An Environmentally Sustainable Community

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Running head: AN ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
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AN ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY












An Environmentally Sustainable Community
Lindsey P. Smith
Stark State College of Technology


Abstract
This research paper explores the challenges of integrating sustainability into the college culture. It also provides a solution for integrating sustainability and creating extensions into other areas of life, such as graduates integrating sustainability into other communities and their careers. Examples are given of successful sustainability integrations by several universities and sustainability program directors. Other examples provide specific students who have implemented their knowledge of sustainability into their city community. Additionally, this paper covers operational changes to university campuses, and provides research that alludes to cultural implementation of sustainability as a better approach. Findings indicate that difficulties in understanding sustainability contribute to the lack of sustainable behaviors, and indicate that defining sustainability will help increase student engagement. This paper ends by stating that a reason to implement sustainability should be to change sustainable behaviors, by introducing sustainability, clearly defining it, and creating student participation. Sustainability will only affect surrounding communities if the students have the knowledge of sustainability and can use it in their every day life.

An Environmentally Sustainable Community
Sustainability is the very essence of an enhanced quality of life, and is the center of the "three spheres of sustainability," which are a natural environment, economic vitality, and healthy community. Sustainability is the goal of creating a balanced community. Donovan McFarlane, a founder and director of The Donovan Society LLC, and Agueda Ogazon, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Management at St. Thomas University, observe, "that among ordinary citizens, sustainability has little or no meaning" (2011, p. 83). Introducing sustainability into higher education to affect our surroundings is a capital way to ensure a balanced environment. Environmentalists have a deeper understanding of how to create sustainable behavior because they have an understanding of sustainability itself. Without this understanding there is little or no chance to better the environment. Sustainability can be defined in a multitude of ways; however, the main focus of this research is to highlight the integration of environmental sustainability (ES) into a college community's culture, and realize some of its long-term benefits. Integrating ES into higher education has been a successful practice, but it is still in its infancy. McFarlane and Ogazon remind us that it is difficult to implement environmentally sustainable operations without a complete understanding of its facets (2011). We can only continue the journey of creating sustainability within our universities by truly coming to a thorough understanding of sustainable behavior.
The triple bottom line of sustainability is the environment, equity, and the economy, and they are of major importance when addressing concerns that influence our quality of life. However, the majority of attention tends to lean towards the environment (McFarlane & Ogazon, 2011, p. 83). Sustainable actions within a university's culture could be a student reducing waste by changing his habits as a consumer. For example, Stark State College students have access to recycling and therefore, feel no need to change their unsustainable behavior. Many students continue to purchase single-use products and forget that one of Stark's missions is to reduce the college's impact on the environment. Unlimited consumption of these products proves the lack of sustainable behavior amongst Stark State students. Perhaps this is because they don't see the negative effects that their actions have on the environment. The challenges of creating a sustainable eco-system present themselves daily, and may have negative repercussions that are presented outside the university campus. These are consequences that the average college student would have little or no knowledge of. College communities could have a major affect on their environment if they choose to accept the various challenges associated with the creation of a sustainable culture within their universities.
Integrating sustainability into a college can be one way of accepting the challenges presented by the "unprecedented environmental, social, and economic crises." McFarlane and Ogazon (2011) insist, "our culture and institutions, and Education for Sustainability is a major approach in responding to this challenge" (p. 86). The University of Arizona, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, have accepted the challenge of sustainability integration, and have begun implementing, not only operational green management, but sustainable practices and behavioral changes within the culture of their campuses ("Student Affairs," 2013).
In 2013, directors of sustainability programs at the aforementioned colleges, Joe Abraham, Dave Newport, and Keith E. Edwards, joined in on a roundtable discussion with moderator Jamie Devereaux. Throughout the discussion, they gave suggestions on how to create a culture of sustainability. They agreed that the best way to integrate sustainability programs into each of their universities was by first gaining the endorsement of students. According to Joe Abraham, the students at the University of Arizona learned to make decisions concerning the school. Being able to make these decisions enables sustainability to become a part of the students' culture ("Student Affairs," 2013). The operational side of sustainable action is where a campus focuses on recycling, electrical usage, heating and cooling, and an all-around approach to reducing the campuses environmental impact, but this is only a starting point.
