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• Home
• Knowledge Communities
• Sustainability
• Newsletter
• July 2010 (1)

 

 

Section 1

Dear Reader                                                                  

Galloway Goes Green

Developing a Sustainable Living Learning Community      

About Stars                                          

Do You Know Somone Interested in Sustainability?        

Want to Join NASPA?                                                                                    

NASPA 2011 Annual Conference

Publications and Links

Want to Write a Newsletter Article

Take Back the Tap

Section 2

Up Coming Regional Conferences

How Buildings Shape Our Lives

Sustainability KC Membership Survey Results

 
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Dear Reader:

This edition of our newsletter has five very substantial articles from guest contributors, plus our SKC survey results and various short articles. The guest articles cover a system to measure sustainability progress, an insightful article on the importance of buildings, and three case studies. The case studies cover a residence hall going green, promoting tap water over bottled water college-wide, and rejuvenating a sustainability learning-living community (and expanding it to include social and economic sustainability).

Please join me in thanking our authors and designer/web developer Steve Radwanski. Without their highly capable, volunteer efforts, we would have no newsletter – and we would have lost an opportunity to share and learn from each other.

Please feel free to send me feedback and suggestions for future newsletters at bruce.smith999@gmail.com.

Bruce Smith, Editor

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"Galloway Goes Green" at UNCW

 
Photo caption: This newly established recycling station in Galloway Hall was the first recycling center in a residential area on campus. The variety of recycling options and the convenience of the station being located in the lobby made recycling easy and fun for the residents in the community.

By Lindsey McDaniel & Nathan Lindsay

At the University of North Carolina Wilmington, staff members in Galloway Residence Hall (a typical first-year residential facility housing 400 students) created a multi-faceted campaign to educate residents on sustainability issues.  The campaign's overarching learning outcomes included developing students' sense of personal responsibility and increasing their civic and community engagement.

The first initiative designed to meet these goals was an Energy Conservation Campaign, in which facts about energy consumption were creatively posted throughout the residence hall and updated on a monthly basis. At the same time,
the Residence Coordinator worked with the Associate Director of Housing Operations to monitor the energy usage and thereafter share the results with the Galloway community.

The second effort involved the promotion of recycling, which included a brand new hall-wide recycling center and the recycling campaign incentive program.  The goals of this year-long program were to promote awareness of saving energy and recycling, and to promote and increase recycling efforts within Galloway, which is something that had never been monitored in a residential area at UNCW before.

Perhaps the most tangible outcome of this program is that recycling has more than doubled in the residence hall; whereas first semester recycling bins were emptied once a week, now the bins (because of the program) are emptied up to 3 times
a week.  In reality, they could be emptied everyday to accommodate all of the recycling that is taking place.

One student who lived in Galloway commented on these recycling efforts: "I wanted to keep recycling because I knew that I was making a difference in the world. Even when I had emptied all of my recycling, I never felt that I had recycled enough."

Moreover, this program has directly benefited the Galloway community and has indirectly benefited the entire UNCW community. Due to this program, Galloway residents are more versed on issues related to energy conservation, water conservation, recycling and sustainability as a whole, all of which will make them better citizens.

Another Galloway alumnus stated, "Once I left Galloway I wanted to keep recycling. The things I learned in Galloway I took with me to the next apartment I had."

The year-long program model encourages students to be life-long learners, and the Galloway staff believes that this program is a starting point for many students. Galloway Goes Green is an easy model that can be adapted to every residential area on campus, and it has revolutionized the way UNCW approaches recycling and sustainability, getting the residents involved in a fun and rewarding interaction.

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Developing A Sustainable SustainabilityLiving-Learning Community

By Josh Alexander

Upon arriving to UNC in March 2008 I was charged with revitalizing our Sustainability Living-Learning Community housed in the Morrison Residential Community. The program was in its first year, and was predominately a group of students whose common interest was protecting the environment.

Participants met on a semi-regular basis to discuss current events and implement sustainable living practices among themselves. I spent the remainder of that semester attending meetings, showing my support, and collecting feedback from the participants on ways to be more intentional for the future. The feedback I received indicated that an intentional curriculum was vital for this program's success.

