Because of the Administration’s attention to the importance of building on our international reputation as leaders in photovoltaics, alternative and renewable energy research, the recent dedication of the Scott Park campus as a Campus of Energy and Innovation, and the fact that the President signed The President’s Climate Commitment (see my last post for details), we earned some of our highest marks yet – solid Bs- for our work in helping to reduce our carbon footprint both on our own campus and in the wider world. We also earned a B in the category of Green Building in recognition of the university’s five LEED certified buildings, which includes the LEED “Gold Certified” Memorial Field House. This all represents a major improvement in the quality of life and health of our university campus from years past, and reflects the hard work, determination, and dedicated effort of the staff, faculty and students who comprise the Go Green Committee, the faculty researchers who put UT on the map in the key areas of alternative energy in the first place, and the many unsung heroes who work each day to find saner and more sustainable ways of doing business. Finally, a special shout out must go to Aaron Baker, a Government Relations Specialist, who was charged with the monumental task of compiling  the information for the report. Good work, Aaron!

Just as we push our students to aspire to “A” quality work, UT should look for new ways to enhance its “green grade.” We need to continue to find ways to create a thriving culture of sustainability and good stewardship, an exercise that will involve rethinking every aspect of our lives on campus from how and what eat, to what purchases we make for our offices, to the ways we commute to campus and the distances we travel to get there. And while LEED construction, the installation of wind turbines and solar panels, are certainly important elements in the alchemy of creating a more sustainable UT, it is interesting to note that many of the schools that have earned As have done so by focusing on creating multiple small scale, grassroots opportunities for learning and engagement in sustainable ways of living that focus on everyday routines, on supporting local, emergent eco-friendly businesses, and supporting our small farmers.

Take for instance the category of dining. UT shares many of the same dining service features as a school like Dickinson College (which earned an A-): like Dickinson, our dining services purchases cage-free eggs, hormone- and antibiotic-free dairy products, and some local foods. Dining halls are equipped with water- and energy-efficient dishwashers, and all locations are tray-less. The university has switched to paper-based takeout containers, and fryer oil is recycled into biodiesel. What then makes the difference between our B performance and Dickinson’s A performance? One major difference that caught my eye is Dickinson’s commitment to buying local and organic food. According to their report, Dickinson Dining Services spends $592,703 of its $3,138,825 budget annually on purchasing food that was grown or raised locally, while UT reports spending only $3,000 of its reported $4,019,494 budget on locally grown (Battle Creek, MI) produce. Even with this promised five percent increase the lion’s share of our purchasing power that could be used to support local farmers leaves the region.
Another difference is in composting. Dickinson composts all of its waste, while aside from the pioneering efforts at the Apple Tree Nursery (hurray for our treasured nursery school!), we still do not have a composting program in place at UT. Grounds and our UT Outdoor Classroom Garden could immediately benefit from the compost, and the university could very quickly recoup the start up costs of a composting program through the reductions of some of the agricultural inputs they would need to purchase elsewhere. The problem here, as far as I understand it, does not have its source in Dining Services. Indeed, everyone I have spoken with about this issue has been an enthusiastic supporter of this initiative. Grounds too, is willing to participate, although they rightfully might be concerned with how on an already tight budget they would add composting to their to-do list. So what’s the hold up? To move UT off the dime, we desperately need something like an Office of Sustainability, or at least a Sustainability Coordinator, to assist in the implementation of the efforts of the multiple units on campus that are involved in sustainability initiatives. All of the “A” institutions have them and that is because there is a growing recognition that sustainability and stewardship impacts all aspects of the university and cannot be limited to technologically driven innovations alone. With active coordination, our wonderful, small-scale ideas will not languish from neglect, lack of resources, or, as in the case of composting, the inability to effectively coordinate the different willing parties.
Just as an A paper is distinguished not only by its command of the facts and clear language, but also by its cohesive structure and well presented argument, so too  UT will need to think beyond the important large-scale efforts (LEED certification, transitions to renewable energy) to include some of the smaller, more particular elements of daily life on campus in a coordinated fashion, like how and what we eat, where we buy it, and what we do with the leftovers.

