Warren Wilson College 2008 Campus Sustainability Leadership Award Application

Category

Four-year and Graduate Institutions Under 1,000 Student FTE

Warren Wilson
Sustainability at WWC is expressed in a variety of ways. Here a student from on the Garden Crew works one of the College's draft horses, which are used primarily for forest logging and field tilling in order to reduce fossil fuel use Photographer: Stan Cross

Contact

Stan Cross
Education Director
Environmental Leadership Center
Warren Wilson College
Asheville, NC
(828) 771-3782
scross@warren-wilson.edu

Governance & Administration

WWC's Mission Statement reflects the institutional value of sustainability: The mission of WWC is to provide an education combining liberal arts study, work, and service with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility and experiential opportunities for international and cross-cultural understanding in a setting that promotes wisdom, spiritual growth, and contribution to the common good.

Staff Forum, the shared governance body of the College, approved the following statement as a formal commitment and it guides our sustainability ethos:One of the major factors that encourage students, faculty, volunteers, and staff to come to WWC is the perception that we are an active, participatory community that shares a deep commitment and a passionate concern for the health of our planet. We seek to display and honor that commitment and concern in the way we learn, the way we work, and the way we live. We are interested in conserving resources, reducing waste, and eliminating pollution, but our feelings extend deeper to a recognition that we are also component parts of an interdependent web of social and ecological relationships. The recognition of our membership in this ecological community leads us to reconsider our ideals, values, and organizing principles. Ours is a working landscape, rooted in a particular bioregion, and part of an interconnected, but limited, global commons. We recognize the need to exercise wise use of the resources of the global commons, and, at the same time, the need for a deep, aesthetic, spiritually-based involvement with the community that extends beyond the human inhabitants of WWC.

WWC formally approved "Pattern Languages" for purchasing, native wildlife and biodiversity, landscaping, and land use that provide guiding principles for sustainable practices.A summary of all formal commitments to sustainability can be read in full at http://www.warren-wilson.edu/environmental/sustainability/commitments.php.

  • WWC has an Environmental Leadership Center (ELC) to catalyze and provide resources for sustainability progress on campus. This department now reports directly to the President's Office.
  • WWC has just begun to undertake a STARS assessment (though not as an official school), to establish a baseline of its sustainable practices.
  • WWC has recently appointed the ELC Executive Director to serve as chief sustainability official for the College with a full seat on the President's Advisory Council - the body of deans and vice presidents that oversee all campus operations.
  • The President's Advisory Council adopted a sustainable decision making process in 2007 to guide its planning, thus grounding the growth and the development of the College in a commitment to sustainability.
  • Using trend data from annual Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the presidential-appointed Greenhouse Gas Emissions Task Force, made up of key campus stakeholder groups, has received preliminary approval for a reduction plan that will reduce emissions, implement behavior change programs, and investigate financial opportunities to drive the College's reduction commitment.
  • WWC has a presidential-appointed Local Foods Task Force that is developing a local foods plan for the College.

Operations

Warren Wilson College's sustainability commitments are actualized through the campus' operations. The College made these notable strides over the past two years:

  • The College’s Building Services Department became 100% GREENSEAL Certified. Facilities Management formally declared their commitment to sustainable practices. WWC completed its third annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
  • WWC Runner Up in National Wildlife Federation’s Chill Out Competition
  • The award recognizes WWC’s comprehensive climate plan, including its commitment to greenhouse gas emissions reductions and overall sustainability of the college.
  • Campus Recycling Award from Carolina Recycling Association
  • The award honors WWC for having a program