Moving Bergen Community College Towards Sustainability

MOVING BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY:

AN ACTION PLAN IN SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES

Robert Scott Dill

A Project Present to the FACULTY OF THE RAMAPO COLLEGE In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES) May 2012

Copy Right 2012 Robert Scott Dill EPIGRAPH

"Sustainability implies that the critical activities of a higher education institution are (at a minimum) ecologically sound, socially just, and economically viable, and that they will continue to be so for future generations. A truly sustainable college or university would emphasize these concepts in its curriculum and research, preparing students to contribute as working citizens to an environmentally sound and socially just society. The institution would function as a sustainable community, embodying responsible consumption of food and energy, treating its diverse members with respect, and supporting these values in the surrounding community.”

Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (www.ulsf.org)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost I would like to acknowledge the following Ramapo College faculty for preparing me for and assisting me with this project: Dr. Michael Edelstein, Dr.

Wayne Hayes, Dr. Sanghamitra Padhy, Dr. Ashwani Vasishth, and Dr. Eric Wiener.

Without their teachings and tireless support, this project could have never been done.

Second, I’d like to acknowledge my family, Jacqueline, McKensie, and Madeline.

Without their support and understanding I could never have found the time to complete not only this project, but the whole program. May the phrase “I can’t, I have to write” never be spoken by me in my house again…..at least for a while.

And finally, I would like to thank the members of my masters’ cohort. Without their support, constructive criticism, patience, and words of wisdom, this project and my whole Masters program would not have been such a rich and wonderful experience.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...... 1 Introduction...... 1 Problem Statement...... 3 Significance of this study...... 4 Literature review...... 4 Barriers to Sustainability...... 8 Overcoming These Barriers ...... 10 Best Practices...... 17 Limitations of Literature Reviewed...... 21 Sustainability at Bergen Today...... 23

CHAPTER TWO: SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN...... 29 Vision Statement...... 29 Summary of Sustainability Action Plan goals ...... 31 Sustainability Action Plan Goals ...... 32 Goal One: Sustainability Committee: ...... 32 Rationale: ...... 32 Action Steps:...... 33 Best practice Case study: Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA...... 35 Rationale: ...... 36 Action Steps:...... 37 Best practice Case study: University of Tennessee ...... 42 Goal Three: Sustainability Awareness Program...... 43 Rationale ...... 43 Best practice Case study: Wilbur Wright College, Chicago, IL...... 47 Goal Four: Greenhouse Gas reduction Program...... 48 Rationale ...... 48 Action Steps:...... 49 Best practice Case study: University Of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA...... 53 Goal Five: Recycling, Composting, and Waste Reduction Program...... 54 Rationale ...... 54

Action Steps:...... 55 Best practice Case study: Jefferson Community and Technical College, Louisville, KY ...... 59 Rationale ...... 61 Action Steps:...... 61 Best practice Case study: Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA...... 64

CHAPTER THREE: CONCULSION AND NEXT STEPS...... 65 CONCULSION...... 65 Short-term Action Steps:...... 67 Medium-term Action Steps:...... 67 NEXT STEPS ...... 69 Appendix A: Participants in the Sustainability Task Force...... 75 Appendix B: Student Participants in Focus Groups ...... 76 Appendix C: Who’s who at Bergen Community College ...... 77

ABSTRACT

While the concept of sustainability has been around for several decades, our civilization has been slow to adopt its underlying principles. The concept of sustainability is rather simple; meet the current generation’s needs without compromising future generations from meeting their needs. Institutes of higher education have an obligation to future generations to convey this principle to its students because they will one day be future political leaders, business leaders, educators, and citizens. While many institutes of higher education have embraced this challenge, Bergen Community College has been slow to adopt the principle of sustainability into its campus culture.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a Sustainability Action Plan to be implemented at Bergen Community College. This plan was developed based on case studies and best practices at other colleges and universities. The goals and objectives were in part determined by a review of the current literature as well as through a

Sustainability Task Force formed by me at the college.

For this plan to work we will need five key elements. First we will need cross campus membership in our sustainability efforts. Second, we will need strong leadership from the top. Third, we need ownership at all levels. Fourth, we need a vision that unites. Fifth, Bergen will need to add sustainability as part of its long-term strategic planning from an operations standpoint as well as from a curriculum standpoint. Once these elements are in place, Bergen will be closer to operating in a more sustainable manner. And we will begin to catch up to the other colleges and universities which are ahead of us with respect to sustainability. In addition, we will become a beacon for those institutions which have not yet begun the path towards sustainability

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Introduction

As I walk around the campus of Bergen Community College I am struck by what is and what could be with respect to sustainability. While Bergen has come a long way in the past few years on this issue, it still has a long way to go if the campus is to be considered a green or sustainable campus. I see so much potential to take the sustainability initiatives currently in place to the next level and to begin many others.

There is much to be done. And while many dedicated faculty, staff, and students have worked tirelessly to bring us where we are today, we can do more. There is always room for improvement. Over the past two years I have been reading a great deal about sustainability on college campuses and I know what other campuses have done. So when

I walk around campus, I don’t see what is not being done, rather I see what could be done and it is very doable and very exciting.

Many campuses are many years ahead of us on the topic of sustainability, and I am equally sure that there are many others who are far behind us. Regardless of where these other campuses are, I know where ours could be and how we can get there. My hope is that this paper is the opening salvo in a new push towards bringing Bergen further down the path of sustainability. One that will include all levels and all members of the college community. My hope is that someday, others will look to Bergen as a beacon of sustainability and they will try to emulate our successes and learn from our failures.

Bringing Bergen further down the path of sustainability will require a few key elements to be successful. First we need to establish a permanent sustainability committee made up students, faculty, staff, and administrators. This committee will be charged with analyzing where we are and where we could be with respect to sustainability. They will also be the ones who will plan and execute all sustainability initiatives on campus. While they will need Presidential and administrative approval for some of the projects, they will work as the sustainability experts on campus. In addition to the members of the sustainability committee doing the work, we will also need support from campus clubs and organizations to help us in our sustainability efforts.

The second element we will need is a budget. While many of the plans I have for the campus do not require money, there are some that will require money to be implemented. Whether this money comes from an allocation by the college or through grants, the committee will need funds to move the college further down the path of sustainability.

The third and final element we need to progress is Presidential and administrative support. Since many of the plans I have for Bergen require policy change, we will need

Presidential and administrative backing to implement the sustainability initiatives. My fear is that if we as a committee try to change policy without this support, the policies will not be adopted by the college community. In much of the research I have done, strong Presidential and administrative support was vital to the success of sustainability initiatives. This does not mean that without Presidential and administrative support we will be unable to impart sustainability. Rather that with this support we will be able to accomplish more.

We will become a more sustainable institution. We can either strike now and follow the campuses that are truly practicing sustainability. Or we can wait until more campuses pass us with respect to sustainability and play catch up in the years that follow.

Sustainability is the future and institutions who are truly practicing sustainability will find themselves better positioned in the years to come. In addition, institutions which practice sustainability will better prepare students for the challenges which face our civilization.

The choice and the future is ours, act now and be ahead of the curve, or wait and be behind the curve.

Problem Statement

I find it somewhat difficult to be teaching the concepts of sustainability to students while the facility where I teach is not doing all it can to become more sustainable. In addition, the concept of sustainability should not be confined to the discipline of science but rather be broadened to other disciplines at the College. At a time when the concept of sustainability is gaining traction in the main stream media, businesses and institutions of higher education are moving toward sustainable practices.

While Bergen Community College has made some progress, this process has been slow.

And many of the sustainability projects that have started at Bergen are occurring without the College community being aware of or involved in these projects. Now is the time for the concept of sustainability to embody the importance it deserves and for all stakeholders on campus to be aware of the sustainability projects which are taking off and will continue into the future. I am excited about showing students more examples of sustainability on campus and to learn about the concepts of sustainability from other 3 disciplines and other points of view. It is time to step up our game at Bergen

Community College and really show our students that the Business-As-Usual (BAU) paradigm will soon be failing and that there is an alternative to its destructive practices.

My question is: Can Bergen Community College become more sustainable in its practices and its teaching and can we change the culture of the campus to one that embraces sustainability?

Significance of this study

The purpose of this study will be to develop a Sustainability Action Plan at

Bergen Community College based on the publications and case studies from other colleges and universities. I will take the best practices of these publications and develop a Sustainability Action plan which can be implemented at Bergen Community College. It is my hope that this Sustainability Action Plan will not only help Bergen Community

College to become more sustainable but will serve as a model for other colleges and universities to follow. I also hope that this action plan with begin the cultural transformation process at Bergen Community College to one that embraces the virtues and values of sustainability not just in its practices but throughout all areas of the college.

Literature review

While global problems such as climate change and pollution increase at an ever faster pace, more people are beginning to take notice and beginning to act to reverse these disturbing trends. The BAU paradigm is still firmly entrenched into our civilization, but this grip has begun to lose hold. Contrary to common culture and belief, we live on a 4 finite planet with finite resources and a finite mechanism to remediate waste. We are currently consuming many of the Earth’s renewable resources beyond their ability to regenerate. We are polluting faster than the planet can sequester these wastes, not in all cases, but in many. And as for the non-renewable resources, we are burning through them at an unprecedented rate and many of these resources will become depleted within the next few decades. This trend is likely to continue and will most likely get worse unless measures are taken to slow down this unsustainable use of the planet.

Institutes of higher education hold a very unique position when imparting the concepts of sustainability. Institutes of higher education train future generations of leaders (Owens and Halfacre-Hitchcock, 2006); they also train future business owners and individuals who will be entering the workforce. With all of the problems facing the world today, Institutes of higher Education have a moral obligation to reduce their impact on the planet and to educate future generations to the perils our civilization is facing

(Button, 2009). Institutes of higher education must see themselves within the larger planetary system and must stand up against the unspoken assumption that the Earth is infinite and that there will always be an “away” to put our collective waste (Sharp, 2002).

Colleges and universities across the planet are amazing sites for technological innovation

(Wells, Savanick, and Manning, 2009) what better way to use that technological innovation than to move the planet in the direction of sustainability? Institutes of higher education have an essential role in advancing the pillars of sustainability, which are social, environmental, and economic concerns (Fien, 2002).

As institutes of higher education move in the direction of sustainability and continue to teach the practices of sustainability, it will be better for the common good of humans as well as every other forms of life we share this planet with.

This history of campus sustainability initiatives dates back to the 1990’s with single small sustainability projects (Sharp, 2009). In the mid 2000’s campuses started to move away from single small sustainability projects to larger and more multifaceted projects and campuses started to realize that a single project does not make a campus

“green” (Sharp, 2009). Since 2000, the number of campuses that signed some form of sustainability or greenhouse gas reduction pledges has been increasing. In addition, the number of sustainability committees on campuses is up as along with the number of campuses which have undertaken Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

(LEED) building projects (Sharp, 2009). While signing a commitment with respect to sustainability or greenhouse gas reduction is admirable, it is the action that the institute takes that is important. Institutes of higher education must overcome the initial enthusiasm of small scale sustainability efforts and embrace transformation at the institutional level (Owens and Halfacre-Hitchcock, 2006). Institutes of higher education must move from small scale project success to institutional transformation (Sharp, 2002).

The time for small thinking and small changes is over. The time for larger, more comprehensive sustainability initiatives to permeate through campuses across the planet is now.

