USF Going Green Movement: Sustainability

By: Melodie Austin, Sean Gleason, Kesla Rene

So it is understandable that sustainability is a top priority at the University of South Florida. This white paper focuses on the going green and sustainability efforts of the University of South Florida, Tampa. Although USF has made significant progress in the areas of recycling, energy efficiency, campus and building design, is this enough? We will begin our paper by providing various definitions of sustainability, the basis for USF„s involvement in this going green movement, the university‟s achievements, and their on-going activities. This will be followed by what USF can do in the future, both here and globally. When talk about green, we talk about sustainability. Why does the University care? Why should we care?

Table of Contents

What is Sustainability? P. 4

University Commitment P. 6

Local and Global Sustainability Programs P. 8

Interview Question P. 9

Interview Answers P. 10

Global Current Events P. 13

USF‟s Future Plans to Strengthen Sustainability P. 14

Conclusion P. 15

Works Cited P. 16

What is Sustainability?

When talk about green, we talk about sustainability. Why does the University care? Why should we care?

Sustainability, as defined by the EPA, is policies and strategies that meet society‟s present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Wikipedia states that sustainability is the capacity to endure. The University of South Florida declares: “Our definition of sustainability reflects what the UN and the World Wildlife Fund suggest as the process of improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems. We use the definition where human, societal, environmental, material, and economic activities are fundamentally integrated dimensions that are mutually reinforcing." Most proponents of sustainability take it to mean “the existence of the ecological conditions necessary to support human life at a specified level of well-being through future generations.” (Lele)

We care about sustainability because we are scholars and as scholars we are compelled to better our lives, our world, and our environment. We and our earth are facing some of the most challenging issues in the history of our civilization and yet we have no overall coordinated global plan on how to deal with them. We are struggling to develop, agree on a plan, or even one issue such as climate change.

What is Sustainability Cont.

Are we humans working as effectively as we should to address the global challenges that the world is facing? We find that a plan needs to be developed to achieve a sustainable world. This plan is merely a starting point, which provides a basis for others to use, grow, develop, and adapt from. If we humans are to succeed in building a sustainable world - not only for our generation but also for all generations to come immediate action is required. (Chambers)

The challenges that the world is facing include: unsustainable population growth, climate change, energy supplies, water and food supplies, planet sustainability and biodiversity, extreme poverty, global health, universal education, conflict and peace and financing a sustainable world.

As humans, we are able to adapt and acknowledge that change is urgently required. Over the last decade there has been an increasing recognition and understanding of the global challenges faced at every level. There has also been improved coordinated action to address them. The World Economic Forum, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), The World Bank, The Green Economics Institute and many more are involved in addressing the Global issues faced, resulting in exciting new initiatives and increasingly coordinated global action. (Chambers

University Commitment

I Have A Dream…

USF earns “GOLD” rating

The University of South Florida earned a “GOLD” rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. USF‟s efforts to build and eco-friendly campus and to help advance research in sustainability has earned them an outstanding award, which gives the University pristine acknowledgement that it is heading in the right direction. In 2010 USF joined the rating program and submitted their first assessment for which the university received its very first “gold” stars. An accomplishment that helps the university recognize its strengths and weaknesses, “The STARS system helps us track our sustainability efforts and allows us to find our weak spots –E. Christian Wells (Madduexpress.com).”

University Commitment Cont.

Sustainable Endowments Institute – College Sustainability Report Card

The College Sustainability Report Card is an independent sustainability evaluation of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. In contrast to the academic focus on sustainability in research and teaching, the Report Card focuses on institutional operations and endowment investment activities to identify institutions that are leading by example on sustainability. The aim is to provide accessible information for schools to learn from each other‟s experiences and to help high school students identify a sustainable college. The assessment is made across 43 indicators in 9 main areas of policies and practices, such as Food & Recycling, Student Involvement, Transportation, Endowment Transparency and Shareholder Engagement. The data is collected by surveying administrators and students at target institutions as well as gathering information from publicly available sources. The annual Report Cards are made available to the public free of charge.

Local and Global Sustainability Programs

The New Patel School of Global Sustainability is:

· Innovative - global satellite and campus-based programs

· Distinctive - enduring global partnerships

· Visionary - emphasizing global citizenship for sustainability

· No-Walls - not a "brick and mortar" school

· Faculty tenured in home departments

· The reduction of intellectual "silos" created by disciplines and departments

· The integration of engineering, the humanities, the arts, with the social and natural sciences, business, education, and medicine

· Faculty- and student-driven initiative

· A response to global urgency for research and practice to create sustainable futures

· Comprised of a global network of SGS-affiliated Scholars

Interview Question

“In regards to Sustainability, what do you think the university should do going forward? There are many programs in place. There is an Office of Sustainability, a Master’s in Sustainability Program, and the Patel School of Global Sustainability. What is missing, if anything? Is the University on the right track? Can we improve?”

