2007

AASHE AWARD

by Tom Oswald

September 14, 2007 - MSU has received a national leadership award in recognition of its efforts to promote sustainability on campus. At its annual meeting, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) gave MSU the Campus Sustainability Leadership Award for schools with enrollment of more than 7,500
students.

Terry Link, the director of MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability, said the university’s growing commitment to sustainability is what helped it earn the prestigious award.

“We have adopted environmental stewardship as a major component of our campus vision,” Link said. “For example, we have committed to 2 percent annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through our participation in the Chicago Climate Exchange.”

The Chicago Climate Exchange is North America’s only, and the world’s first, greenhouse gas emission registry, reduction and trading system for all six greenhouse gasses (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride). Other examples of the university’s commitment to sustainability include:

• MSU's commitment to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for new buildings. Those standards are nationally accepted benchmarks for design, construction and operation of so-called "green" buildings.
• MSU's lowest electrical consumption per square feet among Big Ten universitites.
• MSU's wide variety of academic programs and research initatives related to sustainability. In addition, five times more courses on sustainability were offered this year compared to 2000, and a new sustainability specialization is now being drafted.

MSU was selected from more then 20 applicants for the award.

"We had a very competitive pool of applicants this year, so winning one of these awards is a major achievement." said Tom Kimmerer, executive director of AASHE.

Excerpt from the AASHE website:

Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) -- has adopted environmental stewardship as a major component of its campus vision. The University has committed to 2% annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through participation in the Chicago Climate Exchange. MSU has committed to meet LEED standards for new buildings and has the lowest electrical consumption per square foot among the Big Ten universities. The University has a wide variety of academic programs and research initiatives related to sustainability, and five times more courses on sustainability are offered this year than in 2000. To coordinate its efforts, Michigan State employs a director of campus sustainability, a campus environmental management systems manager, energy and environment engineer, solid waste coordinator, and an environmental stewardship project coordinator.

Green Textbook Initiative

MSU faculty are being asked to participate in a newly launched Green Textbook Initiative. Launched by the Green Press Initiative, a collaboration of publishers, printers and paper manufactures, the GTI is asking faculty members, especially those who author textbooks, to sign A Call for Responsible Paper in Textbooks .

This call is in response to textbook publishers claim that this isn't an issue for faculty. If they hear that it is, it is more likely to inspire them to shift their practices. We're proud that MSU Press is an early supporter of the Green Press Initiative.

For more information visit:

www.greenpressinitive.org

National Parks Poster

Is the thought of losing our National Parks enough to make you think twice about climate change?

Learn more about this and other climate issues with the new poster from the MSU Office of Campus Sustainability.

Parks Poster