This week’s good ideas in campus sustainability: 11/16/09
Monday, November 16th, 2009
This week’s showcase includes Furman University and Emory University…
(1) [Furman] Trustees Adopt Sustainability Master Plan; Campus to be Carbon Neutral by 2026
To date, more than 650 schools have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but few have embedded their climate action plans in a comprehensive sustainability strategy. Furman University is one of those schools:
“From the outset, we determined that any effort in this area ought to be much more comprehensive than simply planning to reduce carbon emissions,” said Furman president David Shi. “Instead, it needed to encompass a long-range sustainability master plan for the university, which would include not only those activities relevant to its carbon and ecological footprints but also the much broader scope of the university’s mission and function, including the curriculum, co-curriculum, and projects and partnerships in the greater Greenville community.”
Shi said the creation of the sustainability master plan took eighteen months and had been a university-wide effort, involving over a hundred students, professors, staff members, trustees, alumni, and community leaders. It was both important and gratifying that it receive the approval of the Board of Trustees. “It will take nothing less than a full commitment from the entire university if we are to achieve the challenging initiatives laid out in this plan,” he said.
Dr. Anthony Cortese, president of Second Nature and a co-organizer of the ACUPCC, praised the university’s efforts in creating and adopting a sustainability master plan.
“Furman’s action today is yet another example of its outstanding leadership in producing the knowledge and educated graduates to help society deal with the greatest challenge in human history — how to create a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable world for all current and future generations,” he said. “Furman is a model for all of higher education and, through the work of David Shi as a leader of the ACUPCC, has been instrumental in engaging colleges and universities regionally and nationally to work in synergy toward this goal.”
(2) Emory University achieves first green dining certification
Many schools have turned to dining as a way to become more sustainable. Emory’s plan is ambitious:
Emory has identified sustainability as a core value and has committed to purchasing 75% of its food from local or sustainable sources by 2015, as well as diverting 65 percent of overall waste and 95 percent of food waste from landfills by 2015.
“We are proud to be the first university to receive certification from the Green Foodservice Alliance for our dining waste recycling and composting efforts,” said Emory’s Director of Sustainability, Ciannat Howett. “Emory is committed to educating our students, faculty and staff about the social and environmental implications of their daily choices. This certification helps raise that awareness and advance all of the other sustainability practices on campus.”
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