Students' Invaluable Contributions to the Assessment

The Campus Sustainability Assessment is a year-long process consisting of teams of faculty, staff, and students tracking progress in nine areas: transportation, water, food, built environment, health and well being, academics and culture, energy, purchasing and waste,and land use. The first report will be out this year.

We were fortunate to have students from Rob Darst's fall "Sustainability On Campus" class conduct essential data gathering for the assessment. In extensive tours of the campus' inner workings and in meetings with experts, the students gained a unique "insider" view of the campus that few of us ever get to see. The projects were supported by the Honors Program and the Political Science Department.

Below are pieces of their report, much of which will be in the final assessment.

Energy

I strongly feel that our school should learn the value of what we have. An individual can't just take from the environment without expecting to give something back. For instance, there should be some type of mandate posted on every door of every room (besides places that need visible light such as bathrooms and hallways) that students/staff need to shut off lights and electronic devices when the room is not in use.

Another lesson that should be learned is when people choose to give, they receive in return. Freshmen entering the school should have some sort of required seminar during orientation that talks about practicing sustainability on campus, joining sustainable groups and clubs (such as SHOC, or Sustainability and Health on Campus), and about the new sustainability minor that is available (with many businesses desperate to join the green race, having a sustainability minor under your belt doesn't hurt when it comes time to apply for jobs!). In addition to students, faculty should have a similar seminar encouraging them to shut off any lights or devices when not in use. With these programs in effect, the university will see an increase of involvement in the environmental effort.
- Kristina Lopes

Built Environment

The University is currently planning two large renovation and construction projects; the $10 Million renovation of the Claire T. Carney Library/creation of a "Learning Commons" and the construction of a $11.4 Million "Learning Pavilions" to the Charlton College of Business.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 484 AND FUTURE PROJECTS
The goal of Executive Order No. 484 (E.O. No.484) is to reduce long-run costs associated with operating state funded buildings. With the new codes intact it is expected to result in buildings that are both 20% to 35% more efficient than the current energy code and more sustainable.

Under E.O. No. 484 both of these building projects are required to meet or exceed Massachusetts LEED Plus standards. MA LEED Plus differs from the more traditional LEED in that it addresses the local geographical and weather patterns of Massachusetts that a nationalized standard cannot.
- Joseph Snigier

Transportation

Another project I worked on throughout the semester was the construction and admission of a survey that focused entirely on transportation. ... As it turns out only 8.6% of the respondents ever walk to campus and even less bike with no responses saying they usually bike and only 4.3% indicating they sometimes bike to campus, all of which was further reiterated through the data collected when counting students arriving to campus. These responses are certainly not surprising, as many people come from out of the immediate area and thus it would be very difficult to walk or bike to campus, especially with the unpredictability of the weather. Furthermore, it may not be convenient for many who have schedules that for them to remain on campus until it becomes dark out, and thus it would not be safe to walk back alone. For these reasons it is understandable that there is not a large group of students who walk and bike to campus. However, this indicates that a more realistic solution to the excess number of cars traveling onto the campus would be carpooling.
- Jenn Denker

Food

The most involved student-run sustainable food initiative on campus to date has been the Farmer's Market, which was organized during the summer of 2008 and run through the fall semester by an undergraduate student named Elizabeth Early. According to Kathleen Christianson of the Office of Sustainability, who inherited the project when Early graduated in May 2008, Early's intentions in establishing the market were three pronged: to raise awareness about food issues, to support local agriculture, and to provide students and faculty with fresh produce though they might not be able to venture off campus.

... Our general consensus as a committee, based on our research about building initiatives on other campuses, was that our current resource with the most potential to engage student interest, build community, and support a thoughtfully organized program is our campus garden. Coincidentally, we also agreed that the garden project is that which stands to benefit the most from some overseeing structure. The idea that took hold as being most viable and potentially very effective was that of an academic course with an emphasis on food sustainability issues and some with aspect of student involvement built into the course.
- Ana-Maria Bell