As the semester concluded, I did my own research on leadership development models that could guide our program practices. I found the Social Change Model of Leadership Development to have many guiding principles that correlated to the needs of our program. The SCMLD emphasizes growth in leadership through seven core values, often referred to as the 7 C's:

·         Consciousness of Self

·         Congruence

·         Commitment

·         Collaboration

·         Common Purpose

·         Controversy with Civility

·         Citizenship

In June 2008, I attended the ACPA Institute on Sustainability at Harvard University. I collected a variety of resources to assist in the development of a curriculum for our community. The most valuable resource was the ACPA monograph, Toward a sustainable future: Student affairs' role in creating healthy environments, social justice, and strong economies (2008).

The authors recommend that each student who participates in a program related to sustainability education should:

1.      Be able to define sustainability

2.      Be able to explain how sustainability relates to their lives and their values, 
         and how their actions impact issues of sustainability

3.      Be able to utilize their knowledge of sustainability to change their daily 
         actions and consumer mentality

4.      Be able to explain how environmental, social, and economic systems are 
         interrelated

5.      Learn change agent skills

6.      Learn how to apply concepts of sustainability to their campus and 
         community

7.      Demonstrate a commitment to sustainability by actively applying their
knowledge of sustainability to their lives, professions, and societies.

The Social Change Model for Leadership Development and ACPA monograph Toward a Sustainable Future were fused together to form our learning outcomes. Students who participate in the Sustainability Living-Learning Community will:

1. Increase their understanding of their own sustainable living identity through critical reflection of their attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and values
2. Discover consistency, authenticity, and honesty between their internal consciousness and external behaviors
3. Develop an inner motivation to outreach, educate, and serve others regarding issues of sustainable living
4. Learn means to collaborate successfully with their peers in order to achieve common goals
5. Explore shared aims and values within their community of peers
6. Discover the differences which may exist between individual identities and community aims, and learn means to work openly through these differences
7. Become aware of their relationship as individuals and a community within a larger global community, and realize their ability and duty to serve as educators, mentors, and change agents.

(For more information see: Developmental Theory Integration and Implementation 2008-2009.pdf.)

The refined curriculum was implemented for its first iteration in 2008-2009. A mixed-method assessment (for more information see: 2008-2009 Assessment.pdf) was implemented at 3 points throughout the year (pre, mid, and post). The assessment looked at the direct impact on participant knowledge and behavioral changes with regard to living a more "sustainable" lifestyle.

Assessment results indicated that participants were significantly benefiting from the concept of the "Triple Bottom Line" (Sustainability expanded beyond an environmental context to also include social justice and economical impacts). Other areas where participant knowledge developed were the social justice aspects of sustainability.

From this assessment, the curriculum was expanded beyond an environmental aspect to a larger-scale exploration of the term "sustainability." (For more information see: Sustainability LLC Community Document 2009-2010.pdf.)

In 2009-2010, participants of the community explored environmental sustainability, the sustainability of activist movements, economic sustainability,personal sustainability, sustainability of education, sustainability of creativity, sustainability of religion, political sustainability, and the sustainability of development. Diversifying our topics allowed us to remain true to our core structure of social change and sustainability education, while also reaching a larger number of students who may be interested in topics beyond the environmental implications of sustainability.

The 2009-2010 curriculum was such a success with our students that we are making only a few small changes for the 2010-2011 academic year (sustainability of the justice system replaced sustainability of religion).

Based on my work with the UNC Sustainability Living-Learning Community over the last two years, I recommend the following for anyone looking to develop a similar program:

1)      Let theory guide your work: a living-learning community should be developmental for your participants, and not just a "fun" experience for them to go through. Carefully choose a developmental model that best represents your values.

2)      Do your research: look for other existing programs that you can borrow ideas from to create your own unique program. You don't need to copy all of someone else's work, but you also don't need to reinvent the wheel.

3)      Develop structured learning outcomes: Create a list of tangible, intentional, measurable learning objectives that you want for your students to meet while participating in your program.

4)      Allow your students to help you: while they might not have the same degree that you do, they often aren't any less qualified to shape their own learning experiences. The bulk of our curriculum for the 2009-2010 academic year was created by our students. That also helped us with our participation rates and execution of the seminars.

