The word sustainability gets tossed around casually. It is used synonymously with green or eco-friendly. It has been defined a thousand different ways, without getting any clearer.

On Thursday, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s Green Campus Initiative held a State of Our Campuses forum.

Representatives from SUNY-Morrisville, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse University and ESF discussed how sustainability was being addressed on the respective campuses.

Sustainability is about changing institutional cultures. This is much harder than rearranging the budget to fund a recycling program. Students can make incremental changes, but eventually there will be a paradigm shift in how universities and the world use resources. Taking care of today’s needs without infringing on the ability of future generations to take care of themselves will become business as usual.

Unsurprisingly, the schools were facing the same hurdles. For example, student-run compost operations must be carefully maintained to avoid odors and rats. Publicizing sustainability initiatives on campus is vital for increasing student involvement.

At the institutional level, some projects can be very expensive, like LEED-certified construction. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a checklist for designers and contractors of sustainable building practices. Buildings earn a certain amount of points for each item implemented.

Although helpful, the point system is arbitrary. Building practices are not considered as systems that interact within the building and with surrounding landscapes. This can lead to decisions that do not optimize installations, like placing solar panels in the shadows.

There are other changes that require effort but no budget. Both ESF and Morrisville have employed de-lamping, taking half the bulbs out of light fixtures, to reduce energy costs. ESF saves $2,000 a year lighting Moon Library this way.

Habits are hard to break, and institutions are slow to change. Sustainability is seen as something for privileged people to make a hobby out of, or possibly a career. If you do not choose to pay attention to it, it’s OK, someone else cares. The representative on the panel from SU said the greatest challenge was gaining student participation.

Good design and good resource management has always been sustainable. There are so many changes that could be made easily. Campuses could turn the heat down. Here in Central New York, we could do away with air conditioning in favor of better ventilation. Why do campuses build new facilities without considering retrofitting existing buildings? Why is growth the accepted state of being?

Sustainability does not have to be a burden – it can be reframed as an opportunity to solve puzzles. Frequently, barriers to sustainability initiatives are not inventing new technologies, but effectively using ones that already exist.

It is a matter of making business decisions, changing management strategies, advertising and educating. Sustainability cannot only be about environmental science majors, it needs to be about a wider cross-section of the student body.

Sustainability on campus needs to be packaged as something to rally around, as innovative projects to be proud of and participate in. Not just empty suggestions to carpool and recycle.

Leanna Mulvihill is a senior forest engineering major and environmental writing and rhetoric minor. Her column appears every Tuesday. She can be reached at lpmulvih@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @LeannaMulvihill. 

Published on April 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm