AASHE Home > Resource Center > Campus Profiles > CSU Chico 2006

California State University, Chico 2006 Campus Sustainability Achievement Award Application

Category

Four-year and graduate institutions over 10,000 student FTE

Contact

Jillian K. Buckholz
Sustainability Coordinator
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA
(530)898-4335
jbuckholz@csuchico.edu

Governance & Administration

Committees:

• Campus Conservation Committee (CCC)
  The CCC promotes awareness and participation through conservation and a variety of activities and projects including recycling, composting, material reuse, garbage compaction and waste reduction.
• Rawlins Endowed Professorship of Environmental Literacy Advisory Committee
  This advisory committee is comprised of community members and campus staff who are committed to the further development of the Environmental Literacy program and how to integrate environmental change throughout the campus and community.

Staff Positions:

• University Sustainability Coordinator
• Associated Students (AS) Sustainability Coordinator
• Bidwell Environmental Institute Environmental Programs Manager
• Ecological Reserves Manager
• Manager for the Built Environment, College of Engineering
• Director of Campus Sustainability for Business and Finance
• Rawlins Endowed Professorship of Environmental Literacy
• Provost and President who are committed to sustainability, please see attached article; http://www.aascu.org/public_purpose/july_august_06.pdf

Declarations:

• Signatory on the Talloires Declaration

Major Guiding Statements:

• Sustainability as the 6th Strategic Priority:
  "Believing that each generation owes something to those who follow, we will create environmentally literate citizens who embrace sustainability as a way of living. We will be wise stewards of scarce resources and, in seeking to develop the whole person, be aware that our individual and collective actions have economic, social, and environmental consequences."
• 2005 Master Plan states that "where possible, the campus will utilize construction materials that have been recycled, are made of renewable natural resources, minimize the use of non-renewable natural resources and minimize negative impacts upon the natural environment."

Organizational Memberships:

• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

Other:

• Student Groups with a sustainability focus:
• Community Legal Information Center (CLIC) Environmental Advocates Program
• Environmental Action and Resource Center (EARC)
• Environmental Affairs Council (EAC)
• Residence Hall's Environmental Ambassadors
• The Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus Program
• Seniors in Mechanical Engineering
• These students have constructed a mobile solar lab
• Plant Science Club

Operations

Energy:

• Facilities Management and Services:
• Thermal Energy Storage System, installed in 1992, allows the campus to decrease its electricity demand by 1.5 megawatts. The campus runs chillers in the evening when rates are low and then stores chilled water to be used the following day to cool university buildings.
• Installation of a photovoltaic array that will create 300 kilowatts of power on the roof of Acker Gym and Yolo Hall.
• The Green Campus Program:
• Initiated the first residence hall energy competition in the Spring 2006 semester between Shasta and Lassen residence halls.
• North State Renewable Energy (NSRE):
• NSRE is a non-profit organization that is a partnership with Chico State, government agencies, businesses, and activists in the Chico area which focuses on renewable energy projects on the Chico State campus and in the community.

Building:

• 3 LEED Certified Buildings in the design phase, Student Services Center, Wildcat Activities Center and the new Whitney Hall.
• The Green Campus Program at Chico State has worked with University Housing and Food Service to retrofit Konkow House #2 into a sustainable residence hall.
• Facilities Management and Services is integrating pervious concrete on campus, including 18 yards that has been poured outside of Langdon Hall.

Food and Dining:

• AS Catering uses reusable china dishes and flatware and offers the option of compostable dishes and flatware. AS Catering will cater events with locally, organically grown foods upon request.
• AS Food Service is working on integrating compostable plastics into the Marketplace Café and will begin by integrating plates in Fall 2006.

Parking and Transportation:

• University Fleet
• 43 electric vehicles
• Associated Students
• One electric vehicle
• One propane truck
• One natural gas shuttle
• Butte County Transit bus services is offered free of charge to all students and employees of Chico State.

