ESC Green Project 1

Summary Text for Power Point Presentation of

December 6th, 2010: “Building a 'Green' Culture at Empire

State College, Metro Center – 325 Hudson St., New York, NY

Empire State College/SUNY–Metro Center

Team Members: Marc Garber, Cheryl Lavery, Pam Lozano, Gary Prashar

Mentor: Dr. Erella Regev

Course: Strategic Planning: Sustainability Project – BME 0687243 Fall,2010

January 31, 2011

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ABSTRACT

As Students of Empire State College, specifically the Metro Center

located at 325 Hudson Street in NYC our intent is to research other

successful “Green Culture” initiatives in and around NYC that can be

applied to our campus. Our teams’ purpose is to be able to determine

areas where this campus can improve in its sustainability and energy

efficiency efforts.

Our team recognizes that one of the main obstacles in adopting any new initiative is

the modification of behavior; therefore we plan to considerably research functioning

program’s behavioral impacts on the basis of success in creating a “green” culture.

We will make recommendations for how Empire State College, Metro Center – 325

Hudson Street can adopt a “greener” culture.

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WHAT SUSTAINABILITY IS AND IS NOT.

Recycling paper, glass, and other materials, and limiting water and electric

consumption are major steps in the struggle to make our world a better place. But these

measures are just drops in the bucket when viewed from the perspective of true

sustainability. But what exactly is sustainability. Or maybe it is easier to discuss what

sustainability is not. Sustainability is not just about recycling plastic water bottles, rather it is

about not buying water in plastic bottles in the first place. Sustainability is not about

removing another mountain top for a cache of coal that will barely out a dent in the human

races appetite for fuel; it's more about changing our lifestyles to reduce our reliance on fossil

fuels by demanding less energy. It is up to each and every human being who cares about

sustaining a livable planet for generations to come, to become personally sustainable. Here

we will present our findings, after months of research, for achieving sustainability here at

Empire State College Metro campus. We hope to plant the seeds that will grow into the

greening, not just of the physical facility, but of the culture of ESC Metro.

"Achieving sustainability is not just about changing how humans do things, it's about

changing how humans view things." -Dexter Dunphy in "Organizational Change for

Corporate Sustainability", p. 153

In order to build a Green culture at Empire State College, Metro Center we must

consider the following: where we are now, where we want to be and what we must do to

there. Only after we have fully researched these aspects of building a green culture will be

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able to assess the potential implementations that can take place at ESC, Metro Center both

short term and long term.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

SUNY plans for ESC Metro Center

ESC has hired a full time Director of Environmental Sustainability, whose

responsibilities include making recommendations for sustainability efforts throughout the

ESC school system. Additionally, ESC has made a commitment to participate in NYC

Mayor Bloomberg’s NYC 30-10 challenge, in which colleges will commit to reduce their

carbon emissions by 30% over the next 10 years. ESC is a member of the Association for

the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. These initiatives place ESC in a

position to embrace sustainability throughout the campus and commit to making ESC a more

“green” environment for students, faculty and staff.

SWOT Analysis

A comprehensive SWOT analysis was completed at the inception of the project.

Internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats were identified.

Strengths of the project included the synergy with ESC’s sustainability efforts and certificate

program, cost savings that could be borne to the college, adult learners in general are open to

new ideas and behaviors, the college has hired a Director of Environmental Sustainability

and has a dedicated budget for sustainability efforts, and building a green culture will attract

environmentally-minded students and faculty. Some of the weaknesses identified included

existing lease restrictions, minimal influence with the current building management as ESC

leases the space and does not own it, general resistance to change, no funding designated

specifically for the Metro Center, and there is no current energy audit available by which to

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identify or benchmark changes or suggestions. External opportunities are the environmental

concerns of society, significant advances in green technology and products to support

sustainability efforts, the availability of other “green” colleges by which to benchmark

efforts, and Bloombergs NYC 30-10 initiative, which challenges colleges to reduce their

carbon emissions by 30% over the next 10 years. The threats identified include lack of

access to public and state funding, current building laws and ordinances that might prohibit

some of the recommendations, and any future change in current consumer attitudes towards

sustainability.

Audits: (GARY)

It is important that we define who comprises the current culture at ESC, Metro

Center. Any Green initiative has to involve Stakeholders. Stakeholder is defined by Merriam

Webster as “a person, group, organization, or system who affects or can be affected by an

organization’s actions”. Stakeholders at ESC – Metro include: Students, Faculty, Staff,

Families of Students, Other Building tenants, NYC , Community and the Government.