There have been many frameworks which have come about to bring sustainability to college and university campuses over the past few decades. The Stockholm

Declaration (1972), the Talloires Declaration (1990), the Kyoto Declaration (1993), the

Swansea Declaration (1993), and the Thessaloniki Declaration (1997) to name a few

(Wright, 2002). The goal of each of the declarations is to bring the concept of sustainability and environmental awareness from a conceptual perspective into practice at the college and university levels as well as into communities and nations. While the development of these frameworks is admirable, and the signing of these declarations by colleges is even more admirable, the real challenge is adhering to them and implementing the changes they stand for. One of the more recent and important sustainability/climate change commitments is the American College and University Presidents’ Climate

Commitment (ACUPCC) which started in 2006. This is a network of American colleges and universities that have made a commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas production.

Signatories do an emissions inventory, set a date to become carbon neutral, implement changes to reach this goal, integrate sustainability into the curriculum, and make this information available to other colleges and universities as well as to the public. The

ACUPCC has become the focal point for many colleges and universities in their efforts to become more sustainable (White, 2004). Although signing this agreement is a step towards sustainability, real action is what is needed. Bergen Community College is among the signatories to the ACUPCC; former President G. Jeremiah Ryan signed the commitment in 2008.

In this literature review I will examine what other colleges and universities have done to move down the path toward sustainability. I primarily looked at case studies which have been implemented at other colleges and universities to see what has worked and what has failed. I focused on three main elements of these case studies: barriers to sustainability, overcoming those barriers, and best practices. It is important to see what

7 obstacles institutions of higher education have encountered as they progress towards sustainability. Moreover, it is important to see how they overcame these obstacles and moved toward sustainability. I also examined sustainability best practices. While there is “no one size fits all” sustainability plan, there were some commonalities among colleges and universities. My goal is to find sustainability best practices and strategies for overcoming these barriers so sustainable changes can be achieved at Bergen

Community College.

Barriers to Sustainability

There are many barriers to imparting sustainability at the institutional level to

Institutes of higher education. Like most large changes in any institution, change can be seen as instability by some. The movement towards sustainability is not just a change in the curriculum; but rather a change in the way the entire institution thinks and acts. It is a paradigm shift. While small scale sustainability programs are viewed as a move towards sustainability, for institutional changes to take place, large shifts across the board must take place. One of the biggest barriers to institutional change is the fact colleges and universities are very complex (Sharp, 2002). Within any complex system, large scale changes are difficult to implement. This is due to the fact that there are many levels within colleges and universities. Administration, faculty, staff and students, are all different stakeholders with different wants and needs. And it is difficult, but not impossible, to move toward sustainability while trying to satisfy all these diverse stakeholders. There is also, in many cases, a lack of financial resources which are often required to progress down the path of sustainability (Dahle and Neumayer, 2001). While

8 some programs, such as energy conservation require nothing more than education and policy, other measures, such as renewable energy, require large inputs of capital. In this day and age of budget cuts and economic downturns, it is difficult to warrant spending money now, when there is a long payback period (Dahle and Neumayer, 2001).

Another barrier to imparting sustainability is the current culture of denial (Sharp,

2009). While this is an unspoken barrier, it is a barrier nonetheless. Many people believe in an Earth that is infinite and that resources are being replenished at the rate they are being consumed. While this is a convenient belief, it is one that will be our undoing unless we change the way we as a civilization think. This is the message that is relayed to us when we watch TV, listen to the radio, use the internet or speak with our friends and family. Although it is a comforting message, it is one which is false. This barrier will be one that is difficult to overcome because it is so pervasive in our industrialized culture.

But never the less, it must be overcome if we are to achieve institutional transformation towards sustainability.

This leads into the next barrier to sustainability, lack of education (Dahle and

Neumayer, 2001). Many of the students who enter colleges and universities have never been exposed to the principles of sustainability at home or through schooling. Nor have they been educated to the true value of sustainability. Sustainability is just now beginning to percolate through primary and secondary schools. While some schools have been teaching the virtues for decades, most have not. When these students enter colleges or universities, there is a lack of interest in sustainability (Dahle and Neumayer, 2001).

Students, if they are not given a chance to practice sustainability, have little or no interest in starting such initiatives. In addition to teaching the students about the concepts of

9 sustainability, they must also be educated or at least reminded of how it is done. For example, many times there is a lack of information on how and where to recycle and a lack of information on how to practice energy conservation (Owens and Halfacre-

Hitchcock, 2006) both important in moving towards sustainability. Communication is a key component in moving towards sustainability (Owens and Halfacre-Hitchcock, 2006).

The principle of lack of education does not only apply to students but to faculty, administration, and staff members. These groups within the college or university may also lack the education on the value and virtues of sustainability. In addition they too may lack the information on how to practice sustainability within the college or university.

Which leads to the final barrier covered in the literature, territorialism. There is an institutionalized habit of territorialism within many colleges and universities (Sharp,

2009). Professors teach, administrators administrate, staff members run the ‘behind the scenes’ show, and students learn. For there to be a truly institutional transformation, all stakeholders must join in the effort. In addition to there being territorialism between faculty, administration, staff members and students, there is also territorialism among different divisions, departments, and disciplines. This territorialism within colleges and universities acts as a barrier in preventing institutional transformations towards sustainability.

Overcoming These Barriers

There is no one simple solution to overcoming these barriers to bringing sustainability to colleges and universities because each of these institutions will have a

10 different set of barriers (Sharp, 2002) and different internal dynamics. In addition, how strong each barrier is will also vary from institution to institution and the amount of time and energy dedicated to each barrier will fluctuate. Based on the literature, there are only a few strategies that are common to most colleges and universities and I will begin this section by reviewing them.

One of the best ways to overcome barriers to achieving sustainability at institutions of higher education is to attack the problem from an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and multi-tiered approach (Sharp, 2009). The more stakeholders that are involved from different departments and disciplines and from different levels from within the institution, the more likely large and meaningful changes will take place.

While it is more difficult to get such a large and diverse group to agree on things, if there is a large and diverse group making decisions, than those decisions, are more likely to be met with less resistance. This can be done by forming a sustainability committee (Sharp,

2002). Having a multi-tiered committee with administrators, faculty, staff, and students is an excellent way to steer sustainability issues and a great way to gain support from the whole College or University community.

This group must also have a shared vision of what needs to be done and how to get it done (Sharp, 2002). In addition to having a sustainability committee, it is also very important to have a sustainability coordinator at colleges and universities (Parker, 2007).

Having a dedicated employee whose main job it is to impart sustainability at a college or university might seem frivolous and extravagant, but when looking at the money which could be saved through conservation and energy efficiency, these savings alone will pay this individual’s salary. Many colleges and universities have retrofitted existing

11 maintenance positions into sustainability coordinators and this has worked to help impart sustainability. Regardless of whether a college or university hires a new person or trains an existing employee to become a sustainability coordinator, having one will certainly help facilitate sustainability efforts.

In addition to having a multi-tiered sustainability committee and a sustainability coordinator, there needs to be support for sustainability initiatives from all levels within the college or university. For successful implementation of sustainability programs, all levels of the institution must be involved at some level. While the different levels will be involved with different aspects of sustainability, all must share in the responsibility if institutional changes are to take place. There must also be shared ownership and credit for the successes, and the failures, with respect to sustainability programs (Button, 2009).

If a segment of the institute of higher education does much of the work, and another group gets the credit, then that segment will lose interest and may no longer participate in sustainability initiatives.

The role of administration should be to provide leadership and promote sustainability changes (Ferrer-Bales, Adachi, Banas, Davidson, and Hoshikoshi, 2008) from an institutional point of view. The administration should be looking at the longer term perspective and keep the long range goals in mind. Without strong visionary leadership from the administration, institutional sustainability changes will be more difficult, but not impossible to achieve. They will also be responsible for conveying the message that change does not mean instability (Sharp, 2009). Many individuals view change as instability, and this is a false belief. The administration must convince faculty, staff, and students that moving towards sustainability is a worthwhile endeavor and will

12 not only benefit the institution, but will pay dividends to all stakeholders at the institutions well as the community surrounding the institution. And as the payback time on these sustainability projects gets shorter and shorter due the fact that these projects become more common across society, the price of these projects goes down (Sharp,

2009). The administration must set clear goals and objectives, state the nature of the problem, and help generate solutions (Sharp, 2002). The administration does not have to do this alone. The administration should enlist the help of the faculty, staff, and students when setting these goals and objectives as well as generating solutions. Once again, strong leadership is vital, ensuring institutional sustainability transformation.

Faculty also plays a vital role in moving towards sustainability. While the administration provides some of the leadership, the faculty must also provide leadership.

In many instances, the faculty will be leading the charge when it comes to implementing many of the sustainability projects on campus. They will be leading and interacting with students. For this to occur, effective communication between the administration and the faculty is essential (Comm and Mathaisel, 2003). If the administration is not effectively communicating its vision, goals, objectives, and rationale to the faculty, then they may not act with the vigor that the issue of sustainability deserves. The administration needs to empower the faculty to makes the necessary changes in order to move towards sustainability (Sharp, 2002). Faculty must be free to some extent, to make changes without having to turn to the administration and ask for permission. Here is where clear goals and objectives become vital. If the faculty is empowered to lead, with the goals and objectives in mind, then great changes can be achieved. Faculty also has the important role of educating students and raising awareness to the problems and the solutions at hand

(Dahle and Neumayer, 2001). Students must be educated about the value and the virtues of sustainability and that their individual action and inactions do matter and that they can make a difference (Marcell, Agyeman, and Rappaport, 2004). If students change their daily behavior, they can contribute to moving the campus and our civilization towards sustainability (Dahle and Neumayer, 2001).

This education can be done in various ways. It can be done in the classroom in the form of directly teaching the students about the value and virtue of sustainability.

This education must involve all academic disciplines, and not just the discipline of science (Clugston and Calds, 1999). Business, sociology, political science, and economics, to name a few. All disciplines should endeavor to integrate elements of sustainability into their courses where they are applicable. If students are exposed to sustainability in some or all of their classes, then they would begin to see how important sustainability is. This will be challenging but the payoff will be huge. The faculty of colleges and universities has academic freedom to teach what they want and how they want. If the college or university wants faculty to integrate sustainability into the curriculum, then it must educate the faculty on the values and virtues behind the concepts of sustainability. If the faculty is required to teach about sustainability then these efforts may be met with resistance.

And this is where the administration must show leadership. It must set clear educational goals and objectives that the faculty is willing to follow. Another way to get faculty to teach the concepts of sustainability is to incentivize it. If teaching the concepts of sustainability were made part of the promotion, reappointment, or tenure obligations, then the adoption of sustainability principles would take on added value. But the

14 administration must make sustainability a high priority and must sell it to the faculty.

One thing is certain; the territorialism which may exist between different disciplines and departments must be broken down so institutional sustainability changes can take place

(Sharp, 2009).

Another way to disseminate the principles of sustainability is the less direct way through emails, newsletters, articles in the campus paper, and signs (Sharp, 2009). These are effective measures which can be used to reach a wider population of the campus community. Weekly sustainability emails can remind members of the college community of how to act in a more sustainable way. Featured articles in the campus newspaper and a sustainability newsletter highlighting sustainable initiatives across campus will reinforce what is learned to the classroom. In addition, a sustainability website linked to the college or universities website can be a very effective way to disseminate the principles of sustainability. Signs and instructions on how to properly recycle and conserve energy along with a brief explanation of why these measures are important will make these efforts easier and add value to the behavior. All of these efforts can educate all members of college or university campus.