Land Use:

• In 1982 the campus was declared an arboretum and is home to over 1,000
• trees with more than 250 species.
• The university is the owner of 3 ecological reserves, Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, Butte Creek Ecological Preserve and Eagle Lake Field Station, which are utilized by the campus and community for research, education and conservation purposes.
• University Grounds
• Sends all tree pruning to green waste
• Initiated a program to eliminate silt and mud from entering storm drains
• Researching non-chemical herbicides, like clove oil, for post emergent weed control
• Proper soil nutrition, irrigation, aeration, moving height and organic based products to improve soil health have reduced the use of petroleum based chemicals and fertilizers

Purchasing:

• Chico State often purchases environmentally friendly goods and services.
• Associated Students led the nation as the first student organization to sell organic cotton t-shirts bearing the Chico State logo.

Waste:

• Since 1996, the AS Recycling Program has collected over 632 tons of recyclable materials from over 400 recycling stations on campus.
• The Recycling Education Outreach Program has trained over 150 future teachers and 2,000 elementary school students in waste reduction.
• Chemical Waste Identification and Reutilization Project

Janitorial Services:

• Custodians use:
• H-2 Orange, a citrus based hydrogen peroxide all purpose cleaner.
• Suprox, a hydrogen peroxide all purpose cleaner
• One-Plus Floor Wax and Green Select Floor Stripper are Green Seal Certification products that are used
• Green Seal Select Toilet Tissue

Water:

• A watering system that monitors evapo-transpiration and adjusts watering levels accordingly is being installed on the northern end of campus.

Other:

• Executive Memorandum EM-9933:
• All vehicle purchases consider alternative fuel vehicles.

Curriculum & Research

Academic Program:

• General Education Theme D: Environmental Issues
  Theme objectives are 1) to impart an understanding of and an appreciation for the place of the human species in the global ecosystem; 2) to examine the ways that the environment has influenced human behavior; 3) to provide the skills and information necessary to assess human impact and 4) to pursue ways to maintain Earth's life-support systems.
• General Education Theme G: Global Issues
  This theme focuses on the enduring global issues of food, environment, human rights, justice and social conflict.

Degrees:

• Masters of Science in Environmental Science
• All listings under "Majors" are eligible for Bachelor Degrees

Majors:

• College of Agriculture, Land Stewardship
• College of Agriculture, Plant Science
• College of Natural Sciences:
• Biological Sciences
• Environmental Science, Applied Ecology option
• Environmental Science, Earth Resource Science option
• Environmental Science, Environmental Chemistry option
• Environmental Science, Watershed Science option
• College of Business: Environmental Economics
• College of Behavioral and Social Sciences:
• Physical Geography and Environmental Geography
• College of Communication and Education:
• Recreation Administration, Parks and Natural Resource Management, Environmental Interpretation Pattern

Minors:

• Department of Geography and Planning, Minor in Environmental Studies

Endowed Positions:

• Rawlins Endowed Professorship of Environmental Literacy has the responsibility to prepare all students of all majors, across the campus, for dealing with a world environment by working with faculty from across campus to integrate the concepts of sustainability into the curriculum.

Academic Centers and Research Institutes:

• Center for Ecosystem Research (CER):
  The center will support interdisciplinary research and coordinate the sharing of resources such as laboratories, equipment, and staff.
• Bidwell Environmental Institute (BEI):
  BEI strives to create an interdisciplinary learning environment that includes environmental coursework, hands-on learning, interdisciplinary scholarship, and public service.
• Geographic Information Center (GIC):
  The GIC offers expertise in GIS technology, orthophoto development, global positioning systems (GPS), computer cartography, image processing, airphoto interpretation, and serving GIS data over the Web.
• California Department of Fish and Game's Aquatic Bioassessment Laboratory (ABL):
  The Chico ABL processes samples of freshwater invertebrates from a diverse range of habitats.
• The Northstate Watershed Initiative:
  The initiative is being developed by the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences for integrated research within the areas of geology, hydrology, hydrogeochemistry, environmental science, and ecology within watersheds located in Northern California.
• The Agricultural Research and Training Center (ARTC):
  The ARTC offers a hands-on learning experience for all students interested in agricultural studies.
• Biological Sciences Herbarium: Established in the 1950's, the herbarium now contains more than 93,000 dried and mounted plant specimens and is used extensively for identification of sensitive and other plant species.
• Archeological Research Program (ARP):
  ARP provides professional archaeological reconnaissance, testing, and mitigation/data recovery on historic and prehistoric sites.
• Center for Economic Development and Planning (CED):
  CED specializes in such areas as planning, community development, employment generation, natural resource management, leadership training, and hundreds of other areas.
• The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve contains almost 4,000 acres of diverse canyon and ridge habitats and is home to many species of plants and animals. BCCER was created in 2001 and protects 4.5 miles of Big Chico Creek.
• The Butte Creek Ecological Preserve is a 93-acre site along the middle section of Butte Creek. The goal of the preserve is to work in conjunction with other programs towards achieving a reasonable balance among the diverse demands on the resource base of the watershed.
• The Eagle Lake Field Station is a ten building facility on the eastern shore of Eagle Lake.