5)      Assess your work: make sure that your program is actually accomplishing what you set out to do. Ask intentional questions to see the intellectual and developmental impact of your work, and don't be afraid to look at the results. While it might be more work in the beginning phases to go back to the drawing board, the overall sustainability of your program lies in a strong foundation.

6)      Get buy-in from faculty: an intentional academic partnership is key for the success of such a program. Having faculty members engaged in the curriculum development is crucial for the longevity of the program.

References
ACPA – College Student Educators International. (2008). Toward a sustainable future: Student affairs' role in creating healthy environments, social justice, and strong economies.
Alexander, J. T. (2008). UNC Sustainability Living-Learning Community: Developmental Theory Integration and
Implementation. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alexander, J. T. (2008). UNC Sustainability Living-Learning Community: 2008-2009 Assessment. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alexander, J. T., Meyer A. M., & Nickell, C. P. (2009). Sustainability LLC Community Document 2009-2010. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Astin, A. W. (1993).  What matters in college?  Four critical years revisited.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.
Astin, A. W., & Scherrei, R.A.  (1980).  Maximizing leadership effectiveness.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.
Astin, A. W., & Leland, C.  (1991).  Women of influence, women of vision:  A cross-generational study of leaders and social change.  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.
Astin, H .S. (1996, July-August).  Leadership for social change.  About Campus, 1, 4-10.
Hambrick, A. Z., Majovski, L. F., & Olsen Krengel, J. R. (2007). Executive Summary Statement, Social Action and
Leadership Living and Learning Community. Pacific Lutheran University.
Higher Education Research Institute. (1996). A Social Change Model of Leadership Development (3^rd ed.).  Los Angeles.

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About STARS

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability. STARS was developed by AASHE (the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) with broad participation from the higher education community. Learn more about AASHE at www.aashe.org.

STARS is designed to:

·   Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.

·   Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with
    broad participation from the campus sustainability community.

·   Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.

·   Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices.

·   Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.

Why Participate?

1) Earn Recognition                            6) Save Time & Money in Developing a Sustainability Plan
2) Streamline Reporting                      7) Set Goals and Generate New Ideas
3) Collaborate Across Campus           8) Adopt as a Teaching and Learning Tool
4) Shape the System                           9) Access STARS Resources
5) Benchmark with Peers                    10) Share Your Story

Learn more about the top ten reasons to participate in STARS at http://stars.aashe.org/.

Get Involved

Visit the STARS website at http://stars.aashe.org/ to:

·   Register to become a STARS Charter Participant.

·   View the STARS Technical Manual.

·   Subscribe to the STARS Update, a free monthly electronic newsletter.

For more information, please contact:

Dave Newport, Director
Environmental Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
University Memorial Center 355
Boulder, CO 80309-0207
303-492-8309 office
Web: ecenter.colorado.edu
Email: dave.newport@colorado.edu

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Know NASPA Members Who Might Be Interested in Sustainability?

If so, how about inviting them to join the Sustainability Knowledge Community (SKC)? Joining is free and easy. To learn about NASPA's different knowledge communities, click here. To sign up for the SKC, look in the right column for the heading HOW TO JOIN A KC when you click here.

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Know Anyone Who Might Want to Join NASPA?

NASPA offers many opportunities. Why not ask a colleague if he or she would like to check out what NASPA has to offer? A good first step is to visit the NASPA home page.

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NASPA 2011 Annual Conference

The conference, Educating for Lives of Purpose, will be March 12-16 in Philadelphia, PA.  Registration is open.

Want to submit a proposal to give a program on sustainability? The deadline is 9/3/10.

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Publications & Links

Know any websites or other resources that might interest Sustainability Knowledge Community (SKC) members? If so, please send them to Steve Radwanski at steven.radwanski@stockton.edu, so he can post links to them on the SKC website. The purpose of the resources is to inform SKC members. Promoting a business is not allowed. Please include the website's name, a short description (e.g., a phrase or one or two sentences), and the website address (URL).

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Want to Write a Newsletter Article?