Through our research we were able to discover that the Faculty and Staff of ESC spend on

average 35 to 40 hours at the actual center, while some work from home. The student

information was harder to determine since the data available only took into account total

number of enrollments per term and some students are enrolled in more than one class.

However, we determined that the student body at ESC – Metro Center was comprised of

adult learners, a diverse population. They also include commuters and some distance

learners.

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WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE?

Benchmarking – industry standards:

Three industry associations/standards were identified that support sustainability

efforts in colleges and buildings. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

provides guidelines and metrix for buildings to reduce their carbon emissions and become

more energy efficient. AASHE provides a STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and

Rating System) audit program designed specifically for colleges and universities to determine

their current sustainability policies/operations are and where improvements can be made.

Finally, the American College & University President’s Climate Committee provides

additional guidelines and information for benchmarking and implementing sustainability

efforts in a higher education environment.

Benchmarking institutions – Berkeley College:

Berkeley College has 8 campuses in the NY/NJ area. This study focused

predominantly on their NYC Midtown locations which are owned by the college. Berkeley

has a well-formed sustainability program called Project GreenPath. It started as a grass-roots

effort by a few faculty members interested in how the college could implement basic

recycling measures, and has expanded to a fully developed program that includes a

sustainability committee and partnerships with all facets of the faculty, staff and student

body. Their initiatives include a highly visible recycling program, websites and newsletters

communicating their efforts, student and staff-wide emails promoting the program, internal

operating changes such as copy and print management systems, retrofitting bathrooms with

auto-flushers, foam soap dispensers and electronic paper towel dispensers, light sensors that

turn off lights when classrooms are empty, reduction of electrical usage through temperature

controls and powering down of computers, and a plethora of other programs. Berkeley

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continues to research and recommend other sustainability initiatives such as solar power,

light bulb retrofitting and shortened hours on Fridays in the summer to reduce energy

consumption. The budget for the sustainability efforts comes mainly from the facilities and

operations budgets at each campus.

Benchmarking institution – Hunter College:

Hunter College, a NYC division of CUNY (City University of New York) has 10

buildings in the NYC area. They began their sustainability efforts in 2007 when they agreed

to participate in Mayor Bloomberg’s 30-10 Challenge. Hunter Green has a sustainability

committee comprised of faculty, staff and students. Hunter has a website that publicizes their

sustainability efforts, which include TV monitors that promote sustainability efforts and

campaigns, a recent “take the stairs” campaign that promotes fitness and energy awareness,

recycling efforts, food donations to City Harvest, participation in MillionTreesNYC, bike

racks to promote bicycling to school, rather than taking public transportation or driving, and

other initiatives. They have retrofitted their space to conserve energy, such as replacing

windows with energy efficient ones, retrofitting bathrooms with auto-flushers and auto-

dispensers, reduced HVAC demands on weekends and after hours. A new building will be

LEED certified. The budget for the sustainability efforts comes mainly from the facilities

and operations budgets, and grants to the college.

Triple Bottom Line Reporting … (GARY)

In order to have a future culture of Pro-environmental Students, Staff and Faculty, we

will have to foster environmental knowledge, which will affect environmental attitudes and

result in pro-environmental behavior. The college can provide the faculty, staff and students

with environmental knowledge through studies and seminars that will seek to impact

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Environmental attitudes. Although increased environmental knowledge does not directly

result in positive environmental attitudes, but it is key in modifying pro-environmental

behavior. [ FIND CITATION ] .

WHAT WE MUST DO TO GET THERE

Given the nature of our current culture, we have an advantage already. Studies have

found that “the longer the education, the more extensive is the knowledge about

environmental issues. Yet more education does not necessarily mean increased pro-

environmental; behavior.

A meta analysis of 128 pro-environmental behavior research found the following

variables associated with pro-environmental behavior…

Organizations that are trying to change a culture their employees in order to

implement the change. However, one of the biggest challenges to implement change and

main resistance to change is cynicism. Communication, research has found, is one of the

most usefull tools in implementing successful environmental practices and overcoming

cynicism and skepticism. However. This communication must fully expose the real motives

for the change and they must be believe by the employees and organization members.

Another key in implementing successful strategic decisions refers to involving key members

of the organization that are respected to buy-in on the motives of management and then

influence the rest of the organization.

Organization must Communicate implementation plans to reduce cynicism and

skepticism Expose real motives Involve key members of the organization.

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"Vision 2015" – The SUNY Empire State College Vision 2015 includes a

commitment that by 2015, ESC will serve a growing body of students while generating a

smaller carbon footprint, providing a full array of studies and degree programs related to the

environment and sustainability, and modeling environmentally sensitive behavior in

communities across the state. ESC will also play an active role within SUNY and beyond as

an advocate for sustainability in higher education.

