advancing a culture of sustainability at the university of

Advancing a Culture of Sustainability at

the University of Michigan

J. Callewaert, R.W. Marans, and M. Shriberg

Green Campus Summit - 2013

Puducherry, India

4 April

Vision: to foster sustainability on local-to-global

scales by solving systemic problems at the human-

environment interface that endanger ecosystems

and the well-being of future generations

Institutional Leadership

Transformative Education

Translational Research

Integrated Assessment Program Objective:

To carry out the Institute’s mission of translational research by using Integrated Assessment as a methodology for

connecting academics, decision makers, and stakeholders.

The purpose of the

Campus Sustainability

Integrated Assessment

was to collaboratively

develop practicable

ideas and goals to guide

sustainable campus

operations at U-M.

Campus Sustainability

Integrated Assessment

INTEGRATION TEAM

Dire

ctive

Assign

me

nts

Fin

al

Re

po

rt

Sub

ject

Are

a R

ep

ort

s

Stakeho

lder

Pe

rspectives

Engagement

Input

STAKE-HOLDERS

President/Executive Council

STEERING COMMITTEE Guidance

Consultation

ENERGY

FOOD

PURCHASING & RECYCLING

CULTURE

ANALYSIS TEAMS

LAND & WATER

TRANSPOR-

TATION

BUILDINGS

7 faculty led Analysis Teams

75+ student research assistants contributed 10,000+ hours

Dozens of operations staff members involved

Three town hall events with several hundred participants

Nearly 200 comments and ideas submitted

Involved 101 organizational units and 27 academic programs

Consulted 30 representatives from external organizations

Timeline (cont’d)

PROJECT HALLMARKS

PHASE 1

1. What could U-M do to significantly advance

campus sustainability?

2. Why should U-M consider these actions?

Examined current U-M practices

Analyzed other institutions’ efforts

Identified ideas for moving forward

PHASE 2

1. How can actions be carried out given the realities

of costs, benefits, and uncertainties?

2. When can the actions be feasibly implemented?

Involved key operations staff on teams

MBAs estimated benefits and costs

Identified barriers and uncertainties

Provided technical guidance

Actions integrated into 4 Themes

1. Climate Action

2. Waste Prevention

3. Healthy Environments

4. Community Awareness

Timeline (cont’d) FINAL REPORT

Timeline (cont’d) DEFINITIONS

Each Theme contains:

Guiding Principle: U-M’s long-term vision

2025 Goal(s): time bound, quantifiable

Potential Actions: analysis-driven options for goals

Guiding Principle

We will pursue energy efficiency and

fiscally-responsible energy sourcing

strategies to reduce greenhouse gas

emissions toward long-term carbon

neutrality.

Timeline (cont’d) Theme 1: CLIMATE ACTION

1. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

(scopes 1 & 2) by 25% below FY2006

levels

2. Decrease the carbon intensity

(GHGs/passenger trip) of passenger

trips across University-sponsored

transportation options by 30% below

FY2006 levels.

Timeline (cont’d) 2025 Climate Action GOALS

Guiding Principle

We will pursue purchasing, reuse,

recycling, and composting strategies

toward long-term waste eradication.

Timeline (cont’d) Theme 2: WASTE PREVENTION

3. Reduce waste tonnage diverted to disposal

facilities by 40% below FY2006 levels.

Timeline (cont’d) 2025 Waste Prevention GOAL

Guiding Principle

We will pursue land and water

management, built environment, and

product sourcing strategies toward

improving the health of ecosystems

and our community.

Timeline (cont’d) Theme 3: HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS

4. Protect Huron River water quality by

minimizing the impacts from U-M’s

impervious surfaces reducing the

volume of land management chemicals

used on campus by 40%

Timeline (cont’d) 2025 Healthy Environment GOALS

5. Purchase 20% of U-M food in accordance

with U-M Sustainable Food

Purchasing Guidelines.

Timeline (cont’d) 2025 Healthy Environment GOALS

Guiding Principle

We will pursue stakeholder engagement, education, and

evaluation strategies toward a campus-wide ethic of

sustainability.

