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GreenReportCard.org gave UT a C+ on its 2010 Sustainability Report Card — one letter grade higher from last year’s D+, but not high enough for some faculty and students.
“It’s a C+, which is much better than the D+ that we had last year — it’s definitely not where we want to be, but it’s a big improvement for us I think,” said Aaron Baker, governmental relations specialist at UT and member of the Sustainability Committee.
According to the Web site, GreenReportCard.org gathers information through independent research and voluntary responses from school administrators to review and grade 300 universities and colleges from around the U.S. and Canada. The universities are graded on nine categories, including climate change and energy, student involvement, food and recycling and green building.
UT moved up two letter grades from a D to a B this year in three categories: climate change and energy, food and recycling and green building.
“There are nine categories, and in those categories we improved at least a grade in five, which is huge,” Baker said. “Of all the universities, in I guess what would be called the university system of Ohio, that participated [in the report card] we are the only institution to do that and a few of them fell back a grade or two in some categories.”
For the 2010 report cards, Ohio State University received a B, Ohio University received a B-, the University of Cincinnati received a B-, the University of Akron received a D+ and the University of Dayton received a C+.
A lack of organized, attainable information about the sustainability programs being worked on at UT contributed to last year’s low grade, so Baker was charged with compiling the data and submitting it for the report card.
“This year, part of my responsibility was to get all the right people around the table who had the information, and I think this year is maybe the first time we got so many people, faculty, staff and otherwise, from all across campus who are engaged in sustainability efforts; so we could actually report clearly what it is that we’re doing,” Baker said.
There are currently two committees at UT that work on sustainable issues: the Sustainability Committee and the Go Green Committee, which was originally formed to deal with recycling issues, but Baker said there is overlap between each committee.
“I’m really proud of all the work that each of the members of the Go Green Committee and the Sustainability Committee and so many other people who were engaged in this,” Baker said. “I’m really proud of what they did and excited about the potential for the future.”
Ashley Pryor, an associate* professor of women’s studies and a member of the Go Green Committee, said this year’s grade is positive, but there is more to be done.
“If you look at it as an average of everything I think it’s probably pretty accurate,” Pryor said. “My concern though is that we may be further behind than we need to be on just the little things that can make a real difference on campus and can actually save the university money.”
According to the survey data from this year’s report card, UT composts 70 percent of its landscaping waste aside from dining facilities but does not provide composting receptacles around campus. Pryor said one of the ways to improve UT’s environmental sustainability and generate a profit is to initiate a larger composting program.
“Both Grounds [Department] and Aramark are interested and willing to participate in some kind of composting, but the problem is we lack coordination,” Pryor said.
According to Pryor, UT’s efforts in sustainability could be improved through an official sustainability office with a person in charge of coordinating sustainability projects.
“We have a large campus and sometimes the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,” she said. “[It is a] balancing act, and this is what sustainability is all about; how do you work within financial constraints in a way that’s going to have long term positive effects? So, that’s a really difficult thing; to name a sustainability director when you have a new round of layoffs.”
Pryor said UT’s sustainability Web site helped coordinate and highlight what sustainability projects are underway at UT, but “that’s just the first effort of trying to connect people up with each other.”
According to the climate change and energy category of the report card, UT has “set a goal of reducing energy consumption to 20 percent below 2004 levels by 2014.”
“I have limited knowledge, but in so far as I can tell: yes, I think we can do that. And one of the ways we can do that is the Scott Park campus,” Baker said.
According to Baker, reducing the Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation’s carbon footprint to zero is one of the ways UT will accomplish the 20 percent reduction by 2014.
According to Vice President of Facilities and Construction Chuck Lehnert, the Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation needs to be carbon neutral by Jan. 1, 2010, which he said will be possible after the installation of eight acres of solar panels purchased from First Solar.
“I think there are some things we are making spectacular progress towards, like… if they pull off the Scott Park campus initiative,” Pryor said. “That’s really going to be a wonderful thing and that’s really going to involve getting off the grid and so there are some really exciting things there.”
Student Government President Krystal Weaver, who also sits on the Go Green Committee, said UT should be pushing for a B on next year’s report card.
“I think it’s obviously an improvement from last year and that’s something to be proud of, but I don’t think it’s something we should rest on and stay still at,” she said.
Weaver said she thinks the report card program is designed to make it “nearly unattainable” for universities to receive an A.
“There are very few institutions … that get A’s, so I think it’s supposed to be a motivational thing so that people are working towards that,” she said. “I would be happy if we could work towards a B and maintain that, because C is not good enough.”
Weaver said UT is “already on the frontline” of sustainability issues, and the university needs to continue to make it a top priority.
“What I think is important is that we continue to do these earth-friendly things because we want to be good to the earth, not to get a better report card,” she said. “I prefer that we just do what’s best for the environment and for our institution, rather than just shaping it around the report card to try and get a better grade.”
Pryor said one of the things UT should do in the future is organize the various sustainability studies being conducted throughout departments at UT in an attempt to make sustainability a part of the core education.
“I’ve seen such great excitement among college students around the country,” she said.
“I really hope that we can get the sustainability studies in place because I know students are interested and hungry [for sustainability].”
Pryor said it is important for UT to be more creative and provide incentives for students to understand the issues of sustainability.
“We really have to make it a part of a culture,” she said. “The age of cheap fossil fuel is coming to a close; and so we have to figure out ways of living differently and living well and really enjoying our lives.”
*Correction: In the original, printed version of this article, we inaccurately called Ashley Pryor an assistant professor instead of providing her real title of associate professor. The error has been fixed above.
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