for the student groups.

Clair's take-away message: Look for ways to incorporate students in your daily tasks!

Plenary: Leadership Perspectives from Successful Sustainability Programs 
Lunchtime, April 17th

Tony Cortese, President of Second Nature, moderated the session. He opened with an overview of the growth in the campus sustainability movement, including the creation of AASHE and the ACUPCC. 


Larry Shin
President
Berea College 

At Berea College, began with support at the top (administration) and at the bottom (students) and they had to work towards each other, winning over the middle (the faculty and staff). 

Began in 1994

  • No Environmental Studies Program
  • No green buildings, renovations or maintenance standards

Now:

  • “Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program”
  • Ecological maintenance standards
  • LEED Silver renovation standard
  • Ecovillage
  • New efficient heat plant
  • On path to achieve a 45% energy reduction by 2010

Berea did it by:

  • Educating at all levels
  • Seeking expert guidance
  • Requiring leadership from all constituencies
  • Planning then experimenting
  • Being patient

Guiding ethic: “We live upstream from future generations.”

He then ran through some concrete examples of projects. Mostly building projects. A few highlights:

  • Set thermostats at 78 degrees in the summer. They get the feeling of 72 degrees because they have ceiling fans circulating the air in every room. The savings on AC are “enormous.”
  • 3 to 4 months a year, they neither heat or cool the buildings. There is a green light in the buildings that let occupants know they need to use passive methods for getting comfortable: putting on or taking off clothes, turning on fans, opening windows, etc…

Anne Papageorge
Vice President, Facilities and Real Estate Services
University of Pennsylvania

She inventoried a number of UPenn's sustainability accomplishments. Energy efficiency. Physical plant. High performance building. Landscaping. Waste minimization. Student collaboration. And more...  Great slides.  Contact her and she'll probably give you a copy of them.

David Hales
President
College of the Atlantic

He asked: "What is the moral responsibility of higher education?"

He said we face threats from poverty, violence (perpetrated by states and individuals), climate change and, more fundamentally, sustainability. He believes our society is under-prepared for the sustainability challenge. Higher education must prepare leaders to understand the challenge and step up to it.

In order to do that, he believes we have to have inclusive decision-making and continuous learning. For example, at College of the Atlantic trustees have a final legal role, but students, faculty, staff and alumni are all involved in formulating the community and education plan. Therefore, College of the Atlantic 's “Net Zero” emissions commitment was made by the community and all parts of the community are involved in implementing it.

He argued that this generation has all the will, wealth and technology to deliver on “realistic expectations” for a just and sustainable world.

Q&A:

What do you do if you are working on a campus where the leaders don't get it?

David Hales: Meet people where they are. Start with the science, because the moral arguments aren't going to convince a lot of people. We have to be incredibly rigorous in the arguments we use. And, be passionate.

Tony Cortese: We don't have to be the people to deliver the message. Find a spokesperson that will be respected by the person you are trying to convince. Arrange for them to speak with your campus leaders.

Where is the financing coming from?

Larry Shin: We've re-ordered our priorities. Everyone is participating in doing the work: students, staff, faculty. And, a large percentage of our savings come from behavior change. We are moving resources to the place where they will have the biggest impact.

How does the intrinsic value of nature (the birds and the fish) fit into sustainability?

Tony Cortese: We have to get away from the assumption in our culture that humans are separate from nature. That is deep in our culture, the idea that we are supposed to dominate nature. That is not in keeping with nature. We need to have some humility about our place on the planet. So, we need a deep cultural transformation.

Workshop: Smart Growth
Morning, April 17th

Matthew Dalbey,
Environmental Protection Agency

Colleges and Universities spent $14.5 billion on construction in ‘05.  Much focus has been put on high performance buildings but not as much on planning.  Planning where you build and how you treat the space between buildings is as important as how you build (LEED, ENERGY STAR Certified, etc).

Good Ideas:

  • Building around walking, rather than roads (i.e. placing things within a 5 minute walk of activity centers like the student union)
  • Building mixed-use, rather than segregating functions
  • Integrate with place

He explained that there are two primary campus models: Campus in a city. Campus in a landscape.  He proposed that there should be a 3rd model: Campus tied to a place.

Benefits from tying our campuses into the community and landscapes around them are better quality of life, environment, student and faculty recruitment, and lower infrastructure and operating costs.

Bob Kitamura, AIA
Director & University Architect
California Polytechnic State University

CPSU as a smart growth case study...

When master planning in 1990, CPSU adopted smart growth principles and decided to partner with the community when doing campus planning (“which was the scariest thing”).

Through stakeholder engagement they discovered a lot of synergies and ways to grow that were healthy for the community in addition to being good for the environment.

They found that adopting principles (environmental, residential, community, circulation, etc) helped them to keep their promises to the stakeholders.  He went through many of the principles they commit to.

A big key has been staying accountable through constant monitoring.  They spent a lot of money on metering and regularly review indicator data.

They found that doing “green” design in the buildings is actually the easiest part.  The harder part was all the work to integrate landscape, nature, circulation, utilities and community.

The master plan has been a huge success.  He gave a number of indicators, such as a 15% reduction in commuter traffic.  They are now in the process of updating the master plan.

He said, “We proved that economic realities and smart, environmentally-friendly growth are compatible.”

Suzanne Poohkay
University of British Columbia

Suzanne explained that many campuses knock down old buildings in order to build new ones, rather than renovating the old ones. There is a belief that bringing the old ones up to modern academic and research standards would cost more than building a new one.  According to Suzanne, this is wrong.  UBC's RENEW program renovates old buildings to state-of-the-art for at most 67% of the cost of a new building. Sometimes they bring them up to state-of-the-art for as low as 40% of the cost of a new building.

Because they save about 30% when bringing old buildings up to new-building perfromance, their slogan is “Every third building is free.”

The RENEW program is significantly lowering UBC's $320 million deferred maintenance backlog.

The renovated buildings are all LEED silver certified or higher. A renovation takes 8 to 10 months while a new building takes 16 to 20 months to build.  So, the program saves time, money, materials, construction waste and energy!!

They have finished Phase 1 of the RENEW program.  In Phase 1, they upgraded 10 old buildings to state-of-the-art, saved $166 million dollars and established themselves as a campus sustainability model in Canada.

 

Plenary: "Contract With Our Future"
Morning, April 17th

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Author and Environmental Activist

He enumerated the ways in which the Bush administration has systematically undermined environmental regulations.  He pointed out that these environmental regulations are not just about protecting the spotted owl... they also protect our health and our economy from polluters and corporations out to make a quick buck. He argued that this administration has been so bad for the environment that condemnation of their record is fully bipartisan. He said he always works with Republicans and Democrats on environmental issues because the environment shouldn't be an issue that is only taken up by one party.

He argued that he believes a capitalist free-market is the best way to distribute resources, but that corporations have taken over the government and skewed the market rules.  In fact, he argued that in many cases what they are doing is illegal.  Rather, much of it was illegal before they got their cronies appointed to high offices in the government to re-write the rules.  He pointed out that the only legal responsibility corporations have is to make a profit, so they are doing what they are supposed to do.  The problem is that the government is failing to deliver on it's legal responsibility to protect the people by setting the boundaries within which corporations can seek profits.  He concluded by saying that the take-over of business by the government is "communism" and that the take-over of the government by business is "facism."  He warned that we are too close to facism and must get back to the narrow path between the two where business and government are separate.  

 

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