Perhaps the most important stakeholder in making college and university campuses more sustainable are the students. The administration and faculty need someone to lead, and these are the students. They will be involved in many of the campus sustainability projects and initiatives and they need to be involved in all steps of the process, from planning to implementation. The establishment of a campus environmental or sustainability club can bring many new ideas into reality and raise campus awareness. At many campuses the students are the real workhorses while the

15 administration and faculty serve as advisors. The utilization is critical in bringing about sustainable institutional changes. Students can be utilized to monitor and maintain many campus sustainability initiatives. In addition, they can be used to perform carbon and energy audits around campus (White, 2004). This can be done in a formal classroom setting or as a club activity. Either way, this activity will not only help the college or university, but will give the students skills that they can use in their lives outside of campus and when they graduate. While many student lead sustainability programs may have “unintended lapses” (Button, 2009) if there is a core program in place which is overseen by a faculty member, then the lapse will be temporary.

The final stakeholder in the move toward campus sustainability is the staff of the college or university. Many of these stakeholders work behind the scenes to move the campus in the direction of sustainability. Many times their efforts go unnoticed and unrecognized. For these members to continue to move the campus in the direction of sustainability, they must be recognized for the work that they do. If not, they might lose interest in sustainability projects and move on to other projects on campus. For true institutional changes to take place all stakeholders must be willing to work and be recognized for their efforts. Only then will colleges and universities make progress in the move towards sustainability.

A final barrier that colleges and universities must overcome is that they need to look at themselves from a larger perspective and examine how they fit into the local community and the global community (Clugston and Calds, 1999). Colleges and universities must change their culture and adopt not only sustainable education but a sustainable way of existing. They must realize that their actions do affect the local and

16 global community and that they should be leading by word and by deed. They must focus on community and business outreach to help members of the immediate community adopt sustainability principles and practices (Owens and Halfacre-Hitchcock, 2006).

Colleges and universities have a moral obligation to the local community and to the global community to be beacons of sustainability. Partnerships should be developed with the local community and local businesses to work together and become more sustainable together (Getchius, 2005). And they should take the institutional sustainability transformation and turn it into a community and global transformation. Carl Sagan once said “we are one planet”; the sooner colleges and universities realize this and begin to make the necessary institutional changes toward sustainability, the planet will become a better place to live.

Best Practices

In this section I will focus on projects and programs which can be implemented to move campuses towards sustainability. Since these are common best practices, and they were found in many of the papers, I will not be referencing most of them. Based on the papers I have read, there is no “one size fits all” program with respect to sustainability.

And different colleges and universities will focus on different elements. Three areas which seemed to overlap in all papers were: framework; what is being done, levels; who is doing what, and actors; how many are working on the various projects (Wright, 2002).

Different colleges and universities will focus on their individual strengths.

Framework is probably one of the most important elements to moving towards sustainability. In most of the case studies I examined energy conservation was an

17 important element of the move towards sustainability. These are two examples of some of the common energy conservation methods used by colleges and universities. Motion detectors in offices, classrooms, and larger meeting areas: when these devices detect no motion, they turn off the light in that room. These devices are quick and easy to install and relatively inexpensive. In addition, the installation can be done in stages over long periods of time and during college breaks or after hours so they won’t interfere with classes. Another example is computer energy conservation programs. These can either be voluntary, or they can be mandatory and set up by the technology department. In these programs the computer in the library, computer labs, classrooms, and even faculty offices are automatically shut down or put into an energy saving mode. Once again this is an easy step to take to save energy. Once these energy conservation plans have been in effect and the energy and money saving are realized, this information should be made available to all the stakeholders at the college or university. There are other energy conservation programs that could be implemented in a college or university, but these were the two that were most commonly employed.

Another important area in the transition to a more sustainable future was energy efficiency. Here are three examples of energy efficiency initiatives. Installing energy efficient lighting, either florescent or in the case of newer projects, Light Emitting Diodes

(LED). These energy efficient bulbs use a fraction of the energy than standard incandescent bulbs. While changing out light fixtures is a much more costly and time consuming endeavor, in the long-term, they will pay for themselves. This too can be done over long periods of time and can be done bit by bit as money become available. A second example is simple and boring but very effective, equipment maintenance. If

18 equipment such as heating and air conditioning systems and refrigeration systems are properly maintained and cared for than it not only increases their efficiency, but also increases the life of that piece of equipment. This brings me to the third and final energy efficiency measure, buying energy efficient or energy STAR equipment. Most of the time when a college or university needs to buy a large piece of equipment such as a heating and cooling unit it goes out for bids and the lowest bid gets the contract.

Colleges and universities must not only consider the lowest bid but must take into account energy efficiency and factor that into the equation when purchasing big ticket items. If the college or university were to adopt a policy that only energy STAR equipment could be purchased, then the college or university would be closer to becoming more sustainable.

Another important element in the shift towards sustainability is the addition of renewable energy sources on campus, mostly in the form of photovoltaic panels. This is a big ticket item with very hefty price tag. The biggest barrier to adding these to a college or university is the price. While some colleges borrowed money to do these projects, other relied on grants and other state and federal sponsored assistance programs.

While the literature was not very specific on how it was paid for, the results were clear.

The adoption of solar power on campus significantly decreased energy bills and saved the college money in the long run. The payback period was not very specific in these papers, but it was somewhere between four and ten years depending on the size of the project. If colleges and universities began to look at solar power as an investment then more and more colleges and universities would take on such projects. And with the price of energy forecasted to go up over time, the payback period will become shorter and shorter. In

19 addition, as more and more businesses, companies, colleges and universities begin to install these solar projects, the price of such projects will decrease.

Another best practice that colleges and universities are adopting and expanding is their recycling, waste reduction, and composting projects. As the price of waste removal and gas continues to increase, colleges and universities are looking to save money on these items. Two of the main sources of waste at colleges and universities are paper and compostable materials. If colleges and universities were to expand their paper recycling and composting then they could save money on waste removal. And if the right partnerships are put into place, then these colleges and universities could turn these waste items into a source of income. By producing compost on campus and selling it, they could turn solid waste production into money and at the same time moving closer to a sustainable existence.

The final piece of the puzzle is the actors, the ones that are implementing the change. As stated earlier, your actors from all levels of the institution need to successfully impart sustainable changes. Having only two people from each level will make changes difficult to achieve. It is vital to enlist as many individuals as possible from all levels within the institution, especially students. The more students, faculty, administrators, and staff members there are working on sustainability, the more significant the changes will be. And this ties back into education and buy in. If you can educate the college or university community, get them to understand the state of the world, and get them to understand the value and virtue of sustainability, then there will be many actors beating the drum of sustainability.

While there are many other best practices which could be implemented at colleges or universities, these are the ones that were common to most. Each college or university has to find its own path and choose the one that makes the most sense for it. In addition, colleges and universities may chose to emphasize one area, and only touch upon another depending on their particular circumstance. Regardless how much and what they are doing, as long as they are moving along the path towards sustainability, the world will be a better place for it.

Limitations of Literature Reviewed

After reviewing some of the literature on sustainability in higher education, I noticed that there were deficiencies in some of the work. In this section I will discuss some of these limitations and address how my work would address these limitations.

The first deficiency I noticed was that there was a lack of quantitative data.

Quantitative data is important because it shows the before and after effects of conservation strategies. Before any energy conservation projects or sustainability initiatives go into effect, a baseline study should be done as well as periodic studies to track performance. Most of the case studies just gave a broad overview, and did not back up their claim with much, or any, data. They did however discuss the data in trends, and did discuss the direction that the data was going. I will have a baseline energy and carbon audit. Having this data before any sustainability projects take place will give me firm numbers of where the college is today. Since this is an action plan, the post implementation study will be part of the action plan timeline and will take place in the spring of 2013.

Another limitation that I noticed was that in most papers there was no concrete timeline of how long it took to get the various projects up and running. While a few papers did give some ballpark estimates, I think having a more accurate timeline would help other colleges and universities attempt to replicate sustainability projects at their institute. In this study, I will give a concrete time line of how long it took to plan and implement the sustainability projects. A third deficiency I noticed was that there was little information about how these sustainability projects were funded. While most of the projects do not require huge sums of money, it would be helpful to know where they did get the money to fund these projects. Again this information would help others replicate those sustainability projects at their college or university. Do they have a sustainability budget? Did they get a grant? Was the money donated? This information would help other colleges and universities start and complete sustainability projects. In my paper I will provide such information of how these sustainability projects were funded and details of where the money came from.

Also absent in the papers I reviewed was discussion of sustainability with respect to transportation and water conservation measures. Both of these variables are important to address when it comes to sustainability. The absence of these variables could be due to several factors. As for transportation, this might have been omitted because many college and university students live on campus and do not commute to campus. While this may be true, there still are a percentage of students who live off campus and do commute to campus as well as many faculty, administrators and staff. Or maybe they have not gotten around to studying this variable yet. Whatever the reason is, I do think transportation should be covered in a campus sustainability program. As for water

22 conservation, none of the papers addressed this topic. Perhaps they consider it to be unimportant or maybe they had not gotten around to it yet or maybe they did have a water conservation program but failed to write about it. Again, for a truly comprehensive sustainability program, water conservation should be part of the discussion. My hope is to include transportation and water conservation in my action plan.

Finally, none of the papers discussed what did not work and where their efforts failed. No one likes to admit when they are wrong or when something did not work. But a negative result is still a result, and it should be included in their paper. Also, they did not give recommendations on what they would do differently if they could do the project over again. I believe that this information is vital in helping other achieve sustainability.

Knowing what worked is great, but knowing what did not work is just as helpful. I will include negative results in my study in the hopes that it will help steer others down the path of sustainability.

Sustainability at Bergen Today

Bergen Community College was founded in 1965 to satisfy the area’s need for local and affordable education1. Bergen has approximately 17,000 part and full-time students in a wide variety of degree and certificate programs, 141 to be exact. In addition to the main campus in Paramus, there are two other Bergen Community College campuses; the Ciarco Learning Center in Hackensack and the Bergen Community

College at the Meadowlands campus in Lyndhurst. Whether getting a degree from

Bergen Community College or just taking classes to transfer to a four year institution,

1 Ricatto, P.J., Wieland, R., and Shaprio, W. (2010). Bergen Community College Climate Action Plan. Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey.

Bergen students are welcomed at many four year institutions around the country. And students who graduate with career programs are well placed and well educated as they enter the workforce. The college has many accomplished faculty, state-of-the-art facilities and many opportunities for service-learning, civic awareness, and cultural awareness1. The Bergen Community College student body is represented by over 100 different countries and is dedicated to cultural understanding and awareness2. In addition, the college has several varsity sports teams as well and many different student clubs and organizations.

Over the years, Bergen Community College has been moving down the path towards sustainability. Most of these projects are behind the scenes efforts at conservation and energy efficiency. Below is a partial list of some of the conservation and energy efficiency projects that have been done, with more on the way (N. Shapiro,

Personal Communication, January 17, 2012).

• Gym and Pool on/off hour light time of day/night controls

• Cafeteria lighting on/off time of day/night controls

• Occupancy sensors in some offices and classroom

• Higher efficiency motors and transformers

• Computer control of room temperatures

• Upgrade time of day/night control of site lighting

• Installing some low flow faucets and fixtures

2 Ricatto, P.J., Wieland, R., and Shaprio, W. (2010). Bergen Community College Climate Action Plan. Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey.

