College Sustainability

As a student at Bellevue College, I’m probably most qualified to talk about their efforts in terms of going green. Though Bellevue College isn’t doing anything specific to keep things green (at least not that I can tell) they do have the standard no littering and only smoking in designated areas policies. As a mostly community college with limited funds it is probably hard for them to do anything more unless they raised tuition, but things such as using florescent light bulbs could be a good foundation for a greener school. Student involvement would also be helpful in keeping things greener. Even small things like starting a community garden or reusing textbooks and printing double-sided would probably make a significant difference.

Other schools with more funds or just a different focus are doing more to help the environment. Evergreen, another Washington state college, has taken some pretty huge steps in becoming more green. There’s actually a committee called Leadership Circle of the Presidents Climate Commitment, whose goal is to neutralize climate change. Evergreen is a part of this committee and as such has created a college environment where on average students have less than half the average carbon emissions than the average college student. They have 1,033 acres of woodlands to work with, which probably helps the effort immensely. They also have a dorm specifically designated for sustainability purposes even using solar panels as a partial energy source. They have an organic farm, and community garden, which are maintained through student volunteering and are used to teach students about buying locally and producing their own foods. They also have over 380 people involved in a group promoting sustainability inside and outside the campus, as well as a strong emphasis on environmental issues in their curriculum. Not to mention they actually have as many recycling bins as garbage bins around campus, which seems to be a rarity these days.

Another college working on becoming more sustainable is Western University. There’s a program there called the 10x12 program that’s goal is to reduce water and electricity use throughout campus to both conserve money and environmental resources. They do this by making sure the buildings at Western are built to sustain heat and by educating students on the importance of sustainability. They are also a part of the same climate committee that Evergreen is and are working to reduce their carbon footprint. They are currently powered entirely by alternative power sources and purchase many of their foods locally. They also have a program to promote reusing cups and plates.

Overall Washington is a pretty progressive state in terms of becoming more green. There are certainly some areas that do need to work on sustainability, but it looks to me like over here we’re heading in the right direction, so I’m not particularly concerned with trying to motivate local colleges to become more green. It’s just interesting to see what they’re doing. A lot of these things like adding more recycling bins or reusing cups and plates aren’t that hard to implement and even some of the more extreme things like reducing utility use or promoting environmental education could work for a lot of colleges. But I will say that these colleges spend tens of millions of dollars on sustainability, and so it’s understandable that not every institution would want to devote that much of their limited resources to the effort.