The SKC needs authors for its quarterly newsletter. We surveyed SKC members about topics they want in the newsletter. They want to read about sustainability and social justice; student government and environmental organization collaborations; greening orientation; green teams - campus partnerships; and sustainability, health and wellness. Those topics are of particular interest, but any sustainability topic that would interest student affairs professionals nationally, and does not promote a business, is welcome.

For examples of appropriate newsletter articles, please see our April 2010 newsletter and this July 2010 newsletter. Appropriate photos, charts or other graphics are encouraged. If you want to write an article, please email your desired topic to SKC communications director Bruce Smith for approval at bruce.smith999@gmail.com. The deadline for submitting an article for the October edition is Mon. 9/27, so you have plenty of time. Please email your article to Bruce.

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Take Back the Tap: Bring Sustainability to a First Year Experience Course

By Stephen Nason, Sustainability KC Coordinator and Director of Residence Life/Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Unity College

Like many colleges, Unity College has a First Year Experience course designed to introduce incoming students to the mission of the College, and to what it means to be a college student. The course also covers the issues and challenges that face the typical Unity College incoming student during the year. Unlike many other colleges, Unity College is an environmental college with all of its majors focused on environmental issues. Perhaps one of the most valued part of Unity College's mission is to nurture its students to become stewards of the Earth. Therefore, often the first year experience class picks an environmental theme as its focus. This year was no different, as the theme was "Take Back the Tap."

The "Take Back the Tap" theme is based on the Take Back the Tap movement of the Food and Water Watch group featured in the documentary Tapped. Basically, the idea behind Take Back the Tap is an effort to get people to return to drinking water from their tap and not bottled water. The problem with bottled water is two-fold. The first problem is how the water companies are obtaining their water. Large corporations like Nestlé and Coca-Cola are taking large amounts of water from small towns like Farmington, Maine, which adversely affects the water table of the town.

In many states, underground water is controlled by the owner of the land above it. This means that a water company can come into a small town, purchase land above a known underground water source, and tap that source regardless of who might using the water downstream. Other times the large water companies are just taking city tap water and bottling it, advertising it as more natural/pure than tap water. The second problem is the plastic bottles in which the water is packaged. Manufacturing of the plastic bottles is very harmful to the environment and to people around the manufacturing plant. Additionally, very few plastic bottles are recycled. An example of an environmental problem caused by this is that parts of the ocean are now becoming filled with plastic bottles and some beaches are now made up of small bits of plastic instead of sand.

The "Take Back the Tap" program at Unity College began this past summer in July with the College sponsoring the showing of Tapped at the Maine Film Festival. Tapped is a documentary on the water bottling business in the United States and looks at the problems bottle water is causing in the environment. The Student Affairs department at Unity College grabbed the reins of the program. Dean for Student Affairs Gary Zane, who also is one of the instructors of the First Year Experience course, was a champion of the Take Back the Tap program, with support of the human resources and President's offices. To make sure the program wasn't just a onetime gimmick for incoming students, Dean Zane purchased enough stainless steel water bottles for every student, staff member, and faculty member to use so that the whole campus could become involved in the water discussion.

The water bottles are emblazoned with the Student Creed of Integrity, Environment, Community, and Respect. Dean Zane also worked with the college's maintenance department to fit all of the water fountains on campus with special faucets designed for filling up water bottles. Finally, students were encouraged to use their water bottles in the cafeteria and student center.

New Student Orientation this year ended with "Take Back the Tap" Fest, an afternoon of games, live music, dancing, and outdoor activities. Students received their stainless steel water bottles to encourage use of tap water. The final part of the Take Back the Tap program was in the First Year Experience classes where each class viewed the documentary Flow and discussed the pros and cons of bottled water. Take Back the Tap has turned into a symbol at Unity College. Students carry their water bottles with pride and are now more knowledgeable about the issues concerning bottled water. They are one step closer to becoming stewards of the Earth. The program also was a great response by the College to students' interest in sustainability issues. The Take Back the Tap program is a program any college can adapt. You don't need to be an environmental college, and the program can serve as a springboard for any institution thinking about beginning or enhancing their sustainability program.

So go take back the Tap!

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