• Installing new controls and VSD drives on RTU L-1 thru 4 and S-1 and S-2 roof

top units

• Installing new controls and VSD drives on the gym area HVAC units

• Pool, installation of new run around heat recovery system

• Installing variable speed drives on 300 and 500 ton chiller pumps

• There are a few instantaneous electric hot water heaters in few locations; B-306,

S-241, S-246

• Electric heaters have been replaced with gas heaters except for the lobby heater

• Library and Science supply and return fans have variable speed drive

While these projects are wonderful and save the college lots of money, much more can be done to promote sustainability in the public view. There have been several sustainability based programs which have been adopted by the college which do show that Bergen is moving towards sustainability. Bergen has a comprehensive recycling program with recycling bins placed all around the college that are actively monitored by the campus

“green team”. The “green team” is a student group which is supervised by the Bergen

Community College environmental club and the buildings and grounds department (R.

Wieland, Personal Communication, January 11, 2012). Students are paid through the work-study program to make sure that recycling is done on campus. The “green team” also runs and monitors the on campus food-waste composting program. In 2011, Bergen

Community College purchased “the rocket” food-waste composting machine (P.J.

Ricatto, Personal Communication, January 10, 2012). The “green team” acts as composting ambassadors educating and helping students compost any uneaten food. In

2010, the college started buying plates, cups, and cutlery which are biodegradable. Both 25 of these measures have reduced the amount of solid waste the college produces, thus reducing its ecological footprint. The college also embarked on a community garden in

2011 (C. Sontag, Personal Communication, January 25, 2012). This is a garden which is run by the Bergen Community College Environmental club. Faculty supervisors and students grow vegetables and other edible items to be consumed by Bergen Community

College students. While last year was the first year and the yield was rather meager, our hope is that someday the food grow can be served at the Bergen Community College cafeteria.

The campus also has an extensive paper recycling program. In 2010, the college partnered with Marcal paper where they take much of the campus’s paper recycling for free and turn it into some other paper product (P.J. Ricatto, Personal Communication,

January 11, 2012). Another initiative which has been done has been an energy conservation program in the library. A few years ago, the library director contacted the technology department to have all the computers shut down automatically at night and automatically restarted in the morning (A. Rosello, Personal Communication, January 17,

2012). While there is no specific data to support that this is an energy saving program, common sense dictates that if the computers are not left on all night long when no one is using them, then energy is being saved. If this program can be instituted in the library, then there is no reason it can’t be extended to classrooms, computer labs, and even faculty and staff offices. Another sustainability indicator is that we now have two electric car charging stations in the student parking lot (P.J. Ricatto, Personal

Communication, January 11, 2012). These two stations are available to students, staff, faculty, and administrators who have electric cars to charge their cars while they are at

26 school. These spots are reserved for electric cars only and students who park there in non-electric cars are ticketed. All the individual needs to do is plug in their car, swipe the credit card, and go to class or work. While they are on campus their cars will be charged at a very reasonable rate. There are plans in the works to increase the number of stations on campus (P.J. Ricatto, Personal Communication, January 11, 2012).

In 2008, the former President G. Jeremiah Ryan signed the American College and

University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). And as part of our commitment

Bergen satisfied two main parts of the commitment. In May 2010, we submitted a

Climate Action Plan outlining what we have done and what we plan to do as an institution with respect to sustainability. In addition, we have also done two greenhouse gas emissions studies to test our emissions and to see where improvements can be made.

Another move towards sustainability was that a comprehensive Energy Audit was done in

2010 (P.J. Ricatto, Personal Communication, January 11, 2012). The college received a

$100,000 grant to have this study done. In this audit, all three campuses were studied to see where energy was being used and provided recommendations to where energy could be saved and how this could be achieved. And finally, we are currently seeking bids to put a 1MW solar array on the roofs of the buildings at the Paramus campus (P.J. Ricatto,

Personal Communication, January 11, 2012). This is the second time we are seeking bids. The first round, ended due to technical and legal reasons. Now that these matters are cleared up, the second round began on February 7, 2012, and based on the initial number of bidders, we are confident that by September 2012, we will have the solar units in place. These are some of the things that have been done at Bergen Community

College over the past few years; in addition to these projects there are other projects

27 which have been discussed but have yet to be developed and implemented. Here are a few things that have been discussed in the Climate Action Plan:

• Establish a policy to make all new campus construction LEED certified.

• Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy.

• Create sustainability course requirement for graduation.

• Purchase local and organic food for cafeteria.

While these items are included in the Climate Action Plan, very little action, if any, has been made to implement them at Bergen Community College at this time.

The one thing lacking in all of these sustainability projects is student, staff, administrative, and student awareness and involvement. Only a handful of people know these activities are going on and participate in them and there are only a few signs of sustainability on campus. To transform the campus to one that embodies the principles of sustainability we need to have more sustainability initiatives out in plain site where everyone can see them and participate in them if they choose. It is time to bring sustainability from behind the scenes to visible projects that involve all members of the college community. It’s time to make sustainability visible to see and experience on a daily basis and to make sustainability part of the campus culture. It is time for a paradigm shift.

CHAPTER TWO: SUSTAINABILITY ACTION PLAN

Vision Statement

With the current state of environmental and energy challenges which face our world today, the move towards sustainability has never been more necessary. And institutes of higher education have a moral obligation to help the world to achieve this goal. They are in a unique position because they train future leaders and citizens; basically they educate much of society. These institutions should educate by example as well as directly teaching the principles of sustainability. In essence, sustainability should be an integral part of all institutes of higher education and should be part of their daily operations as well as integrated throughout the curriculum. Sustainability is something to be done and not just believed in. All members of the institution must be made to understand the value and virtues of sustainability.

The basic premise behind sustainability is to meet society’s current needs without hindering future generations from meeting their needs. It is the understanding that humans and all other creatures on this planet need natural ecosystems to provide them with a life support system. And these natural ecosystems must be kept healthy if we as a species are to remain healthy. While there is intrinsic beauty in nature, and in my opinion should be preserved for its own sake, it is the life support that natural ecosystems offer our species that most people can identify with. But it is not just the natural ecosystems

29 which will benefit from the moves towards sustainability, the institution will also benefit, as well as, all members of this campus community.

And many of these benefits will spill over into the surrounding campus community as well as the communities of all members of the campus.

This Sustainability Action Plan serves as a blueprint on how Bergen Community

College can move further in the direction of sustainability. It will also serve as a challenge for all members of the campus to create a more sustainable institution. It will take a professional commitment by administrators, faculty, and staff as well as a participatory role by the students. It will provide the shortest and best route to reduce

Bergen’s impact on the planet and improve the quality of life, not just for the campus community, but for society at large. While our efforts at Bergen will not “save our civilization”, we can make a difference and we can reduce our impact. This action plan will attempt to balance and integrate the environment, economic, and social concerns.

And will not only reduce the college’s impact on the natural ecosystems but will also improve the economic stability of the institution and will have immediate and long-term benefits. It will also identify and overcome barriers to sustainability through shared governance by all stakeholders at the college. This is also a plan that will need constant revision and improvement. As the plan is implemented over the next few years we will have to revisit it and make changes where we see fit to accommodate new circumstances and new data which will be coming in the periodic environmental impact audits. While some of the details might change, the overall vision will remain the same.

In addition, this Sustainability Action Plan will by no means be as comprehensive as many of the Sustainability Action Plans that I have read due to the fact that most of the

30 plans were written by many people over a one to two year period. I view this plan as a call to action and a first real step at sustainability at Bergen. And as more people join the sustainability bandwagon, I see this Sustainability Action Plan growing in both depth and breadth. In the next section of my paper I will lay out several sustainability goals which can be achieved over the short term and over the long term. And again, while I will not be able to cover all that I want to, it will surely be a significant start.

Summary of Sustainability Action Plan goals

These goals were determined through three main ways. First, through discussion with the members of the Sustainability Task Force. During this semester the task force listed many ideas and prioritized them in order of importance and implementation time we then narrowed our list down to six for this version of the Sustainability Action Plan.

Second, I held a focus group with my students in Environmental Science this semester. I collected a list of ideas that the students had and presented them to the Sustainability

Task Force. These ideas were added to the list that the task force had come up with and were included in the final goal selection process. Finally, through reading cases studies, journal papers, and books. I compiled a list form these sources and integrated them with the task force and student goals. The list below is the result of all of these efforts.

• Establish a permanent and funded sustainability committee or council at the

college which has Presidential and administrative support.

• Establish and implement a comprehensive campus wide energy conservation and

efficiency program.

• Implement a college wide sustainability awareness program and make

sustainability more visible to college community.

• Establish and implement a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction program.

• Improve upon current recycling and composting programs in an attempt to

decrease solid waste production.

• Integrate sustainability into the curriculum and establish a general education

sustainability course.

Sustainability Action Plan Goals

Goal One: Sustainability Committee:

Establish a permanent and funded sustainability committee or council at the college which has Presidential and administrative support.

Rationale:

For any meaningful sustainability programs or projects to take place at Bergen there has to be a permanent and funded sustainability committee or council established on campus. This group should ideally have members from all stakeholders on campus including administrators, faculty, staff and students and all should have input in this process. These stakeholders will be the guiding force for imparting sustainability at

Bergen and in deciding what should be done and on what schedule. In addition this group needs to be funded and fully supported by the President and the administration.

Based on the reading I have done, sustainability programs and projects have better

32 outcomes if they are supported by the President and administration. With respect to funding, the money this group receives should not be left over funds from other projects, but one which has a real budget so that group can impart real change at Bergen. But with this budget comes responsibility. This group will be responsible for analyzing the cost and benefit of all sustainability projects and programs initiated at Bergen. All sustainability projects and programs must be analyzed with respect to their environmental as well as the economic benefits to the college and to the larger global picture. While it would be nice to only consider the environmental impacts of sustainability projects, they must also consider the short and long-term economic implications of these projects to the college.

Action Steps:

This step has already begun with the formation of the Sustainability Task Force in

January of 2012. This was a task force set up by me, with Presidential approval, to solicit all members of the college community to join me and begin the process of transforming

Bergen to a more sustainable institution. While this task force has no budget and no real power to impart meaningful change, my hope is that this group can evolve into a more meaningful and power agent of change at the college. Even without a budget and power, the task force is already making plans to bring sustainability to Bergen. And as for the direction of this task force into a permanent and funded committee or council, my hope is that after the President sees what we can do with no real budget or power, he, along with the administration, will see the benefit of making this task force into a permanent entity at the college. Currently the task force is discussing and prioritizing different options to

33 begin in the fall 2012 semester at Bergen. Since we do not have a budget, most of these plans will be small scale campus awareness campaigns and energy conservation programs. But, at least it will be a step in the right direction and sustainability will be more visible on campus. Once the fall semester is underway and some of the programs we have planned are in place, I will approach the President and ask for a permanent committee or council with appropriate funding. Where this funding will come from is uncertain. The college could establish a “sustainability fund” or money could be allocated from somewhere else. Either way, without funding and support and sustainability changes will be small but still somewhat significant.

My hope is that once these energy conservation awareness programs are in place, we will see some economic savings with respect to energy costs. In the beginning of the fall 2012 semester, the task force will do an energy audit to establish a baseline for energy usage as well as looking at energy use over the past years. If our calculations are correct we should see immediate energy and money savings which would warrant the expenditures on more comprehensive projects and programs. A final goal of the

Sustainability Task Force will be to identify any barriers to sustainability at the college.

