Nestled in the north woods of Wisconsin a few hundred meters to Lake Superior and the town of Ashland, lies Northland College. I took a tour a few weeks ago with Clare Hintz, coordinator of campus sustainability for Northland College and its Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. The college aims “by academic excellence and sustainable practice, to lead the way to a world where human and other biological communities can thrive together indefinitely”. On my tour I learned the many ways the campus is working to integrate a systems level approach to moving towards sustainability in different areas of operations and academics.

My tour started at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute where I met Clare at her office. She described the materials used in the construction of the building including indigenous materials, south facing design and daylighting. We took a walk through the campus grounds where she described the approach to landscaping that includes native planting. One important feature that I noticed throughout the campus was the impressive use of signage that highlighted and let all those passing by to read and learn about the initiatives underway. Oftentimes, this key component (letting students & others know of the work being done) is surprisingly absent. See the nice outdoor wooden signs below for examples.

In keeping with the environmental commitment of the College are many visible signs including two on campus wind turbines, numerous solar hot water installations (for residence halls and pool), solar photovoltaic for the McLean Environmental Living & Learning Center (MELLC), a Straw Bale Energy Education Lab (designed to monitor the efficiency of straw-bale heating, solar- and wind-generated electricity).
The photos below include some of the solar hotwater, solar PV and the Straw Bale structure:

Some other neat and unique attributes of the campus included the use of composting toilets in the MELLC and a policy of reducing asphalt on campus. The bottom left photo shows the slab that runs through campus that is purposefully narrow to lessen runoff and increase green space. In order to accommodate the safety concerns of emergency vehicles accessing the core of the campus, special plastic structures line the sidewalk buried under the ground that provide the necessary support but do not rely on increasing the width of the sidewalk and thus use less cement.

The campus is indeed embracing the concept of a “living laboratory” and Clare gave a few examples of the difference between being “cutting edge” and “bleeding edge”. In other words, embracing the new technologies but also being appreciative of the traditional and more tested technologies available (some examples were the early wind turbine on campus that was ineffective and was replaced, to the corn based counter tops that were not durable). I visited while classes were out for the Summer, but its evident that the students are engaged in the sustainability work being done on campus, from working in the on campus garden, purchasing a hybrid vehicle for the campus, to research studies that directly affect the north woods region. There is also strong leadership coming from above, as President Karen Halbersleben is a Charter Signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

I would suggest anytime you may be up in Northern Wisconsin to go take a look at all the great work being done at Northland College, there are inspiring initiatives underway!

-Niles

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm and is filed under Campus Culture, Niles Barnes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.