The Benefits of Taking Action
Besides reducing a college or university's ecological footprint and contribution to global climate change, student-staff sustainability programs have a number of other advantages:
- Money in the Bank
- Support for Administrative Staff
- Health and Productivity
- Community Relations
- Educational Value
- Communication and Information Sharing
- A Good Fit with Campus Values
- Attractive to Students
- Better Relationships between Students and Staff
- Alumni and Donor Interest
Money in the Bank
Colleges and universities spend about $6 billion annually on energy.34 By finding ways to cut energy consumption, colleges and universities not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also save money. An energy conservation program at the University of New York at Buffalo, for example, resulted in financial savings of more than $9 million.35 Other institutions of higher education have achieved significant savings through transportation, water conservation, composting, reuse and recycling projects. Each year, Harvard University's Green Campus Loan Fund saves more than $1 million and the Green Living Program (GLP) saves about $200,000 in residential electricity, heating and water costs. The Student Internship Program (SIP) has resulted in the implementation of numerous cost-saving projects.
Leading in environmental sustainability is cost-effective and makes business sense. Energy efficiency and reductions in the amount of waste sent to landfills clearly save money on electricity bills and waste disposal. Using native plants in campus landscaping reduces maintenance and irrigation needs. Subsidizing public transportation costs less than building new parking garages. Indeed, when operations and security are assessed, the payback on many environmental projects beats profits from investing endowments in the stock market.36
Support for Administrative Staff
A GLP or SIP will assist staff across the university in extending their own professional development and undertaking innovation in their work practices. The programs also help staff in the following ways:
- documenting and learning from experience
- making their jobs more meaningful
- raising the profile of their activities
Health and Productivity
Campus greening efforts have advantages that are not clearly represented in financial reports. Green building standards commonly require natural lighting, occupant ventilation control, improved indoor air quality and other features that help maximize worker health and comfort. All these features have positive effects on occupant health and productivity.37
Studies show that investing less than two percent of construction costs leads to life-cycle savings of ten times the initial investment.38 Colleges and universities that build dormitories using zero-emission paints and non-toxic carpeting may need to invest more money up front; but, they will receive ample payback when they do not have to renovate rooms for ever-increasing numbers of students who become chemical-sensitive.
Community Relations
Colleges and universities can improve their relationships with local communities by reducing the environmental impacts of campus operations. For example, switching vehicles to low-emission fuels or encouraging students and staff to use public transportation will benefit local air quality. Reducing waste production or implementing conservation measures will reduce the strain on local resources.
Educational Value
Sustainability programs provide opportunities for students and faculty to engage in one of the most prominent and far-reaching scientific and public policy issues affecting contemporary society. Unfortunately, academia does not reward faculty who participate in public service, campus-focused or action research, and interdisciplinary studies are often perceived as less prestigious. However, for students, involvement in sustainability projects means work experience in a field that is sure to expand as society responds to climate change. To tackle challenges that will face our communities, students need to receive the kind of systemic, interdisciplinary, and process-based training they will get in a GLP or SIP. Participating in projects that study their own campuses gives them hands-on, empowering opportunities that conventional curricula often do not afford.39
Communication and Information Sharing
The campus community as a whole also benefits as the various constituencies work with each other on sustainability projects, often interacting for the first time and developing a sense of place in a world of increasingly virtual interaction and disconnection from one's ecological home base.
A Good Fit with Campus Values
Green initiatives generally receive popular support among campus community members. In a 2001/02 survey conducted by the National Wildlife Federation, about half of college presidents said sustainability programs are either good for public relations or a good fit with the culture and values on American campuses.40 At Harvard, a 2003 survey of more than 2000 undergraduate students showed that 86 percent strongly or very strongly supported administrative leadership on the issue of environmental sustainability.
Attractive to Students
If colleges and universities are to remain competitive, they must be responsive to their patrons, who in the case of institutions of higher education are students. Current students feel disenfranchised if their values are not reflected in administrative activities and policies and might therefore be less inclined to contribute to the institution as alumni. In addition, prospective students may choose to attend a school that is aligned with their interests and values, which for young people are more likely to relate to the environment.41 Students are attracted to colleges and universities that offer hands-on learning opportunities, such as those offered by a GLP or SIP, because they will help prepare them for the job market.
Although students are more likely than the general population to rank the environment as an important issue, they do not necessarily have the know-how or degree of awareness to adopt sustainable behaviors. This is where a GLP would prove useful. Students also do not have enough control over choices made regarding campus infrastructure, buildings, dining and landscaping to ensure that their lifestyles are sustainable. A SIP offers them the chance to get involved in the research and decision-making process. In both cases, students see their values reflected in the policies and programs of the college or university.
Better Relationships between Students and Staff
Students who are educated about campus operations become a stronger force for sustainable action on campus. Their relationship with the administration is collaborative rather than adversarial because they understand the economic and logistical challenges of making a sustainable campus. They may even have arrived “at a more reasonable and sometimes sympathetic view” of the powers that be on campus.42
Alumni and Donor Interest
Potential donors' imaginations may be captured by the prospect of attaching their name to a self-sufficient building that can process its own wastewater or survive without electricity from the national grid—an independent building.
Yale University has received over $1 million from a donor interested in supplying student dorms with local organic produce. Oberlin College received donations to fund its landmark Lewis Center. Half of the total $6.5 million building cost came from an alumnus, Adam Joseph Lewis, who was "inspired by [Professor David] Orr's vision and direction and Oberlin's dedication to the project."43