There can be many barriers to sustainability at any institution and these must be identified and overcome. Economic, physiological, physical, and behavioral barriers can all impede the implementation of sustainability projects. The task force will discuss and devise methods to overcome any barriers which we find on campus.

A final action step would be to hire a sustainability officer or coordinator. This person would be the go to person with respect to sustainability. While this person cannot do it all alone, it would be extremely helpful to have a full time person driving the

34 sustainability initiatives. And while this individual would be paid to impart sustainability, their salary would be covered by the money saved in imparting sustainability initiatives. And while some might look at this position as a frivolous waste of money, it should be looked at as an investment in the future of the college.

Best practice Case study: Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA

At Humboldt State University they started a Sustainability Task for to steer the direction of sustainability at the university. Their goal was to establish a force made up of all members of the campus community to adopt policies regarding sustainability and resource conservation. They looked at energy, transportation, curriculum, grounds, composting, and food and resource use on campus. The task force was divided into sub- committees and each was charged with examining existing policies in their assigned area.

Then the sub-committees determined if new policies were needed to better meet the needs of the college and to impart sustainability. The entire task force would meet and discuss their individual sub-committee findings and these findings would ultimately be presented to the President and Vice-Presidents. In addition, the members of the task force would also meet with the individual departments at the university to inform members on what they were doing and to seek further faculty involvement. One of the biggest problems that the task force met with was the tendency to try to do too much in too short of a time period. Over time the task force became more realistic with their goals and timelines so as not to get frustrated in their sustainability efforts.

Goal Two: Energy Conservation Program

Establish and implement a comprehensive campus wide energy conservation and efficiency program.

Rationale:

Achieving this goal is important because it will benefit economic, environmental and social concerns. From an economic standpoint, expenditures for energy at the college makeup approximately 2.57% of the college’s budget and the college paid

$3,002,251 in energy costs in 2011. If the college could cut its energy bill by even 5% this would represent a savings of $151,112 which could be used for projects around the college or help lower future tuition increases. And if the price of energy goes up, any savings due to conservation and increased energy efficiency would offset these increases.

From an environmental standpoint the less energy we use, the less air pollution will be produced through the burning of fossil fuels, specifically coal. While coal burning plants are not on the Bergen campus, they are still polluting air in the communities which surround them, which create negative consequences for the people who live in these areas. In addition, a reduction in energy use will also mean less radioactive waste will be produced, since much of the college’s energy comes from nuclear power plants. Again, while this radioactive waste does not affect the members of the college community it never-the-less has to be dealt with: less energy use, less waste production. Finally the less energy we use at Bergen, the less we contribute to resource depletion. Fossil fuels and uranium are a nonrenewable resource which means their supply is finite. The less of these nonrenewable resources we use at Bergen, the longer they will last for our

36 civilization’s future. The procurement of these nonrenewable resources is very damaging to the environment through mining, water pollution, soil pollution, and deforestation.

Although much of these costs are not included in the energy bills Bergen pays each month, they are externalized and our entire civilization pays for these externalized costs in the form of negative health impacts and degradation of ecosystems. The bottom line is the less energy we use, the less damage we do. Finally, there is climate change. When we burn fossil fuels they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is increasing the global temperature of our planet. The less fossil fuel we burn, the less carbon dioxide is released, the less warming our planet might experience. While a 5% decrease in energy use will not solve all of the problems associated with the negative effects from burning fossil fuels and using uranium, it will be a step in the right direction. Imagine the effects if all sectors of our civilization cut their energy use by 5%? That would make quite an impact on ecosystems and the health off our civilization. Now imagine a 10% or

25% reduction? That would be quite a big difference to the health of our planet. Since these changes need to take place, what better place to start then with institutions of higher education?

Action Steps:

There are many steps Bergen could take to achieve this worthwhile goal, some large and require large sums of money, others small and require no capital at all. And

Bergen has already begun to take these steps, but the programs in place now could be expanded to save more energy, thus saving more money and causing less environmental degradation. I will initially cover the programs which could be implemented

37 immediately and require no investing of money, just a change in the college’s policy.

Currently Bergen has an automatic computer shutdown/startup in a few parts of the college. This program could be expanded to cover the entire college campus computer network, which consists of approximately 1,700 computers. All this would take is an order from the President and it could be initiated right away. It would need to be preceded by an awareness campaign instructing everyone why it was going to happen as well as when it was going to happen. While some people would resist this change, if the whole campus is doing it they would learn to deal with it and get used to it in time. This program could also be used over weekends and school holidays when the college is closed.

Another simple measure could be to send out email reminders before the weekends and holidays to unplug any devices such as printers and appliances that would otherwise be drawing electricity. Even when turned off, many of the devices still draw a small amount of energy which is referred to as “vampire loads” or “phantom loads”.

While individually each device only draws a small amount of energy, cumulatively, these numbers add up. Especially since these devices will not be used over the weekends or over holidays. If a faculty, staff or administrator goes in and works over the weekend, all they have to do is plug in the desired device and override the automatic computer shutdown. While automated energy saving policies and programs are wonderful and effective, all members of the college community need to take personal responsibility for their own energy consumption and need to be made aware of the financial and environmental costs of the energy we all use. I am not suggesting that we teach and work in the dark without computers; just simply stop wasting energy when it is not being used.

Another simple and no cost mechanism for cutting energy usage is to set up a specific committee whose only job is to look at energy consumption at the college and see where cuts can be made. Since energy consumption makes up a significant portion of the college’s budget and contributes to green house gas emissions and climate change, this area requires specific attention. This committee can be a subcommittee of the

Sustainability Committee, or a separate committee. Having a dedicated committee focusing on energy only will contribute to significant decreases in energy usage and save the college money and decrease pollution being released into the environment.

The next few ideas do need the input of money and will require more time to put into place. The first is installing motion detector light switches in all classrooms, laboratories, public meeting rooms, and faculty, staff and administrative offices. These devices, when they detect no movement, automatically turn the lights off in this space. A few classrooms have this feature now, but this program could be expanded to cover the entire campus. While there might be some grumbling at first about the lights going off when someone is still at their desk, a simple hand movement or standing up will remedy this situation quickly. In addition the detector can be programmed to have extended “on” periods so as not to be too disruptive. Bergen already has staff in house that could perform this task, so no extra money will be spent on labor. The only expense would be purchasing the new motion detector light switches. But this upfront cost would quickly be paid for through the energy savings by not having lights left on throughout the college.

In addition, the installation process could be done over an extended period of time to avoid a large upfront cost and could be done when the college is closed or after hours. Or the work could easily be scheduled when that classroom, office, or public space is not

39 being used; all it takes is some planning. All we need is a policy change and some forward thinking to expand this program.

Another energy conservation program could be to reduce the number of light fixtures that are in the hallways and classroom. Many of the halls and classrooms are so bright that there light output rivals that of a surgical suite. A simple reduction of a few of these light fixtures would save the college a tremendous amount of energy in the long run without compromising safety or interfering with the learning process. Again this is something which could be done in house by our existing staff when that particular area is not being used or after hours or when the college is closed. All it takes is a policy change and some planning. We could also institute a better policy for lights in public places to be put on timer which are monitored by the building and grounds staff as well as public safety. Several parts of the building now have these automatic timers in place; all we would need to do is expand the system. While there might be an initial outlay of money, over time these timers would pay for themselves and start “earning” the college money that it would normally be throwing away. There could also be a change in policy when it comes to buying new office equipment. If the college were to implement a policy requiring members of the college to buy energy efficient equipment, the college could save money in the long run. While some of these purchases may have a larger upfront cost, this large cost will be eliminated over the life of that piece of equipment through energy savings. There needs to be a policy change so that the cost of the energy used by that piece of equipment is factored in when buying that piece of equipment. Currently the only main criteria are the price of the piece of equipment and how long it will last; energy consumption does not factor into the equation. Another interesting policy change

40 would be to refund some of the money the college saves in energy back to the campus community. If everyone on campus knew that they would receive a refund at the end of each year based on energy saving than everyone on campus would become an immediate stakeholder in energy conservation. With this policy in place we would really get “buy in” from all members of the college.

Finally we have the addition of renewable energy to the college. At the current time we are seeking bids from solar companies to place solar panels on the roof of our main campus. While this program will not require any money to be outlaid by the college (the winning solar company will pay for the entire installation and pay part of the college’s energy bill), the process is moving very slowly. There are two main reasons why this process is moving very slowly. First it is a large and complicated process and system with lots of details and legal ramifications. Second, there are only a handful of people actively working to make sure this project comes to fruition. My hope is that as we get more people onboard the sustainability bandwagon, we will have more people working to make this project become a reality. Our hope in the Sustainability Task Force is that when this project is done we can link it with a campus wide energy conservation campaign such as the “switch your thinking” campaign. While all of the projects are going on we can measure the success of these projects through periodic energy audits.

While each individual project and program might not be able to be monitored, these periodic energy audits will be made available publicly so that all members of the college community can see that these efforts are paying off. The timeline for these projects varies from a few weeks to a few years; it all depends upon how serious Bergen is at reducing its energy use.

Best practice Case study: University of Tennessee

In 2008, the university’s Interim Chancellor challenged the campus community to reduce its energy usage by 10% over the 2008-2009 academic year. In response, the campus embarked on an energy conservation program called “switch your thinking”.

This is a program which is designed to switch the thinking of faculty, administration, staff and students, and raise awareness that everyday conservation actions do add up to energy savings as well as saving money. In addition to saving energy and money, the campus also reduced its greenhouse gas emissions. Faculty, administration, staff, and students were encouraged to turn off lights, computers, air conditioners, and other appliances when not in use. In addition to the “switch your thinking” campaign, the campus also improved its efficiency in the campus’s heating and cooling systems, making several improves throughout the campus.

As a result of these efforts, the campus cut its energy usage by 6% and saved

$1,000,000 which would have been spent on energy during the 2008-2009 year. In the beginning it was difficult to get the campus community on board and energy usage actually went up. In the fall semester facing budget cuts and a 30% increase in the price of energy, the Interim Chancellor, reissued his challenge and the campus community responded. By educating the campus community, faculty, administration, staff, and students began to see that energy conservation will save money and prevent tuition increases and layoffs. As faculty, administration, staff, and students became stakeholders, they realized that they held a vital role in their financial future at the university. As a result of the overwhelming success of the program, “switch your

thinking” will be a permanent part of the university’s culture. With an initial investment of $7,800 the campus saved $1,000,000 in energy expenditures; not a bad return on investment.

Goal Three: Sustainability Awareness Program

Implement a college wide sustainability awareness program and make sustainability more visible to college community.

Rationale:

The purpose of this goal is to help students, staff, faculty, and administrators link their everyday actions with the corresponding consequences and to sustainability. Many people don’t realize or think about that their individual actions and inactions have consequences outside of the small sphere in which they live. People need to understand that when they waste electricity and produce waste that these actions have economic and environmental ramifications which were detailed in the previous section. If we could get the college community to “buy into” sustainability and understand the value and virtue of it, then much of the college community would go along with, if not fully participate, in sustainability efforts at the college. At the very least, by raising awareness and making sustainability more visible, we will be raising the ecological literacy of everyone on campus. Many of the initiatives that I will be suggesting require very little, if any money and only require man-hours of work by a few dedicated students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

Action Steps:

Some of the action steps in the following paragraphs are already in place at

Bergen but could be stepped-up to involve and impact more members of the campus community. The first few I will discuss are already being done at Bergen but could most certainly be stepped up to reach more people. The first is our Earth Week celebration.

