The transformation of our campus into a more sustainable system acknowledges our need to practice what we preach and serve as a leader and example for our students and community. Making the campus more efficient and decreasing our environmental impact also makes good long-term fiscal sense by decreasing waste, making the campus more resilient to variations in resource costs, and improving ease of meeting current and future regulations.
Through this process we also turn our campus into a living laboratory. This allows education to extend beyond the walls of our classrooms. Students have the opportunity to help implement the programs and through these experiences learn how to create more sustainable systems and improve our quality of life and education.
We work with many sectors on campus. Working with facilities we
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helped initiate and support the purchase of a 200kW photovoltaic solar array,
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helped initiate and support the L.E.E.D. certification of the planned School of Media Arts, and
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initiated the use of Environmental Horticulture classes to design and install sustainable campus landscaping.
Working with Food Services we
- introduced local organic food into the cafeteria,
- decreased use of disposable containers,
- replaced plastic and EPS containers with biodegradable versions,
- piloted food scrap collection for composting, and
- introduced organic vegetarian lunch entrees on Fridays.
We have also been involved with decreasing the use of single occupancy vehicles by promoting car pooling and use of mass transit, and opposing the construction of additional parking structures.
Currently we are implementing our Zero Waste and Awareness Program with funding from the James S. Bower Foundation. This program is designed to decrease the production of waste and better divert our waste to recycling and composting.