Interview Answers

“Have a sustainable, accountable, and transparent mechanism for engaging multiple stakeholders interested in making USF and the local communities more sustainable.” Maya Trotz, PhD, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida

Interview Answers Cont.

:I would like to see USF work with the city of Tampa to develop some initiatives in the water, energy and transportation areas that would build on research expertise at USF and create a more sustainable campus and city. Transportation issues can include mixed use development, public transportation, promoting biking and walking, telecommuting, carpooling, etc. Water issues include water reuse, low impact development technologies for storm water, nutrient recovery from wastewater, aquaculture, biofuel production.” Sarina Ergas, Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, Dept. Civil & Environmental Engineering

Interview Answers Cont.

“I think the university is missing a huge amount of environmental benefit (and economic savings) by going after what I consider to be low hanging fruit, these are easy things you can control, … versus working on larger big picture items. A few examples, sprinklers that go on while it is raining outside, building lighting systems not engineered with motion detectors, lack of "safe" transit infrastructure for cyclists on campus, promotion of easy parking for students on campus that encourages them to drive single use vehicles to campus and arrive at classes at last minute, landscaping with flowers that require water, .. recycling all the paper and plastic generated in the food court area of marshal center (they promote they are "trayless" and that saves water, but seems it produced more solid waste), ..[more] use of lots of roof space to generate renewable energy”, Jim (Mihelcic)

Global Current Events

Engineers Without Boarders

USF is currently working in other countries to help other cultures receive everyday items. USF has entered into the country of Dominican Republic to help out with their water crisis. A team of USF‟s engineers has made it their goal to help out the Dominican Republic by providing clean water for the residents. The goal of the project is titled Water for Miches. In this project the engineers are providing 20 liters of clean water per day to each of the 500 residents of Miramar Republic.

USF‟s Future Plans to Strengthen Sustainability

FleX House

USF plans to strengthen their sustainability by adding many new resources. USF students have helped add to the future strength by designing a solar house. The solar house was built for a competition and was named the FleX House. The FleX House won USF a spot in the Department of Energy‟s Solar Decathlon competition for the world‟s best solar-powered house. Many colleges were involved in the project as well as USF, but USF used their college of Arts school of Architecture + Community Design, Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Business. This was a great project for USF to involve several on campus colleges to collaborate on one project. The team designed the house to make it more affordable while also making the house use zero-energy. The team also worked with the Beck Group Company. The Beck Group was founded in 1912 and has a strong emphasis on sustainable practices. The students were encouraged to help as much as they liked, but the Beck Group took the lead on the actual construction of the FleX House. The Beck Company also is LEED certified which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. More than a third of Becks employees are LEED accredited or are Green Advantage professionals. USF hopes to learn a lot from this company and hopes that their involvement in the project will give them the strong edge in the competition that is needed to win.

Conclusion

The University of South Florida has made numerous contributions and advancements toward ecological sustainability.

The University of South Florida may or may not have some serious work to do. Far too many people lead miserable lives because they lack the most basic necessities to deal with hunger, thirst, shelter, disease or disability. USF has made many programs that have taken the initiative to help local communities and even other countries become sustainable, but there are other countries that still need help. In addition, the prosperity currently enjoyed by many of us may not be taken for granted in the future. The projects that USF has won have made a tremendous impact on the campus‟s sustainability program. There will be some hard choices and some lines of research will probably need to be pursued at the expense of others. Industry should change and adopt new strategies. And we as a society should accept and foster that change. The change that USF has made towards sustainability has played a crucial part in the changes that USF has implemented on and off of their campuses. The evolution of technology, industry, and society is a complex process full of feedback mechanisms and surprises. It‟s vital that we understand the most promising ways to facilitate the necessary changes of direction. (Van Santen)

Works Cited

Chachere, Vickie. "Problems in Paradise." 10 June 2011. University of South Florida NEWS. 15 June 2011 <http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=3492&z=158>.

Chambers, Ian, and John Humble. Developing a plan for the planet: a business plan for sustainable living. Surrey, UK: MPG Books Group: 2011. 6-7. Print.

"Sustainability Gold." 7 February 2011. University of South Florida News. 8 June 2011 <http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=3116>.

The University of South Florida. The Office of Sustainability. n.d. 8 June 2011 <http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Sustainability/>.

USF: UNSTOPPABLE. n.d. 8 June 2011 <http://usfweb3.usf.edu/unstoppable/impact.aspx>.

Van Santen, Rutger, Djan Khoe, and Bran Vermeer. 2030: Technology that will change the world. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 259-260. Print.