There is no goal recommendation for this theme - but multiple

actions to educate our community, track behavior, and report

progress over time.

Timeline (cont’d) Theme 4: COMMUNITY AWARENESS

Education Programs

Surveys

Reporting

Timeline (cont’d) Community Awareness Actions

Timeline (cont’d) Sustainability Cultural Indicators Project

SCIP

Key component of the Campus IA "Community Awareness" goal

to measure and track progress over time

Web-based survey of students, faculty, and staff developed

in partnership with the Institute of Social Research

Invitation letter from Mary Sue Coleman and reminder video

message from Basketball Coach John Beilein

Representative sample of students, faculty, and staff yielded over

4000 student responses and over 2000 from faculty and staff


SURVEY MODULE Knowledge Disposition Behavior Other Demographic Total

Transportation 9 10 21 1 0 41

Conservation 5 5 33 1 0 44

Environment 4 2 9 1 0 16

Food 7 6 19 2 0 34

Climate 1 2 0 2 0 5

Sustainability (general) 0 20 13 3 0 36

Univ. of Michigan 8 0 8 8 0 24

Demographics 0 0 0 0 42 42

Total 34 45 103 18 42 242

QUESTION TYPE

Fresh Soph Junior Senior All

Since the start of the fall semester, how

do you most often travel to and from

campus?

Drive a car 13 8 10 8 12 10 18

Walk 48 48 61 54 61 55 35

Bike 9 3 8 13 10 8 9

Ride the bus 24 34 15 19 14 21 29

Ride the bus and bike 2 1 2 2 2 2 4

Ride share 2 4 2 1 0 2 1

Motorcycle, moped, or scooter 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Park and ride 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

Other 1 1 1 1 0 1 1

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100Number of respondents 4013 1077 827 906 754 3564 449

How do you most often travel to/from

home to your work place?

Drive a car 78 74

Walk 6 10

Bike 2 7

Ride the bus 8 5

Ride the bus and bike 1 1

Motorcycle, moped, or scooter 0 0

Park and ride 1 1

Other 4 2

Total 100 100

Number of respondents 1074 1083

(percentage distribution)

TRAVEL & TRANSPORATION - BEHAVIOR

FacultyAll

Students2012Undergraduate Students Graduate

Students Staff


Some Preliminary Findings:

Nine in ten students travel to classes by some means

other than a car even though two-thirds report living

off-campus.

Members of the university community are highly

committed to sustainability

Nearly 9 in ten faculty members said they were

"very" or "somewhat" committed

Three-quarters of the students and staff

responded in this manner


Preliminary Findings continued:

Compared to the U. S. population as a whole,

members of the UM community are much more

convinced that climate change is happening.

Overall, about a third of the U-M community

is unaware of the university's sustainability initiatives. Least likely to be aware of U-M's efforts to "protect the

Huron River", "promote food from sustainable sources"

and "maintain campus grounds in an environmentally-

friendly manner".

Most likely to be aware of UM's effort to "promote

recycling" and "conserve energy"

Preliminary Findings continued:

Engagement:

20% of undergraduate students report taking a sustainability

related course

Donate Money / Volunteer / Leadership Service / Vote Staff more likely to give money and vote (income dependent)

Voting and Volunteering are important for students

Sustainability Cultural Indicators Project

NEXT STEPS

Data analysis is ongoing – currently focused on developing key

indicators

Survey will be repeated annually each fall for the next 5 years

with a cohort tracked over time

Annual reports to guide campus education and planning efforts

Developing project website to share survey design, results, and

data

Eager to explore opportunities for collaboration and

comparisons across institutions and communities

Sustainability Cultural Indicators Project

Thank you!

John Callewaert, Ph.D.

Integrated Assessment Program Director

Graham Sustainability Institute

University of Michigan

625 E. Liberty, Suite 300

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

[email protected]

http://graham.umich.edu/

mailto:[email protected]

advancing a culture of sustainability at the university of

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