Universities understanding the responsibility and the extreme importance of shifting to more sustainable policies and plans started financing environmentally friendly products and services, sustainable buildings, and strategies for improving awareness among students and staff members. Some examples of sustainable university initiatives are noted below:
- Sustainable building design
- Renewable energy
- Water bottle re-use
- Locally produced food
- Waste disposal
- Green transport
- Awareness-raising events
The Campus Earth Summit at Yale University brought collectively 450 staff, faculty, and student representatives from 22 nations, 6 regions, and all 50 countries at Yale University on February 18-20, 1994 to develop a Green Campus blue print, recommending a set of parameters for higher education facilities across the globe to act toward an environmentally sustainable future. The recommendations in this summit which are still the main source for sustainability principles in today’s universities. These recommendations were as follows (Blueprint for a Green Campus, 1994):
Environmental knowledge integration into courses for all relevant disciplines.
- The academic vision and mission statement should highlight the relevance of environmental issues and should include all student body. All students upon graduation will transform from university to work environment the knowledge, values, and skills of sustainability. This will push the work environment towards a sustainable future.
- The staff training and development programs, seminars and funding to be oriented towards overall development of appropriate faculty for interfacing sustainability perspectives into their existing courses.
Enhance undergraduate’s core curriculum on environmental studies.
- Benchmarking in terms of quality assurance review pertaining to reports from environmental course offering through a group of students, faculty, alumni and subject matter experts.
- University management commitment/ BUY-IN to fund the required environmental courses and required resources to employ train and develop relevant staff and faculty members to chief such courses.
- Publicize and distribute the quality report of analyzed environmental courses and adopt the recommendations.
Study campus and local environmental issues – A great opportunity for students
- Awarding academic credits to students for conducting an impact study on campus environment and local environmental concerns.
- Ensuring university obligation to initiate an action on above impact case studies to formulate and strategies’ effective and innovative methodology for the betterment of campus and associated environmental impact.
- Campus environmental audit process to be conducted regularly to measure the impact of following : hazardous waste/materials, dangerous waste, medicinal waste, food, waste, water and rainstorm runoff, pest management, air quality, solid waste, workstation environment, purchasing policies, investment policies, mobility, water, energy, campus planning and development, research activities, business connections, education and knowledge related to environmental impacts.
- Publicize the report that provides specific action plan that highlight performance improvements in respective domains and identifying the area of importance for action plan, and pre-planning next audit after setting required benchmarking. Distribute the validated audit report to all the parties building the campus community involving staff, faculty, students, alumni trustees, high-level campus officials, and all related stakeholders.
Practice environmentally responsible purchasing policies.
- Include environment friendly/sustainable product specifications in university procurement policies and contract documents.
- As a community serving organization and with the understanding among the peer institutions, enhance the procurement of environmental friendly, biodegradable, energy efficient, reparable, less toxic and recyclable products, with maximum durability or biodegradability.
- Alignment of various intra departments within the university and program to integrate with common purchasing policies, standards and specifications.
- Establish work plans/programs involving student community to reduce, reuse ,and recycle the maximum amount of waste on campus.
- The following materials: plastic, food waste, glass, hazardous chemicals, steel/aluminum cans, cardboard, paper, electronic waste, landscape waste, magazines, newspapers, leaves, construction rubble, oil, tires, scrap metal, telephone books, contaminated soil be included in the scope of waste reduction programs.
- Introduce energy efficient technologies like variable frequency drives for cooling, heating and plumbing equipment’s in existing and upcoming campus buildings. Reinvest this accumulated income for enhancing performance related to environmental issues.
- Measurement and verification for consumption of heat electricity and water via Installation of meters and setting the base lines through existing metering systems.
- Conducting campus awareness programs to conserve energy and introduce incentives for action, such as by initiating inter department competitions.
Environmental sustainability in building planning, transportation and campus land-use – A priority agenda
- Improve use of inland plants, establish course of action to promote optimized developments for future campus growth and making sure that future development will positively effect natural resources such as parks, momentous buildings, areas of wetlands, forests, wildlife habitats, agricultural land, watersheds, noise and air pollution, traffic blockage.
- The existing and future land use plans to incorporate those design features that promote sustainability for all future and existing land-use, building plans, and transportation.
- Provide incentives for sustainable transportation activities such as bicycles, walking, public transport, either buses or rail, and ridesharing; and at the same time use of the single-occupancy cars be discouraged by increasing the parking fees, and integrate the land use planning with the transportation planning.
- Incorporate guidelines for energy-efficiency, proper ventilation as per ASHRAE guidelines, non-toxic and environmentally-sound construction materials while planning building construction or renovation,
Establishment of environmental center for students.
- Promoting education within campus and outreaching surrounding/local community to create awareness regarding problems related to the environment and their short and long term solutions.
- Educating the community through events and conferences so as to develop awareness and creating a network of faculty, students and subject matter experts and also to promote membership enrollment program
- Deployment of associated faculty and staff to collaborate with the students and channelize their interest into concrete reform strating from the campus and taking it further up to local, state, national levels.
Career Counseling for environmental careers.
- Allocate resources and funds for career placement to assist student efforts and find careers related to environmentally sustainable future, including environmental career guidance, internship etc.
- Conduct environmental career fairs annually that bring regulatory bodies, environmental specialist and experts from various businesses and government sector under one platform and counsel the students and other stakeholders about their related work.