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It's so easy being green
Economic incentives tactics for campuses discussed at summit
By David Cardenas
dcarden5@mscd.edu

Photo by Johanna Snow • snowj@mscd.edu On Feb. 21 to 23 the University of Colorado at Boulder hosted the 2007 Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit. Laura Ruby of the Boulder Green Building Guild explains how her company protects the environment.

Hundreds of students, professors and environmental activists from around the country gathered for the 2007 Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit Feb. 21 to 23 in Boulder.

Issues such as climate control, greenhouse gas emissions, water and energy conservation were put under the spotlight during the three-day event, with hopes of achieving sustainability in colleges and universities throughout the country.

"Students and other people on campus communities are beginning to challenge institutions that graduate future politicians, decision-makers and scientists who will either perpetuate these problems or actually generate workable solutions,” said Nadine Gudz, a researcher at York University in Toronto. “So what other institutions in society have better opportunities and obligations to become models for more sustainable futures than universities?”

The summit attracted the attention of some of the most respected and well-known environmental activists in the country, including former Sen. Gary Hart, who is a leading advocate for nationwide sustainability, and Hunter Lovins, the co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, which is known for its innovative thinking in energy and resource issues.

The event’s “no waste policy” was not taken lightly. All glassware, dining utensils, and plates were reusable, and wasted food and fruit was recycled into fertilizer and used throughout the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Even the packaging material was made out of recycled newspaper, said Dan Baril, the recycling program manager at CU-Boulder.

“Everything used is either being reused or is being recycled into highly productive material,” Baril said. “We’re hoping that our recycling system here at CU will be a model to be spread through all campuses across the country.”

Throughout the three-day event, workshops were held on a wide variety of topics ranging from tips for sustainability education to student initiatives for campus climate action.

William M. Timpson, a professor of education at Colorado State University, led a lively workshop on finding alternative teaching methods for sustainability.

Timpson said professors have to stress subjectivity and techniques that require more thought than just multiple-choice tests.

“Teaching sustainability by challenging students will cause them to want to learn and not want to hide their heads in the sand,” Timpson said.

UCD student Andy Pattison, who represented Auraria during the summit, discussed his plan of implementing an expansion to the Clean Energy Campaign.

Pattison, an appointed member to the clean energy subcommittee – now called the Campus Sustainability Program – recently presented his plans to the AHEC board of trustees to raise the clean energy fee from $1 to $5 by the start of the 2008 spring semester.

While the current student fee has several restrictions, raising the fee would increase building efficiency, fund a new recycling program and a program to lower water usage on Auraria, Pattison said.

A subcommittee coordinator would be appointed for guidance and assistance in applying the new renewable energy program.

Currently, Auraria is the largest urban higher education campus being powered by wind and is ranked first in the state for renewable energy usage. With the new fee, use of wind power would increase from 40 percent to 100 percent, Pattison said.

“We’re also going to launch a very robust recycling program, which the campus does not have,” Pattison said. “If you were to look at how things are being recycled now, it’s just embarrassing.”

Pattison stresses that without the necessary funding it will be nearly impossible to find out how much money is actually being saved by using the clean energy.

“This is why we want a staff (coordinator) to tell us, ‘If you do X, you can save Y,’ and we’ll know,” Pattison said.

It was announced Feb. 22 that Chancellor Roy Wilson of UCD, Metro President Stephen Jordan and CCD President Christine Johnson all signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

The three schools join 84 others in the commitment, which states that schools must develop a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible.

“We want to save the campus money by being more environmental and saving energy,” Pattison said.