This session was a great overview and comparison of three different projects that each gauge campus sustainability in different ways. The AASHE Sustainability Tracking,  Assessment, and Rating System (STARS), The Sustainable Endowments Institute’s (SEI) College Sustainability Report Card and the National Wildlife Federations (NWF) State of the Campus Report and Survey. 
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and […]

Sonia Marcus, Ohio University
Your campus does not need an Office of Sustainability, but if you don’t have one, you’re going to struggle with:
-Communications: An Office of Sustainability becomes a communications hub. There’s no other good way of coordinating the initiatives. It’s a place for people to direct their questions and concerns. […]

This lunch Plenary Session was a breath of young energy and faces as three student leaders took the stage to discuss issues related to the work they are doing on their own campus and to broadly discuss student activism (or as argued by one, student “citizenship” )
Presenters: Carlos Rymer, Cornell UniversityJoanna Calabrese, University of MarylandMatt […]

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Dedee DeLongpre-Johnston, University of Florida Office of Sustainability
The University of Florida Office of Sustainability used the Puget Sound Campus Sustainability Project model to “envision success” and “empower action.” At the time, UF had taken care of all of the “low hanging fruit” initiatives, and didn’t know what the next step would be. This […]

Linda Robson, Case Western University
Nathan Engstrom, Oberlin College
So you want to green your campus, but you don’t know how or where to get started. Here’s some background work to help you get thinking in the right direction:
Find the stories your campus has to tell
Institutional history: where have we come from and what is our […]

Bonny Bentzin and Arianne Peterson, Manager and Project Coordinator respectively of University Sustainable Business Projects at Arizona State University, presented on their Campus Living Laboratory Network (CLLN, pronounced “clean”) model - which is a way to break down on-campus barriers and allow students, faculty, and staff to implement their sustainability ideas. It allows students, […]

Mike Tidewell is founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), and an author. His newest book, focusing on Katrina and global warming, is titled The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities.
Mike started his talk expressing his excitement in the change he has seen in […]

Walter Simpson, Energy Officer & Director of the UB Green Office - University of Buffalo
“Recipes for a Successful Program”
Walter began his presentation with a reality check: Energy is the MOST significant campus environmental impact and we must meet the challenge of  combating global climate change. Walter referenced a quote from James Hansen (NASA Goddard […]

For the first time in its 3 years of conferences, the Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference is carbon neutral. Firstly, the conference planning committee took as many steps as possible to reduce the conference’s carbon footprint. Here’s how:
Conference Materials:
The program was printed on 25% post consumer waste paper by an FSC printer, signs […]