Incentives for engagement and accountability:

ESC has committed to being energy efficient and embracing sustainability in the

Vision 2015 statement. It states that by 2015 “ESC should be prepared to serve a growing

body of students while generating a smaller carbon footprint, providing a full array of studies

and degree programs related to the environment and sustainability, and modeling

environmentally sensitive behavior in communities across the state. We will also play an

active role within SUNY and beyond as an advocate for sustainability in higher education.”

ESC has also made a financial commitment to sustainability through the hiring of a Director

of Environmental Sustainability. Failure to succeed in their sustainability efforts and

commitment may result in a loss of credibility and bad public relations for the college, a

waste of funds designated for these programs, and a negative impact on students interested in

sustainability studies.

Create a vision…(GARY)

Another way in which ESC could ensure the building of a green culture is using

communications, both internal and external (marketing plan). We recommend that the

greening of the culture of ESC Metro Center be placed at the forefront of visibility for all

who enter: students, faculty, staff, and visitors alike. To accomplish this, we suggest that a

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major initiative be undertaken which will utilize the abundance of resources at our disposal.

The talents of ESC students of advertising, marketing, web-based technologies, psychology,

sociology, art, mass communications, and any other relevant discipline should be enlisted in

launching a plan that will effectively communicate the message stressing "why going green

benefits you". We propose a collaborative program offered under the auspices of a class or

classes taken for credit and integrating these disciplines. We believe this will undoubtedly

produce a revolutionary and exciting new approach to achieving our goals.

Available resources – talent of ESC students…????

RECOMMENDATIONS

Short Term – Technical, Physical and Cultural:

Short term recommendations were developed that can be applied with little cost to the

college and utilize available resources of the school, and which require relatively small

cultural changes. Technical and physical recommendations include making recycling bins

more visible, putting signs above the light switches to remind students and faculty to turn off

the lights when leaving a classroom, providing students access to the paper shredding bins,

have a designated sustainability bulletin board to promote and advertise sustainability efforts,

promote the book exchange more visibly on Angel and MyESC, and provide a visible link to

the Sustainability Website on Angel and MyESC pages. Short term cultural

recommendations include encouraging faculty to accept emailed or online submissions of

assignments, as opposed to requiring paper copy submissions. Additionally, students should

be allowed to opt for electronic learning contracts and grade assessment forms. Finally, ESC

should advertise the benefits of NYC drinking water and encourage students and faculty to

fill their water bottles in school and at home.

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Long Term – Technical, Physical and Cultural

Long term recommendations were developed with the philosophy that they should be

sustainable through cost savings initiatives with imaginative use of new resources and that

they should encourage a culture change throughout the school. Some long term technical and

physical recommendations are to partner with the building management to ensure that

recycling is being done, to partner with building vendors to ensure that they are practicing

environmentally positive behavior through using green cleaning supplies, retrofitting

bathrooms when possible, explore the possibility of a bike room for commuting students, and

invest in a print management and copy system to reduce paper consumption. It was also

recommended that ESC implement a student recycling program for ink, toner and batteries,

with the money received from recycling to be used to fund future sustainability initiatives.

ESC should also publish and communicate the cost savings borne by these initiatives to

engage students and faculty in the program and encourage a change in behavior.

CONCLUSION

????

Addendum

Since our presentation we have learned that all discarded trash from the facility is

sorted for recycling at a facility in New Jersey. We have also learned that a good practice

already in use At ESC Metro Center is the wide use, self-initiated by faculty and staff, of

reusable cups and mugs, rather than disposable containers. Under the direction of Empire

State College's first Director of Environmental Sustainability, Sadie Puglisi, a system-wide

Sustainability Club has been created to facilitate the inclusion of students in green initiatives

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and, quite ingeniously, to place the College in a more advantageous and opportune position

to receive benefits for the purposes of achieving sustainability that might otherwise not be

available to the schools.

Acknowledgements

The members of the ESC Metro Center “Green Team” would like to express our

sincerest thanks to everyone who helped us in our study, including. Dr. Erella Regev,

Mr.Rhett Dugstad, Ms. Sadie Puglisi, Dean Cynthia Ward, Dr. Kevin Woo, Mr. Aaron

Zachmeier, & Ms. Sophia Mavrogiannis. We hope we haven't omitted anyone in error.

References

Dunphy, Dexter; Griffiths, Andrew &; Benn, Suzanne (2010) Organizational Change for

Sustainability Management: A guide for leaders and change agents of the future.

p.153. New York: Routledge.