Next: The “greening” of our curriculum!

According to the Toledo Blade in its June 15 story about the transformation of our Scott Park Campus, UT retained the services of BottomLine Resource Techonologies to serve as consultants for the creation of a “Campus of Energy and Innovation”.  BottomLine will conduct an energy audit of the entire University to assess ways we might maximize conservation and savings and will help us meet our goal of becoming the first university in the country to dedicate an entire campus to the advancement of renewable, alternative and sustainable energies.

As we commit more and more of our institutional energy to new directions in sustainability, we should remember that while weaning us from our addiction to fossil fuel is a good idea, it alone is not enough to reach broader social goals.  Let’s imagine for a moment that we cannot simply “green power” or “alternatively fuel” our way out of an economic and environmental quagmire. That is, let’s assume that that alternative energy is one, albeit large, part of a complex puzzle. To really change our direction—as a university and as a society–we’ll have to try some new and different approaches, such as a commitment to reducing the amount of energy we consume every day, and to learning new ways to get our jobs done in the absence of cheap, abundant resources. While it is unlikely that North Americans will face the kinds of daily brownouts characteristic of so many capital cities in the global South any time soon, there can be little doubt that the twin forces of increasing demand for energy fueled by rapid globalization processes and dwindling energy reserves means that our days of access to cheap oil are over, and clean alternatives will take years to catch up. This means that our university will have to rethink how we use energy in our daily routine. In short we will all need to do personal energy audit  to gauge how much fossil fuels we use in our cars, in the food we consume, and the electricity we use.

The move to scrutinize the way we use energy on this campus is one of the single most important things we can do to create a more sustainable UT. In fact, it is the first step toward fulfilling our commitment to a transformative approach to how we consume resources. It is worth noting that the energy audit is consistent with President Jacobs’ recent action this spring, when he joined 641 other signatories of the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment. By signing the ACUPCC, UT has promised to undertake the following steps (full list available on their web site):

• Initiate the development of a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible.
• Within one year of signing this document, complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions (including emissions from electricity, heating, commuting, and air travel) and update the inventory every other year thereafter.
• Within two years of signing this document, develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral, which will include…Actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students [and] actions to expand research or other efforts necessary to achieve climate neutrality.
• Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standard or equivalent.
• Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.
• Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.
• Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution
• Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution’s electricity consumption from renewable sources.
• Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution’s endowment is invested.
• Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

How are people at UT addressing each of these challenges?  This week I interviewed Thomas Trimble, the Associate Director of the Student Unions, who generously spent over an hour with me talking about the ways he was thinking about sustainability in the context of the daily operations of the Student Union. I will share clips and a summary of that interview with everyone soon. Meanwhile, please share your ideas, comments, clips, links, and questions with me.

There is nothing wrong and everything right with continuing to build UT’s reputation as a leader in the research and development in renewable energy. But an increasing number of scholars who work on issues related to sustainability recognize that we can not simply power our way out of our current economic and environmental quagmire by turning to alternative sources of energy. That’s because “sustainability” means a lot more than “sustaining consumption.” But that raises the question that we really need to ask if we are going to begin to think sustainably. What is “sustainability”?

Big question! This is the first in what will be a series of entries that address “sustainability” as a UT priority. What do we think about “sustainability” as a UT community? What are we already doing in our classrooms, corridors, dining halls and dorms to create a sustainable future for UT, and what can we do better? UT is students, families, cooks, faculty, support staff, lab techs, nurses, administrators, web designers, to name a few. Armed with my new digital recorder I am on a mission to find out how some of you would answer the question, “what is sustainability,” especially as it relates to your daily routine, but also ways it relates to a larger national and global community dedicated to thinking and acting sustainably. Stay tuned…