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Report: Green Efforts Improving on Campuses
8/26/2008
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More campuses in the United States have shifted their focus to environmental and sustainability programs, but funding and staffing issues have prevented them from implementing green initiatives on the scale campus administrators would like, according to a new report released recently by the National Wildlife Federation.
The report, entitled "Campus Environment 2008: A National Report Card on Sustainability in Higher Education," reviewed 1,068 institutions of higher education (about a fourth of all campuses in the United States) to track "new developments in environmental performance and sustainability." What it found is that a full third of the campuses surveyed now employ environmental and sustainability directors, and about a half have hired staff or administrators to handle sustainability issues and coordinate energy conservation. And a fourth--double the percentage from 2001--hold orientation sessions or offer publications about environmental sustainability.
The report also found that American colleges and universities are showing overall improvements in green leadership since 2001, the first year of the study. Some of the signs of this improvement, according to NWF, are "increased goal-setting to improve performance, more staffing for sustainability programs, and a rise in orientation programs on waste reduction and other sustainability efforts on campus."
However, the report said, there are still roadblocks hindering green initiatives on campuses, including inadequate funding, inadequate staffing, and a dearth of support for faculty development.
"The 2008 report finds that campus leaders value sustainability. They speak about it, plan for it, hire staff to support it, and the campuses they lead are steadily becoming greener models for the wider society," said Julian Keniry, senior director of campus and community leadership for NWF, in a statement released to coincide with the report. "At the same time, the educational curricula to prepare students for a post-college world influenced by climate change are not keeping pace. On most campuses, the business leaders and facilities managers appear to be making greater strides towards sustainability than their faculty peers."
Overall leadership "grades" in the 2008 report card improved over 2001's grades, including setting and reviewing sustainability goals (B in 2008, B- in 2001); staffing sustainability programs (B- in 2008, C in 2001); and orienting students, staff, and faculty (C- in 2008, D in 2001).
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