To create a truly sustainable community, there is a necessity to move beyond the operational aspects. Edwards expresses that the actions of students can have a major influence on a community, and could result in whether that community is sustainable or unsustainable. Their choices are a cause and every choice creates an effect. The environment, economy, and community are all affected by each students conduct, and the implementation of sustainability into student affairs can create a balance within the three E's (Environment, Economy, and Equity). Joe Abraham believes that students became more involved in the sustainability initiatives at University of Arizona when sustainability became a part of student affairs, because student affairs allows students to make decisions about how things will be run at the University. ("Student Affairs," 2013, p. 265). Newport agrees with Abraham and states, "student affairs is more on the front lines of the student interface than most divisions on campus" (p. 266). He also believes that the integration of sustainability into student affairs is creating support from students, who are realizing the importance of sustainability. Pairing these processes into student affairs has peaked an interest in sustainability because its goal is to create awareness amongst the students (p. 266). New students exposed to sustainability may develop good environmental behaviors from the very beginning. The benefit of having this introduction is that as the students' education progresses, they will build on their knowledge of sustainability.
Stark State College of Technology has already created some environmentally sustainable programs within the operations of the campus. They have focused on campus premises, through lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Technological changes were made such as the replacement of CRT displays with more energy efficient flat screen monitors (Stark State College of Technology, n.d.). However, instead of developing a complete culture of sustainability, the college ended its efforts with the operational systems. If there has been a campus initiative to create a culture of sustainability, it is relatively unheard of except for the occasional broad references mentioned within a lecture. The professors of Stark College could take the opportunity through their relationships with their students, to increase the students' interest in the topic.
Joe Abraham gives an example of an efficacious relationship between students and faculty. He discovered that a committee, comprised of graduate and undergraduate students, and faculty members, created an opportunity for them to have a working relationship. This relationship in essence would allow progression of the sustainability integration, which resulted in increased student engagement ("Student Affairs", 2013, p. 267). A relationship between faculty and students provides the necessary path to a sustainable community. Student engagement is imperative to a successful sustainability program. Newport stated, "Research has shown that the more students are engaged in sustainability-related activities, the higher the retention rate is" (p. 267). One of the difficulties in creating student engagement is the lack of a clear definition of sustainability. Students may be reluctant to become involved in something they do not understand.
The average student at Stark State would probably not have a true understanding of sustainable behavior or sustainability itself because of the overwhelming differences within numerous definitions. Understanding sustainability is one of the challenges that present themselves when attempting to integrate it into a college community. This could be the reason Stark State students do not act with sustainable behaviors, nor do they stop to realize how their actions affect our environment. An example of sustainable behavior is a student spending less money on food and beverages that are packaged in disposable products. They are not only reducing waste, but they are sustaining their wallet. Another sustainable act is reducing water usage (taking shorter showers, reducing the amount of bottled water purchases, turning the water off while brushing your teeth or washing dishes). These are all sustainable acts and behaviors and are very important for students to learn and implement.
Education and culture are two major factors that affect our inclination toward sustainability as individuals in a society. McFarlane and Ogazon (2011) believe that implementing sustainability into education is a trying task due to never-ending personal opinions and perceptions of the idea. Both those who implement sustainability into the university and those who learn from the implementation will have their own opinion of what sustainability actually means. The staggering number of definitions can create a misconception among students who are introduced to the idea of sustainability. Additionally, education unintentionally creates unsustainable behaviors. Many times universities are considered antithetical to sustainability, because they often focus on issues only within the economy (McFarlane & Ogazon, 2011). Many universities have implemented sustainable operations, however, these efforts have not transitioned into equally sustainable actions and behaviors from students. Students simply continue to act with unsustainable behaviors because they have not been encouraged to change their habits.
Though Stark State has changed some of the operations of the college in regards to sustainability, the result did not affect the students' perspective. Through observations, it is clear that very few students at Stark have made sustainable behavior a part of their daily life. For example, the students continue to purchase single-use bottled beverages and have an expectation that recycling is capable of keeping their trash out of landfills. Recycling can only reduce so much of the damage that consumerism has caused to our environment, but it cannot restrict all products from going into our landfills. Recycling is a part of Starks operational additions, and according to Stark State College's website, they received a silver rating by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) created by AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education), which means Stark State has done enough to be recognized for their changes in operational systems. Yet, does this rating prove that the College is committed to sustainability? Not if their students are left unaffected by the changes made in the operations. Sadly, McFarlane and Ogazon (2011) imply that there are far fewer people than it seems who really have an understanding of sustainability, which is the driving force of its integration.
According to Dave Newport and Keith Edwards, the integration of sustainability into student affairs will unlock many doors to a newly environmentally conscious community, and will continue to become increasingly popular among other institutions of higher education. Sustainability in student affairs will enable students to make a contribution throughout their daily life, either in continuing their education or at their places of business ("Student Affairs," 2013). It is important for students to learn from programs sponsored by universities in order to provide them with the understanding and knowledge of what sustainability actions are and the resultant benefits. They graduate with this knowledge and can use it for future profit. The ability to take advantage of the knowledge of sustainability could be especially beneficial to new graduates applying for job positions.