Every April around Earth Day, the campus celebrates the environment with a weeklong celebration with speakers, workshops and other activities. While this is a popular series of events, it is not widely publicized or attended. My goal would be to advertise these events starting in March instead of mid-April and send out daily emails promoting the events. While these events do show up on the campus calendar, they are not made public until the week of the events. If the campus community knew about these events a few weeks in advance, maybe more people would make time to attend these events, speakers and activities. In addition the faculty should be given an advanced copy of the events, speakers, and activities so that they could possibly make these events part of the semester curriculum. Next we could utilize our campus’s monthly paper to raise awareness and to publicize sustainability happenings. While there is an environmentally based story once in a while, there could be a monthly environmental column as well as sustainability tips that all members of the campus community could use on campus as well as at home and in their communities. This would be free to students and faculty and it is a waste of resources not to take advantage of this source of raising awareness. Finally we could host a sustainability conference. In the past Bergen has been host to several small scale conferences promoting the environment and sustainability. If we could host a much 44 larger, multiday conference dedicated to sustainability we would certainly increase sustainability awareness on campus as well as in the surrounding communities. Of course this would need Presidential and administrative support, but if we were given the green light, I am sure we could attract attendees to a large sustainability conference on campus.

The next few ideas have not been done at Bergen but could easily be added to our sustainability initiatives. We could host a sustainability week sometime in the fall semester to complement our Earth Week celebration. This week would be dedicated to the practice and value of sustainability with hands-on activities and workshops which students could participate in, here on campus, and take the skills they learned here to their homes and communities. Energy conservation, recycling, and composting to name three are all activities that could be taught to the entire campus community. We could have a sustainability newsletter emailed to the entire campus community discussing what is being done on campus with respect to sustainability and why sustainability is important.

This newsletter could also provide tips on how to practice sustainability on campus and at home and provide a rationale for why it is important to practice sustainability. There could be a “did you know” fact sheet section educating the campus community on how much Bergen spends on energy, waste management, and other campus supplies such as paper. If everyone on campus knew this information and we could put a dollar amount on savings, then people would more likely be willing to participate in sustainability initiatives. And if we could translate that savings into less tuition increases and no pay cuts for faculty, staff, and administrators, then we would get more people to buy in to sustainability.

A sustainability section could be added to the Bergen Community College’s annual report. This would give the concept of sustainability the credibility it deserves. In this section we could report on what has been done and what will be done with respect to sustainability on campus. We should develop a sustainability webpage on the main website at Bergen. This website would have important links to sustainability websites, give an overview of what we are doing and inform students what is going to be done in the future. In addition it could have link to videos on how to properly recycle on campus and at home. Sustainability tips, sustainability rationale, and sustainability fact sheets could all be placed on the website, the possibilities are endless. We could host “Green lunches” for all members of the campus community to share ideas about what they do on campus and at home to practice sustainability. In addition these lunches could serve as a breeding ground for new ideas and projects to be implemented at Bergen as well as recruitment of new members to the Sustainability Committee.

All new students, staff, faculty, and administrators could receive a sustainability orientation when they first come to Bergen. If these new members of the college community were presented with the concept of sustainability from the beginning, then maybe they would practice sustainability as they worked and learned during their time at

Bergen. Finally, we could do a comprehensive ecological footprint study to show the campus the real impact of the college on the environment. With this knowledge, the entire campus community would be made aware that our actions and inactions do add up and that collectively we can make a difference. This study could be done every two years to track progress and show everyone how far we have come and far we have to go.

All of these initiatives would increase student, staff, faculty, and administrative participation to sustainability initiatives and raise awareness and visibility to the concept of sustainability. And the more different ways we address sustainability at Bergen, people will begin to realize that this is important and not some fringe group of tree huggers trying to “save the planet”. Last but not least, by exposing the entire campus community to the concept of sustainability we would raise ecological literacy and people would have a better understanding about where their food, water, and energy comes from and where their waste goes.

Best practice Case study: Wilbur Wright College, Chicago, IL

In 2009 members of the Wilbur Wright College embarked upon a greening/environmental awareness campaign. It was a collaboration between faculty and students of the Environmental Technology Program, the campus management, and the campus Environmental club. Their goal was to host several green/environmental outreach programs to increase student and community engagement in these types of activities. They hosted an Earth Day celebration where local and sustainable businesses were invited to have booths to promote their businesses and promote sustainability. In addition they had several green/environmentally friendly demonstrations promoting recycling, storm water management, pesticide and fertilizer alternatives, and energy conservation. They also installed a green roof installed on the science building as well as beehives on the roofs of some of the other buildings. The green roof cost $5,000 to install but the plants were donated and the labor to maintain the roof is from volunteers, thus saving the college money. The beehives were no cost to the college because of a

47 partnership with a local bee keeping group. They also planted native trees annually which are indentified to what they are and gave information about that particular species of tree. Finally, they planted several native gardens around campus, again with information about the species which were planted and why they are important.

All of these efforts were designed to increase awareness by having sustainability out in plain view for all members of the college community to see and to enjoy. These projects accomplished their goals to increase campus community involvement in green/environmental activities. And as result of these efforts, the campus is more environmentally aware and engaged in sustainability which will spill over into other areas of the campus as well as into the surrounding community.

Goal Four: Greenhouse Gas reduction Program

Establish and implement a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction program.

Rationale:

In addition electricity reduction and conservation program at Bergen we also need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. While electricity conservation and reduction will get us part of the way there, we also need to reduce other producers of greenhouse gases which the college community produces. This will have several benefits. Form an environmental and social stand point we will be contributing less to climate change and will be producing less pollution associated with the burning of fossils fuels. From an economic stand point we will be saving the students, staff, faculty, and administrator’s money by burning less fossil fuel. Besides electricity the two other largest producers of greenhouse gases is transportation and heating and cooling. 48

Action Steps:

First I will tackle transportation. Transportation makes up 64% of the greenhouse gases produced at Bergen Community College with students contributing 57% and staff, faculty, and administrators contributing 7%.3 Since we are a commuter college with no on-campus residences, and a college community of over 17,000 people this is a big problem. But just because the problem is big, doesn’t mean we can’t make improvements to greenhouse gas production.

One thing that Bergen could do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation is to increase the amount of public transportation, mainly buses, which students use. This would have to be tackled from several fronts. Bergen would have to reach out to NJ Transit to ask to see if improvements could be made to the quantity and availability of buses for Bergen students. Since there is a bus stop within a five minute walk to campus, we would have to look at the number of buses and where these buses are coming from, to see if any areas in Bergen County are not getting bus service. We would also have to look at the demographics of Bergen to see where most students are coming from and if more lines could be added. This by itself is a monumental task but one that could be investigated. In addition, Bergen would have to negotiate a better deal for students in order to entice them to take advantage of these buses. While there is a student discount, it is rather meager and has several restrictions. Bergen and NJ Transit would have to work out a deal so students could ride at a more substantial discount with fewer restrictions.

3 Ricatto, P.J., Wieland, R., and Shaprio, W. (2010). Bergen Community College Climate Action Plan. Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey.

Second, we have to make the students aware that there is public transportation available to them and educate them to the hidden costs of driving their cars. If students were shown how much they spend on driving, gas, wear and tear, oil changes and maintenance, they might begin to see that public transportation makes economic sense.

And as gas prices continue to go up, this could be the perfect time to pitch public transportation to the campus community. Even if Bergen can’t improve upon the existing public transportation system, we could at least raise awareness to its availability and some of the advantages to taking public transportation. At the current time Bergen does not charge students to park in the lots. If there was a parking fee, this would make public transportation even more worthwhile. And some of this money could go to NJ Transit to offset discounted bus passes for Bergen students.

We could also be more proactive at encouraging carpooling for all members of the campus community. We could set up a carpooling bulletin board on the sustainability website to make it easier for all members of the campus community to find a ride to campus. We could also encourage alternative means of transportation such as bicycles and scooters, which are much more fuel efficient than cars. While this may not be possible for students who live far away, for those that live nearby it could be an excellent alternative to driving. All it might take is a bit of encouragement and education for some students to begin to commute this way. In addition, there is health benefits associated with bicycling. At the current time there are only a few bike racks at the college. Maybe if we had more secure bike racks on campus and a better public awareness campaign, more people might choose this method of transportation. We could also offer preferred parking for those individuals who own electric or high efficiency vehicles. If the closest

50 parking spots we saved for these cars, maybe this would be the extra incentive to buy one of these cars. While many of the suggestions outlined above would not work for most of the campus community, even a small reduction in commuting by car would decrease the amount of greenhouse gases the college produces.

Another area the college could cut its greenhouse gas emissions are in the heating and cooling systems at the college. One of the quickest and easiest ways to cut costs and emissions is to make sure that the systems are properly maintained and that the filters are regularly changed. This would be the job of the buildings and grounds staff who is already employed by the college so no extra cost would be incurred by the college. We could also institute a policy that any new heating and cooling systems meet energy efficiency standards. Instead of only looking at the lowest price, energy consumption should be factored into the purchase and upgrade of any heating and cooling systems.

Next the college could upgrade the standard old fashioned thermostats in classrooms, offices and public places to programmable ones which could be programmed to a specific temperature and to turn on and off at a specific times. They would need to be programmed by the building and grounds staff and members of the campus community would not have access to reprogram them. While these units can be overridden for a short period of time, at the end of each day they revert back to their original program.

They can also be programmed for weekends and holidays when school is out and no one is in the building.

We can also install carbon dioxide detectors in all classrooms and public places.

These devices measure the amount of carbon dioxide in that area; when the carbon dioxide levels drop below a certain threshold, the heating and cooling in that area shuts

51 off or goes onto an energy saving mode. While it would cost money to retrofit these areas in the long run they would save the college money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And we have in house staff to perform these upgrades and they can be done over an extended period to save the college from having to put up large sums of money upfront. And again like the other retrofits they could be done during off hours when area is not being used.

We could also serve less meat in the cafeteria. Meat production is an extremely energy intensive process. By decreasing the meat served, we could save on greenhouse gas production. While this savings would be indirect, it would still be a saving none-the- less for the environment in the form of less greenhouse gas production as well as socially from a humane stand point. Once again education is important. If people knew about the pollution which is associated with meat production and the amount of water and energy that is involved, maybe people would begin to see things differently when they ordered meat. In addition, there would be a health benefit from eating less meat. Finally Bergen could choose to offset some of its emissions by buying carbon offsets. While this is not a perfect system, it would offset some of the carbon Bergen produces. While none of the programs are perfect on their own, cumulatively the numbers will add up. While it might be impossible to reduce our carbon and greenhouse gas production to zero, we could at least lower the amount we produce and become a bit more sustainable. Even a modest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is a worthwhile endeavor, and once some of these plans are in place and begin to bear fruit, the can be expanded and improved upon.

While these initiatives are going on we will be doing periodic greenhouse gas emissions audits to follow the progress of these programs and this information will be disseminated to the campus community.

