About Us:

Print Page | Email Page

-----

By Editorial Board
Friday, April 22, 2005
last updated April 21, 2005 8:22 PM

In Stanford's 2002 Guidelines for Sustainable Buildings, the Environmental Stewardship Committee recommended that the University appoint a sustainability coordinator. This coordinator would "act as an educator, rather than an 'inspector,' so that the Project Team develops the knowledge and commitment to achieve the best balance for the project." This position was filled part-time for two years, but has been vacant for the past nine months.

Even without a sustainability coordinator, the University has made a significant effort toward making Stanford’s buildings more environmentally sustainable. A Green Dorm project is currently in the planning stages, and "green" measures have been incorporated into renovation projects under Housing's Capital Improvement Program.

And it's worth noting that the position, as described in the guidelines, is hardly one of great power. But a sustainability coordinator could still play a very real and very significant role in giving environmental consciousness a more prominent role in University planning.

Some of the current construction projects' incorporation of sustainable building principles leaves much to be desired. In the plans for the Munger Graduate Residences, for example, the inclusion of multiple bathrooms for most apartments and a washer and dryer in every apartment are only the most blatant of a raft of concerns about size, energy use and space that seem to belie the University's stated environmental commitment. While it's hard to pin down the exact impact that a sustainability coordinator would have had on the final design, employing at least one staff member whose primary concern was to advocate for green design could have potentially done a great deal more to ensure these issues were taken seriously in the planning process. We hope that this voice will be present in planning future projects.

Stanford's position seems especially poor when compared to the University's peer institutions. Harvard's Green Campus Initiative currently includes two program co-chairs, a director and 11 staffers. While Stanford administrators need not match Harvard's efforts tit-for-tat, the significant discrepancy does seem to imply that sustainability is not a priority here on the Farm.

Stanford has already taken steps to make this a truly green campus. But today, Earth Day, is a good time to remind administrators that they could do better. Students and administrators can and should affirm their personal dedication to the environment, but when it comes to a process that involves tradeoffs between dozens of competing needs and requirements, that is not enough. Hiring a full-time sustainability director would be an important step in signaling Stanford's dedication to the environment and to its own Guidelines for Sustainable Buildings.

The Stanford Daily

posted: 04.21.05 [permalink]