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August 2008
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CAMPUS NEWS |
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Campus-Wide Sustainability Program Takes Root, Grows
As proud stewards of a campus that was designated a national arboretum and public garden in 2003, “going green” isn’t a fad for the AU community: It’s a rallying cry. Across the university, students, faculty and staff are collaborating to dramatically transform AU’s impact on the planet, implementing a broad range of initiatives designed to raise awareness, reduce waste, broaden recycling efforts, and cultivate a culture of responsibility over the use of natural resources. Their efforts couldn’t come at a better time: More than 10,000 people, including students, faculty, and staff were regular visitors to AU in 2007, and a record-setting freshman class is due to arrive on campus this fall. At those rates, using natural resources efficiently is an absolute necessity – and a behavior with the potential to effect the kind of large scale change many citizens now demand. The AU sustainability movement has the full endorsement of President Neil Kerwin, SPA/BA ’71, who signed the Talloires Declaration in spring 2007. The Talloires Declaration was the first official statement by university administrators who pledged to devote resources toward achieving environmental sustainability in higher education. Established in France in 1990, the declaration now includes the signatures of more than 350 university presidents and chancellors in more than 40 countries around the world. AU students are leading the way. Eco-Sense, the official AU club aimed at addressing climate change, has been hammering out ways to make a difference since their inception in 2004. For them, going green is about creating an effective community-wide response to climate change in which students and staff collaborate to make a real difference.
In the coming semester, Eco-Sense will channel resources into making an impact on the November 2008 election. Casey Roe, the environmental policy director for Student Government and a member of Eco-Sense, said the group would be focusing on the PowerVote campaign, a joint initiative with the Energy Action Coalition that “will call for youth to vote in the upcoming election based on candidates’ environmental platforms.” The Class of 2012 has already received an introduction to the university’s environmental polices. As the first class to benefit from a “green” orientation session, they received digital versions of the traditional 100-page welcome packets. The new CDs are just as comprehensive as their hard-copy predecessors, but offer the convenience of modern search functions, so that users can find relevant information without having to flip through pages. Tiffany Sanchez, director of New Student Programs, remarked, “We used to need to take two trips between the registration site and the office,” she said. “Now it’s just two boxes: one for the CDs and another for the folders, which one person can carry.” When the incoming freshmen graduate, the sustainability program which helped usher in their college experience will hopefully have reached another milestone: 2012 marks the date by which Eco-Sense hopes to see 50 percent of AU’s energy drawn from renewable sources like air and water. AU is well on its way. The combined efforts of AU students, faculty, and staff show steady signs of progress and propel the university toward a green, sustainable future. - Josephine Sanchez
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Eco-Sense has already made significant progress. They backed the development of AU’s bikeshare program and supported purchases for a green vehicle, double-sided printers, and a 25 percent share of wind energy. They successfully lobbied AU’s office supplier, Corporate Express, to better showcase their sustainable office products, and they also developed an office eco-certification program that provides criteria for AU offices to meet to ensure they have implemented sustainable practices. To date, the