Best practice Case study: University Of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA

In 2008, in response to the American College and University Presidential Climate

Challenge (ACUPCC), the University of California San Diego campus published its first

Climate Action Plan. But the plan they came up with was more ambitious than the original plan and was much more comprehensive. It goes beyond just climate change and integrates sustainability into the master planning of the college as well as integrating sustainability into the campus culture and the curriculum. In addition to setting these sustainability goals, they also set deadlines to reach these goals. Here is a sample of some of the elements of the Climate Action Plan:

• Academics and research: Integrate sustainability into the curriculum and

encourage and fund sustainability based research projects. In addition expand the

number of sustainability courses offered at the university.

• Energy and climate: Take the necessary steps to become climate neutral by 2025.

In addition to this goal, there are other intermediate goals.

• Operations: Improve the performance in all campus operations to become more

energy efficient. In addition, all new buildings must be LEED gold certified.

• Procurement: By 2012, all purchases must contain 50% post-consumer waste

recycled content. In addition, paper reduction goals were also set as well as

general materials and appliance reductions purchases.

• Recycling and waste minimization: Increases in recycling goals were also

established as well as a sharp reduction in the amount of waste produced. By

2020, the university is striving to be a zero waste campus.

• Transportation: Both air transportation and commuting transportation decreases

were established and goals and timelines were set up.

• Water: The campus would embark on a water measurement and conservation

program to decrease the amount of water that they used.

While these goals might seem lofty, they campus has a dedicated administration, faculty, staff, and student support system in place to make sure these goals are met.

While some of the timelines are ambitious, and the campus has bitten off quite a big chunk, the authors feel that they will meet most, if not all of their goals. As always, funding is an issue. The original plan cost $40,000 to implement and 500 faculty hours; their hope is that this is an investment in money and for the future of our planet.

Goal Five: Recycling, Composting, and Waste Reduction Program

Improve upon current recycling and composting programs in an attempt to decrease solid waste production.

Rationale:

From an environmental standpoint this goal will decrease the amount of waste that the college produces and will increase the life of landfills and decrease the amount of useable waste which winds up in landfills or get incinerated. From an economical standpoint reducing solid waste by removing material which is recyclable or compostable

54 will save the college money because the college pays to dump its solid waste. From a social standpoint, recycling and composting raises awareness about sustainability and is a visible and tangible action that we all can take to decrease our impact on the environment at the college. Bergen should strive to be a minimum waste institution.

Action Steps:

Bergen is well on its way to achieving this goal. The college already has recycling and composting programs which have been in place for several years.

Although, unfortunately, one does not have to look very hard to see recyclable materials in garbage cans, non-recyclable material in the recycling bins, and compostable material in the garbage cans and recycling bins. The college could take steps to fix this problem and increase the rates of recycling and composting on campus as well as possibly increasing recycling and composting in the homes and communities of all members of the campus community. While some of these actions will require the input of capital, many do not. The first thing that the college should do to increase its recycling and composting rates is to improve upon the existing “behind the scenes” recycling and composting infrastructure. Before we make any changes to the public areas of the college we need to expand upon the system which will receive this increased recyclable and compostable material. The first step in this process is to do a comprehensive analysis of the current recycling and composting systems to see where improvements can be made. This could be done by the formation of a reuse, reduce, and recycle committee. Like the energy conservation committee, this could be a subcommittee of the Sustainability Committee, or a standalone committee. This should be made of various stakeholders at the college as

55 well as a strong contingent of building and grounds staff since they will be doing most, if not all, of the “behind the scenes” work. Once the weak links have been identified we will need to make a plan to fix these weaknesses. Once this plan has been formulated, we will need to seek funding to pay for these changes. The money can come from the college, from a sustainability fund, or through grants, or most likely, a combination of all three.

While these “behind the scenes” infrastructure improvements are taking place, there needs to be a comprehensive education and training program developed to train the staff on how to use this updated recycling and composting system. Maybe the buildings and grounds staff could be incentivized to participate more in the program if we shared some of the cost savings in the reduction of waste costs with them. If members of the college community benefit financially through increased recycling and composting they will become active stakeholders in the process, thus more willing to increase their participation in the expanded program.

After the “behind the scenes” infrastructure has been improved, it will be time to work on the garbage, recycling, and composting interface with the college community.

This should be done in three ways. First increase the number of recycling and composting receptacles on campus. At the current time there are areas of the college which do not have recycling and composting receptacles. For example, the new student center dining area does not have any composting bins. Also, recycling is not done at all campus events. This needs to change. If we want to increase recycling and composting we need to make it easier for the college community to participate in the process.

Which bring me to my second point, there needs to be consistency around the college with respect to recycling and composting bins. Right now there are different color and size bins for different items around the college. In addition, many times these receptacles are not located in the same area which makes it less convenient for that individual to put the proper item in the proper receptacle. If we had a standard combined recycling and trash receptacle, recycling rates would improve. The main problem with this is that these combined receptacles cost more than the small plastic bins we currently use. One solution to this problem is to seek grant money to fund these combined receptacles. Ideally, we select an area of the college, install these combined bins, and monitor the recycling rates in these bins to see if it differs positively from other parts of the college. Another method would be to integrate these combined bins over a several month period so as not to have a large cost all at once. Once these bins are in place, they will be with the college for a very long time due to the nature of their construction.

Lastly, we need to improve on the labeling and the signage on these receptacles.

Many of the bins on campus are currently not marked or a bin that is marked “paper recycling” is used for regular trash which sends mixed signals to the campus community.

This is most important when it comes to the composting bins. Since these bins are standalone and not connected to the combined bins, these need extra markings and a brief explanation about what should and should not be placed in these bins.

The final important piece of this recycling, trash, and composting puzzle is education. All members of the college community must be educated about the systems that are in place. Students, faculty, administrators, and staff all need to be educated why it is important to participate in this program and how to do so. This hold especially true

57 for the kitchen and dining staff. If the college community is not educated about the money that can be saved by increasing recycling and composting and decreases in the amount of waste that is “thrown away” then they might not be willing to comply with the system we put in place. This can be done through signs, emails, orientations, articles in the campus paper, email sustainability newsletters or through campus wide recycling days. All of these actions will increase the ecological literacy with respect to recycling, trash, and composting on campus. Again, another way is to incentivize it. If the college community were to get a refund or a bit of extra cash at the end of the year, then maybe more people would participate. We could take some of the money we save in landfill fees and give it to the college community. While this would only be a small amount, a few bucks for doing what you are supposed to do it may increase the recycling and composting rates on campus. One thing is certain, educating the college community about the benefits of this program is vital to its success. Periodic waste analysis and

“dumpster dives” would be beneficial to track progress and let the campus community know how they are doing and where improvements can be made.

A final note on recycling has to do with paper and printing. Needless to say, the college goes through a lot of paper and a lot of printer cartridges. We could decrease this amount by instituting several college wide printing policies. We could set a campus wide double-sided print policy for faculty and for students. While some faculty would complain, if there was a campus wide policy, they would little choice but to comply.

Another policy could be a mandatory email or electronic paper submission policy.

Again, there would be complaints but faculty and students would get used to the new policy. We could limit the numbers of copies students and faculty make per semester.

We could tie printing into student and faculty identification numbers and faculty and students would have to monitor their print output each semester. If faculty members needed to go over his or her allotted number then that individual would have to ask for permission.

As far as students go, they would be given a certain amount of copies per semester and if they went over it they would have to pay for the extra copies. We would also need to increase the number of dedicated paper recycling bins on campus. Currently classrooms do not have paper recycling bins and a great deal of paper winds up in the regular trash bins. We could put dedicated paper recycling bins in each classroom with a

“slit” at the top which will only fit paper. Of course the top could be removed to throw out regular trash. Once again education is important. We as an institution need to provide rationale to the campus community why paper recycling is important. Most people will do the right thing if given a mechanism to do it and a reason why it is important. Without these two things, recycling, composting, and waste disposal will not be done correctly.

Best practice Case study: Jefferson Community and Technical College,

Louisville, KY

In the spring semester at Jefferson Community and Technical College, Louisville,

KY, the campus competed in the RecycleMania recycling competition. This is a competition held every spring during an eight week period in North America to see which college or university can decrease solid waste production and increase recycling rates on campus. Winners are judged through three main criteria: the highest amount of total

59 recyclables, the least waste per capita and highest recycling rate. The rationale behind this undertaking was twofold. First, to decrease the amount of waste produced and thrown away, therefore saving the college money. Second, to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases produced that are associated with extraction, processing, and manufacturing of materials, in addition to the methane they would produce if placed into a landfill. The first step in this process was to educate and raise student, faculty, administration, and staff awareness to incentivize them to all participate. The second step was to purchase extra recycling bins which were relatively inexpensive and came out of the college’s general budget.

As a result of their efforts Jefferson Community and Technical College placed first in Kentucky and 13th in the nation in waste reduction. They placed fifth in Kentucky in recyclables per capita. And they placed first in Kentucky and 18th in the nation in total recycling rates. In addition to these accolades, they also saw a 60% reduction in the number of solid waste pick-ups during this time period, which translates into dollars saved. The college plans to keep this recycling/waste reduction program in place and plans to increase recycling and composting rates while decreasing solid waste headed for landfills. While this case study did not specify dollar amounts saved, a 60% decrease in solid waste trash pick-ups is a significant savings.

Goal Six: Sustainability in the Curriculum

Integrate sustainability into the curriculum and establish a general education sustainability course.

Rationale:

For sustainability to be fully integrated into the college community we need to begin the process of integrating it into the curriculum. And not just with a sustainability course but across as many disciplines where it can be integrated. The more sustainability education we can deliver to students the more they will begin to understand how important it is. The college community must not only act in a sustainable fashion but must begin to think it and understand its virtue and value. As sustainability education begins to permeate through the campus, students, staff, faculty, and administrators will begin to act in a more sustainable fashion not only on campus but in their homes and communities. Once the college campus begins to understand the importance of sustainability, they will have a better buy in to sustainability initiatives around campus.

Action Steps:

This goal can be achieved in a variety of way across many levels of the college.

First we need to develop a general education sustainability course. Many colleges and universities already have successful sustainability in place and have been teaching this course for many years. It would not be a difficult task to develop and teach such a course at Bergen. While this is not a difficult task, it will take time to develop and get approval for a new college level class; this process takes about a year from idea to inception. This is mostly due to the lengthy approval process. For a new course to be adopted at Bergen

61 it has to go through several committees before it can be added to the curriculum. My plan for the summer is to develop such a course and begin the approval process in

September in hopes that it can be taught in the spring of 2013 or at the latest, fall of 2013.

Ultimately this course could become a requirement for all students if the college is really serious about the integration of sustainability into the curriculum.

In addition to a sustainability course, faculty should be given the opportunity and the information to add sustainability concepts to the classes that they already teach. This could simply be done through faculty outreach. The faculty could be notified that the college wishes to add sustainability to the curriculum. Preferably this request would come from the President of the college. Once interested faculty have been identified, then workshops and information sessions could be conducted to help them achieve their goals. This would most likely be done by someone on the Sustainability Committee or an outside sustainability expert could come in to help those faculty get started. Once in place these courses could have a special sustainability designation and could be made a requirement for graduation. Currently at Bergen, students are required to take a course which deals in some way with the topic of diversity, so there is precedent for such a policy. And as new courses are developed at Bergen, there could be a provision to integrate sustainability where it is applicable.