Other:

• Certificate in Outdoor Education
• Certificate in Wilderness Stewardship
• The Office of the Provost's Environmental Sustainable Development Grant
• The Bidwell Environmental Institute's Environmental Creativity and Research Grants
• The Agricultural Research Initiative (ARI):
  ARI is a funding program that supports high-impact applied agricultural and natural resources research, development, technology transfer, public and industry education, and outreach important to Northern California.
• "Green" certified courses in the next edition of the course catalog will be identified with a green leaf.
• Graduation Pledge:
  I _____ pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.

Community Service and Outreach

Community Partnerships and Collaborations:

• The following list is all of the businesses, educational institutions, governmental agencies and non-profit organizations that have partnered or are partnering with Chico State on various projects.
  
  Businesses: Advanced Light Technologies, CH2MHILL, EcoAnalysts, Inc., Pacific EcoRisk, Pacific Gas and Electric, Paradise Irrigation District, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, South Feather Water & Power and the Wildlife Management Institute
  
  Educational Institutions: Butte Community College, CSU Agricultural Research Initiative, CURES, San Francisco State University, San Jose State Univ, Foundation, Shasta Community College, Sonoma State University, and the University of Maryland
  
  Governmental Agencies: Bureau of Land Management, Butte County Association of Governments, Butte County Resource Conservation District, California Department Fish & Game, California Department of Parks & Recreation, California Department of Water Resources, California Department of Pesticide Regulation, California Fish & Game Commission, California Integrated Waste Mgmt Board, CALFED, City of Chico, City of Orland, City of Red Bluff, County of Butte, County of Glenn, Glenn County Resource Conservation District, National Park Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, US Bureau of Reclamation, UC-Cooperative Extension, US Department of Agriculture, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, US Geological Survey and the Wildlife Conservation Board
  
  Non-Profit Organizations: Butte Environmental Council, Cottonwood Creek Watershed Group, Friends of Bidwell Park, Great Valley Center, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, National Science Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, North State Renewable Energy Center, Northern CA Regional Land Trust, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, River Network, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sacramento River Conservation Area Forum, Sacramento River Partners, Sacramento River Preservation Trust, San Francisco Estuary Institute, The Sierra Nevada Alliance, Sonoma Ecology Center, Southern CA Coastal Water Research Project and the Tehama County Resource Conservation District

Events:

• This Way to Sustainability, Annual Fall Semester Conference
• Earth Month, Celebration of the Environment each day in April
• Environmental Film and Arts Festival, First Annual scheduled for Spring 2007
• Organic Farming and Food Conference highlights local food production and trends, presentations by farmers and ranchers regarding production challenges, marketing opportunities, and the benefits to consumers from supporting local farms.
• Green Week is the recruitment week for the environmental organizations on campus that offers fun and informational event to the whole campus to build the community of environmental programs at Chico State.

Other:

• The Butte Creek Outdoor Classroom is a hands-on living laboratory located at the Butte Creek Ecological Preserve that services local elementary schools. Schools visit the classroom and learn first hand about their local environment.
• Adventure Outings mission is to conduct state of the art, adventure related activities and programs structured to enhance the experiences of the Chico State University community.
• Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE) is an Associated Students program that offers over 20 volunteer programs, including five environmental programs including: National Parks, StreamTeam, Butte Creek Ecological Classroom, Chico Community Environmental Gardens and Adopt-a-Trail.
• The American Democracy Project is dedicated to increasing student involvement in public life.
• Environmental Summit
  Started by Provost McNall these informal monthly meetings gather faculty, staff, students, and community members to discuss topics of sustainability and to develop campus sustainable projects.

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