According to Allison Taylor (2012), Vice President of Sustainability-Americas, businesses will be searching for employees who have sustainability education, and will not want to hire sustainability program directors because of the extra cost in wages. Companies realize a cost savings by hiring a well-rounded employee who possesses the knowledge of sustainability (Taylor, 2012), and may be more interested in hiring a new graduate who has a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of sustainability. Graduates who possess this knowledge may have a distinct advantage over other candidates who are unequipped with the aspect of sustainability education. Some employers may focus on the future while acting in the present by hiring the candidate who is equipped with sustainability knowledge. Taylor (2012) quoted Michael Milkner, who said, "The future of our country is not found in our boardrooms, but in our classrooms" (p. 16).
The future of the United States' environment, economy, and society is held by how students in universities are educated, and influenced by the very essence of sustainability in their colleges. An obvious benefit of sustainability implementation is that graduates will leave with a thorough understanding of sustainability, and that their newly founded behaviors may have a positive affect on others. This could result in a ripple effect, which could bring about positive change to all surrounding communities. If the positive attributes of sustainability do not extend out to other areas of life, these efforts will have been in vain.
An example of a student who used his knowledge to affect a city community is Joseph Waltzer. Waltzer graduated from Oberlin College in 1998, and opened two restaurants in Oberlin, Ohio that use locally grown products. His future plans are to establish a grocery store that also sells food grown in the Oberlin area. Three other people, who also graduated from Oberlin College, Joshua Rosen, Naomi Sabel, and Ben Ezinga, have been involved in developing environmental projects. At the time that Carlson wrote his article, they had already been working on a Brownfield-redevelopment project in the City of Oberlin for the prior 10 years (Carlson, 2011, "Community as a teacher," para. 4). The goal of a Brownfield project is to focus on increasing the quality of the environment, economy and the community (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). David W. Orr, a professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College, was instrumental to these students' actions, and he believes that the Brownfield-redevelopment project has been the crux in Oberlin's green building endeavors (Carlson, 2011). Although there is no documented proof in Scott Carlson's article that Orr specifically taught Rose, Sabel, Ezinga, or Waltzer, Carlson does indicate that Orr helped to ignite the integration of sustainability within Oberlin College (Carlson, 2011, para. 2). These four students were a part of the Oberlin College community, and it is easy to assume that they were affected by Orr's inspiration.
Institutions whose actions are noticed by the right people or group, could realize revenue to further support sustainability programs. Orr experienced great benefits from his labors to integrate sustainability, not only into the culture of Oberlin College, but into the City of Oberlin as well. Through his actions to build a green and more sustainable community, he drew the attention, interest, and finally support from Colonel Mark Mykleby, a member of the U.S. Marines. Colonel Mykleby expressed his belief that campus initiatives of sustainability are a powerful force (Carlson, 2011, para. 8). Orr's situation proves that attention from the right place could be tremendously beneficial to a college or university by bringing others attention to the sustainable actions. These attentions could possibly help bring funding to a university through word of mouth. Funding is very important to institutions because, as the Department of the Treasury and Department of Education report, "public colleges and universities have become increasingly reliant on student tuition as a source of funding" (2012, p. 4).
Without funding, besides students' tuition, sustainability programs will be difficult to create, which is why most schools try to create a "green fund," which are funds that are used to enable sustainability programs. Raising funds for sustainability programs could be an easier task if a community's action were made known publically to the right audience. Universities typically use green funds for building programs and environmental aspects. There are some advocates of sustainability who believe that the actions made by the majority of universities are shortsighted because they only focus on the environmental aspects.
James Proctor, a director of the environmental-studies program at Lewis & Clark College, believes that if universities only focus on the operational green building side of sustainability, students' educational experience will be cut short (2010). Often how colleges integrate sustainability decides whether it will be effective or not. Only addressing the issues that affect how much energy a campus uses, or making sure students can throw their single-use purchases into a recycling bin, is not a sufficient way to approach the implementation of sustainability. According to Proctor, a major mistake is to limit sustainability to college campuses only. Additionally, he believes that balanced environmental practices are not only in recycling and lowering energy usage, but also is in setting a goal of expanding these practices to other communities (2010).
Student participation is the very core of creating true sustainability on a college campus. Which is why it is so important to introduce sustainability to students the moment they become a part of the college community. Student affairs, has proven to be a great way to introduce sustainability to the students' culture. That introduction, however, should only be the starting point. It is important to not only introduce sustainability but also give it a clear and understandable definition. Teaching sustainable behavior and integrating sustainability into the students education and the very culture of the school, will determine the actual affect that colleges, like Stark State College, has on the environment. Stark State graduates will be empowered to create a sustainable future, not only for themselves, but also for future generations. Their influence could be the turning point in creating a truly sustainable environment, economy and community.















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