By Christine Frey
Pineapple heads, watermelon rinds and lettuce leaves fertilize the flowers at Seattle University instead of going into the garbage.
Staff members at the University of Washington drive hybrid cars and may soon be able to fill up other motor pool vehicles with biodiesel.
These and other efforts on Washington campuses underscore the movement to turn the unofficial colors of each college to an Earth-friendly green. Local universities are reducing the garbage and pollution they produce while cutting back on the amount of energy they use.
Going green has meant changes in the way colleges maintain their grounds, construct their buildings, perform their research, and even teach their courses.
In some cases, colleges are complying with government environmental and energy-consumption rules and saving money by conserving. But campuses also have been moved to act because of a responsibility—not just to the environment but also to their students.
“We feel that campuses have a special duty, and I think they see it as well,” said Judy Walton, executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. “They’re training the next generation.”
Many campuses around the country first implemented sustainability measures —recycling, for example—years ago, but their efforts seem to have expanded in recent years, Walton said, citing four possible reasons for the growth.
Work done by newly formed environmental groups in the 1990s has taken hold and reached more people. Industry established national standards for “green” buildings. Climate and energy issues have received more mainstream attention. And students began pressuring campus officials to adopt more environment-friendly policies.
Washington undergraduates have been active in promoting sustainability on campus.
UW students are exploring how to use cooking oil from campus eateries to fuel university cars. Engineering undergraduates at Seattle University developed a solar panel system that collects enough sunlight to power an energy-efficient home for one year. And the student body at Western Washington University agreed to pay up to $10.50 a quarter to buy renewable electricity— becoming one of the first in the state to go 100 percent green on the main campus.
“That has generated a lot of pride in the student body,” said Erica Althans-Schmidt, a recent Western graduate who worked on the green-energy campaign.
It’s also become a source of pride—and in some instances bragging rights—for the campuses themselves.
As more colleges hire sustainability coordinators and form sustainability committees, campuses find themselves in a friendly competition over who is most environmentally friendly, just as they might with academics or athletics.
That happened a few years ago when the UW rebuilt part of the Center for Urban Horticulture, which had been destroyed by arson and was the first building on the UW’s Seattle campus to seek and receive a silver LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system assesses buildings on how “green” they are.)
When a UW official learned that a colleague at an Oregon university sought a gold rating for a building on that campus, he tried to get the UW to do the same, recalled Tom Hinckley, a UW professor and former director of the Center for Urban Horticulture. Merrill Hall—which features a garden roof, second-growth Washington wood and recycled concrete—came just a few points shy of the gold rating.
The silver rating is now the standard on campus, as it is for all new publicly funded buildings constructed in Washington under a law signed last year by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
While adopting new standards for their campuses, colleges are also trying to change the behavior of staff members and students.
Dave Kohler, director of facilities management at Pacific Lutheran University, gave up his trash can. Now he’s hoping to persuade his colleagues to do the same.
This fall he will distribute hundreds of green 1.5-liter plastic buckets to faculty and staff members as part of a “Can the Can” campaign. Kohler hopes employees will fill the buckets, small enough to fit on a desk, only with material that’s not recyclable—such as candy bar wrappers. They should recycle or compost everything else—paper, soda cans, even apple cores.
Other campus programs are targeting students.
Washington State University offers an undergraduate degree in organic farming —the first in the nation, according to the university. It’s also taken steps to teach students about sustainability and the environment in classes and student orientations.
“Many students don’t understand the harm their consumption can do,” said John Glass, coordinator for WSU’s sustainability initiative.
“We have a student population of 22,000 statewide. It’s our obligation and commitment to make sure that as the students leave the university and go out into the real world, that they have adequate information to make the right decision,” he said.
Some day colleges may have their own system for determining who is the most green.
“Students will survey more than Puget Sound area campuses this fall about their sustainability efforts — course offerings, funding, community services, and vegan food options, among others. The responses will be used to determine how local universities are faring,” Walton said.
Her association is also working on establishing a national rating system for colleges interested in comparing their conservation efforts with others.
The benefits of campus sustainability could reach beyond the universities.
As a senior at Seattle University, Quang Dinh and other engineering students developed a solar-panel system as part of their coursework. The university installed the system last year, and it can be viewed when passing by the university on James Street.
“Solar panels in Seattle—not the most efficient place to have solar panels, but it does help one step at a time,” he said.
While designing the system, Dinh learned about methods for producing energy not using coal or nuclear power or oil—and about the importance of developing reusable energy options. Now he runs a sustainable-clothing business in Seattle.
CONSERVATION ON CAMPUS
Colleges in Washington are trying to improve sustainability efforts throughout campus.
Food: Campus eateries are serving locally grown foods, organic fruits and vegetables, and fair-trade coffee. Seattle University composts fruits, vegetables, breads, and coffee grounds. It uses the compost to fertilize campus grounds.
Campus construction: Universities are voluntarily seeking certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, which requires buildings to meet certain sustainable construction standards. Pacific Lutheran University’s new math, business, computer science, and computer engineering building received a gold rating from the council earlier this year. Construction materials include bamboo flooring, recycled carpet, and wheat board. It is heated and cooled by geothermal pumps and produces no carbon emissions.
Energy consumption: Universities are paying more for renewable energy generated by dams and wind farms. Western Washington University and The Evergreen State College were among the first in the state to go 100 percent green. Colleges are also exploring other energy options, such as biodiesel and solar power.
Recycle and reuse: Many universities recycle paper, aluminum, glass and plastic. They’re also encouraging students to donate unwanted items instead of throwing them in the trash bin. The UW collected more than 20,000 pounds of clothes, books, cell phones, and other reusable materials from students when they moved out of the dorms at the end of the academic year. The items were given to community organizations.
Classroom: Students at Washington State University can major in organic farming. The UW student government earlier this year passed a “green textbook” resolution asking the university to lobby textbook publishers to produce materials with more recycled paper.
Christine Frey
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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