The sustainability integration initiative could be kicked off with a sustainability conference. Bergen could host a sustainability conference where the main focus is sustainability in the curriculum. This would be an excellent way to raise awareness and to address the faculty’s questions and concerns. Another option would be for the

President or a member of the Sustainability Task Force or Sustainability Committee to

62 address the faculty at the fall faculty conference and give a presentation on integrating sustainability into the curriculum. At the very least, sustainability in the curriculum workshop could be held at the fall faculty conference. But for these initiatives to take place there needs to be a directive from the administration and a rationale for this directive. In most of the case studies and sustainability action plans I read, the one thing they all had in common was strong leadership with respect to sustainability. In addition, sustainability needs to part of the college’s long term strategic plan. Sustainability needs to work its way into the very building blocks of the college and should permeate throughout all levels of the college. Sustainability needs to be integrated into all aspects of the college’s short and long term planning if we are to achieve an institutional paradigm shift. We could also consider sustainability when hiring new faculty. We could add sustainability not as a requirement but indicate to any new candidate that it is something we value at Bergen. Sustainability could also be added to our service learning program and we could offer sustainability internships to promote sustainability on campus.

The bottom-line is that all students should be presented with sustainability in some form during their education at Bergen. We should strive to increase the ecological literacy of all students so that when they leave Bergen they have a better understanding of their place in the world and that they have a responsibility to show stewardship towards the ecosystems which provide them with food, water, air, and other materials. While this goal will take years to fully implement, it is indeed a worthwhile goal and one that the college should consider to be very important.

Best practice Case study: Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA

In the spring of 2011 Agnes Scott College added a Sustainability Studies minor to its curriculum. This was in response to growing interest in the topic of sustainability and the need to prepare future leaders to take on the challenges which face our civilization.

One of the goals of this program was to apply classroom knowledge to real world applications. The other goal was to raise awareness to the growing problems which face our civilization and to address some of the solutions to these problems by teaching specific actions and behaviors. The class participated in many hands-on projects around campus such as energy audits, carbon footprint analysis, and participated in the zero waste program. All of the projects offered students real world applications to the knowledge they were learning in their classes. Students who took these classes could use it to satisfy a science elective or to satisfy some of the requirements of the new minor.

The adoption of the new minor cost no money since current faculty would be teaching the courses within the new minor. The overall reaction from the students was very positive and they enjoyed the real world practical applications of the knowledge they were learning in the classroom. Students felt more aware and empowered to tackle some of the environmental issues which are facing our civilization.

CHAPTER THREE: CONCULSION AND NEXT STEPS

CONCULSION

Bergen Community College has come a long way over the past few years to move down the path towards sustainability. Many dedicated students, staff, faculty, and administrators have made this happen. But, to achieve the goal of being a truly sustainable college we still have a long way to go. This Sustainability Action Plan will lay down the foundation to achieve this goal. While this Sustainability Action Plan is comprehensive, there is still much work that needs to be done to improve upon it. There are areas with were not covered in this plan that in time need to be addressed. In addition, the goals laid out in this plan will need to be measured and revaluated periodically to make sure they are achieving what they set out to do. Timelines and deadlines will also need to be added to insure that we are move forward towards our goals, along with interim benchmarks to keep us on task. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick, but we will be making progress towards our goals.

For this plan to work we will need five key elements. First we will need cross campus membership in our sustainability efforts. This is not a project which can be done by one person, it will take many. And we need different people from different parts of the college with various interests and expertise. Together this group can impart significant and important changes at the college and more further down the path towards sustainability.

Second, we will need strong leadership from the top. For sustainability to be ingrained into the campus culture we will need the leadership of the college to value sustainability and make it a core value at the college. If the leadership of the college makes it a priority, then others will follow. This does not mean that grassroots efforts by students and faculty to initiate sustainability should stop, but the two efforts should meet somewhere in the middle to bring about big changes.

Third, we need ownership at all levels. All levels of the college need to work together to move towards sustainability. To impart institutional change the whole campus must be involved. While not every member of the college will be involved in sustainability efforts, all levels must be represented and their ideas and efforts valued.

Fourth, we need a vision that unites. For the college to truly become a sustainable institution, we need a common vision that we can all work towards. While different stakeholders will have different motivations to bring about sustainability we need a common vision. In addition we need clear and achievable goals which are tied to this vision.

Fifth, Bergen will need to add sustainability to part of its long-term strategic planning from an operations standpoint as well as from a curriculum standpoint.

Sustainability is the only future and not just some passing phase in our civilization. The college must take sustainability seriously and it needs to be infused into all aspects of campus culture. And these changes won’t take place over night; it will take many years of hard work to achieve sustainability. It is a Sisyphean task, but one worthy of time, money, and effort. Once these five elements are in place, it will be much easier to move

Bergen down the path of sustainability. While having two or three of these elements in place will get us moving, all five are vital to the success of sustainability.

Here is a partial list of some of the action steps Bergen could take to become more sustainable and reduce its spending and its environmental impact. I will divide this area up into short-term and medium-term action steps. The order of implementation will be decided upon by stakeholders at the college.

Short-term Action Steps:

• Initiate a multi-level, multi-disciple college wide sustainability committee

• Obtain a sustainability budget

• Initiate a campus computer energy conservation program

• Develop a sustainability website link to the main Bergen webpage

• Communicate sustainability through emails, newsletters, and campus newspaper

• Sustainability and energy conservation awareness campaign

• Improve upon current recycling and composting programs

• Make recycling receptacles uniform throughout campus

• Make sure all areas of college have recycling receptacles

• Improve upon recycling signage

• Increase awareness about recycling and educate how to do it correctly

Medium-term Action Steps:

• Motion detectors on light switches in all classrooms

• Timers on lights in all public areas

• Solar panels on roof

• Conduct sustainability workshops for campus community

• Look into the feasibility of hiring a full-time sustainability officer

• Reduce the number of light fixtures in public areas where feasible

• Plan a sustainability day to increase awareness

• Host a sustainability conference

• Sustainability orientation for new students, faculty, staff, and administrators

• Install carbon dioxide detectors in all classrooms and public areas which are

integrated with the heating and cooling systems

• Promote alternative and mass transit

• Integrate sustainability into the curriculum

Once we implement these action steps and this Sustainability Action Plan we will begin to catch up to other colleges and universities which are already way ahead of us and we will become a beacon for those who have yet to start. We have many obstacles to overcome such as limited time and resources, competing priorities, silos and boundaries, and limited experience. But each of these obstacles can be overcome to achieve sustainability. And while there will be many successes, there will ultimately be failures.

And these failures should be embraced, analyzed, and learned from. There is no one right way to impart sustainability, what works for some institutions may not work for others.

In essence, sustainability is a trial and error process and we will learn as we go along.

Flexibility will be key to implement sustainability at any institution.

One thing is certain; we can transform Bergen into a more sustainable institution.

It may take a while but we can do it. And when we do we will be in a better position to handle the economic, environmental, and social challenges which face our civilization.

As an institute of higher education we have an obligation to future generations to do what we can to make our planet a better place and to educate future leaders about sustainability so they can continue to make our planet a better place. Sustainability is the future and that future begins now.

NEXT STEPS

The next phase of this paper will be to condense it down into an executive summary to present to the President and other key administrators at Bergen. Asking these administrators to read a lengthy document such as this would not be a good start to implementing sustainability at Bergen. Therefore I will take only the most important bits of information from each section and condense this paper into a three or four page document. My hope is that with a shorter version of this paper will the President and administrators will focus only on the key issues. In addition, I also hope to present this executive summary to the Board of Directors of the college. I hope to convince them that sustainability is an important concept and one worthy of integrating into the campus culture here at Bergen.

I would also like to include areas of sustainability not covered in this

Sustainability Action Plan. Areas such as transportation, food and supply purchasing, green building, and water conservation, to name a few. My goal is to expand this

Sustainability Action Plan into a more comprehensive plan, one that encompasses all

69 aspects of sustainability. Hopefully I will be able to integrate these new areas along with the others included in the original Sustainability Action Plan.

We must also set concrete goals and timelines which will depend on which, and how many sustainability initiatives we tackle. Each goal and objective laid out in the

Sustainability Action Plan will have its own unique challenges to overcome. In the ensuing weeks, as we decide which goals and objectives to tackle, we will have to devise a timeline to implement each one. Some can be done immediately while others will take more planning and legwork to put into place.

Once the goals and timeline have been set, we must periodically revisit each one and measure its progress. It is important to make sure we are doing what we set out to do and to make sure that the initiatives are working as planned. If they are not, then they need to be modified to ensure that they do meet our goals. While there are bound to be problems with measuring some of these goals, the ones that can be measured should be measured.

Finally, we should seek funding from outside sources. While my hope is to secure funding from within the college, we should also seek other sources. There are many grants that are available to institutes of higher education to help them implement sustainability. We should seek out and apply for these grants. My hope is that this

Sustainability Action Plan will demonstrate our commitment to implementing sustainability.

The move towards sustainability will not happen overnight and will take many years to implement. The challenge will be to not do too much too fast and lose control of the process. In addition if we bite off more than we can chew, we will be spreading

70 ourselves too thin and some of the initiatives may fail. We must slowly implement these sustainability initiatives over time and make sure the proper pieces are in place for each initiative before we move on. It may take a while but the payoff will be worth it.

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Appendix A: Participants in the Sustainability Task Force

Kim Makoe Brown College Counsel Member

Joe Cavaluzzi Public Relations

Alyson Cina Student

Roseanne Crisafi Continuing Education

Robert Dill Biology Faculty/ Sustainability Task Force Chair

Luis Jimenez Biology Faculty

Kate McGivern Library faculty

Ronald McKnight Continuing Education

Dawn Rohsler Biology Faculty

P.J. Ricatto Dean of Mathematics, Science, and Technology

Rachel Rodriguez Student

Walter Rothaug Math Faculty

Donald Sheehan Wellness Faculty

Charles Sontag Biology Faculty

Rachel Wieland Math Faculty

Appendix B: Student Participants in Focus Groups

Abuali, Hanin Ataupillco, Elizabeth P. Banks, Daniel A. Bento, Thiago B. Bernstein, Julianne L. Chandrasekera, S. Chung, Steven W. Cina, Alyson A. Cortes, Alexander Di Sanzo, Dina R. Ellard, Meredith Flores, Jose M. Galas, Monica A. Gjorgievska, Stefani Godfrey, Ian E. Grossi, Cassandra N. Haopshy, Yasmeen Jahic, Ismar Kah, Jungseon Key, Janee S. Khabilova, Nigina R. Kluger, Deanna A. Lim, Nita S. Maignan, Andy Medina, Johnathan L. Nasyrov, Alisa Nditsi, Irene A. Park, Sungman Reyes, Anthony B. Rodriguez, Miguel Romeo, Richard C. Schwarz, Adrianna M. Scott, Cara M. Sganga, Anthony C. Shaltuper, Ilan I. Simons, Mira Speranza, Michael A. Strepparava, Joseph M. Supawala, Dakshita Tashpulatova, Azada N. Varney, Rachel J. Yoon, Michelle J.

Appendix C: Who’s who at Bergen Community College

Jose Adames Interim President of Bergen Community College

P.J. Ricatto. Dean of the Math, Science, and technology Department and the

College’s main Sustainability Officer

Norman Shapiro Director of the Physical Plant

William Shapiro Math and Chemistry Professor and is also Co-Sustainability officer

Rachel Wieland Math Professor and Advisor to BCC Environmental Club

Marilyn MacDonall Assistant Director of the Grants Administration

Patricia Denholm Dean of Library Services

Annemarie Rosello Library faculty