Quint Newcomer talks to participants about University of Georgia’s Costa Rica projects

The Conference was geared towards kicking off GCSN’s new year and new momentum. The session topics included energy usage amongst campus facilities, curriculum, funding and green fees, and student engagement. In each of these sessions, presentations were made by participants with significant success and experience in these areas. They were able to highlight how they went about executing their projects and how others could do the same. Additionally, there was a presentation from executive board members of the student network, Georgia Youth for Environmental Solutions (GA YES!)

Dennis Kreech, Co-Founder of Southface gives the keynote address at this year’s GCSN conference

Everyone left the conference with new ideas and contacts on how to drive their sustainable agenda on campus such as GA Yes’s invite to students to be part of their action teams promoting sustainable change across GA’s public institutions and resources to do internal campus energy assessments. The steering committee was especially pleased with the great turn-out of students that attended. That has been a struggle of GCSN; to engage students to the point they are not only inspired to change the carbon footprint of their campus, but also impact public campaigns regarding environmental matters state and nationwide.

Water Conservation and Reuse Panel

We began our day with light refreshments, introductions, and a round of “speed-networking” to help participants get to know each other one-on-one.  The networking session was followed by presentations on campus water conservation and reuse initiatives from representatives of the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Georgia, Agnes Scott College, Emory University, and Georgia Southern University.  Common themes of the presentations included rainwater harvesting for irrigation, native and drought-tolerant landscapes, grey water capture and reuse for flushing toilets, low-flow water fixtures, green roofs, permeable surfaces for recharging underground aquifers, and other storm water management best practices.  Presentations were followed by a question and answer session with all the presenters.

Georgia Southern University's Bioswales

After lunch, workshop participants enjoyed a tour of Georgia Southern’s campus that highlighted water conservation efforts by the campus.  Our first stop on the tour was the new bioswales on campus.  This low-lying area had plagued the campus grounds crew for years, since water would collect there and make mowing nearly impossible.  By incorporating native wetlands plant species into the drainage area, mowing has been eliminated, the appearance of the landscape has improved, and this very beautiful part of campus is actually serving as a filter, helping to clean the water coming from the nearby parking lot.

Permeable Surfaces on Campus

The tour continued, featuring several examples of permeable surfaces on campus, drought-tolerant landscaping, and ponds surrounded by wetlands vegetation to treat and capture storm water runoff.  Our workshop concluded with a quick walk around the wetlands preserve at Georgia Southern University’s Center for Wildlife Education.  It was amazing to see how Georgia Southern and many of the colleges that presented have approached water conservation as an opportunity to not only save money and resources, but also as a way to enhance the beauty, function and appeal of their campus.

Storm Water Retention Ponds with Wetlands Vegetation

All in all, the event was a great success!  With new connections made, practical initiatives and advice shared, and a better understanding of how to implement water conservation and reuse initiatives on campus, participants left feeling inspired and empowered to improve water management practices on their own campuses.  Many expressed interest in following up with each other and staying connected through the Georgia Campus Sustainability Network.  We look forward to continuing to build campus to campus relationships, share best practices and resources, and foster collaboration for water and resource conservation across the state!

Dr. Lissa Leege of Georgia Southern University poses a question to Dr. Barlett and other workshop participants.

Dr. Barlett has been hosting “train the trainer” workshops for faculty leaders who wish to develop curriculum change programs, with a focus on infusing sustainability into the courses and curricula offered on their campus, for the last six years.  She has worked with over 300 faculty leaders from more than 200 schools in nine different countries to teach them about creating their own version of the very successful Piedmont Project at Emory University, which annually brings Emory faculty members from many different disciplines together to share and develop strategies for infusing sustainability into their courses and curricula.

This workshop was specifically designed and promoted to engage faculty leaders from a variety of institutions throughout the Southeast, especially those who may not have had access to this type of professional development opportunity in the past, due to highly competitive application processes and a lack of financial resources or campus support for sustainability initiatives.  Over the course of the two day workshop, Dr. Barlett created a space for participants to learn not only about her successes and struggles with the Piedmont Project, but also to learn with and from each other when it comes to strategies for integrating sustainability into their campuses’ diverse course offerings and convening faculty summits to help accelerate this process across campus.

The workshop began with introductions to several concepts related to environmental, social and economic sustainability, including several definitions, teaching using the campus as a learning laboratory, the impacts of unsustainable growth on public health, nine ways to change a course, and more.  In some ways Day 1 was framed as an example of what a faculty summit might look like on a participant’s campus.  Day 1 ended with individual reflection and then a group reception in Agnes Scott College’s LEED certified Alumnae House.  Day 2 focused in on the Piedmont Project model itself, with an overview of the model including tips for success and several exercises aimed at developing learning outcomes and strategies for infusing sustainability across the curriculum campus-wide.

Feedback received from workshop participants was overwhelmingly positive.  Here is a sampling of the anonymous feedback we received:

“We do not have a sustainability program yet.  I feel that insights gained here will help me jump-start a program and perhaps avoid some potential pitfalls.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to have participated.”

“Initially I perceived my role as an educator looking for tools to improve my course.  Now I perceive my role as an agent of change.”

“I feel inspired and empowered to now spearhead a sustainability workshop at my college.”

We look forward to following up with everyone who attended in the years to come to see how this event helped them to catalyze a movement for sustainability across the curriculum on their campuses and how National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology program can continue to support their work!

The day began with a tour of KSU’s brand new LEED Gold Certified Dining Hall, the largest facility of its kind to be certified at this level in the United States.  We learned about the design of the dining hall with respect to energy and water conservation, as well as improved usability for employees.  KSU’s dining manager then treated all 44 of us to a free all you care to eat meal, where we sampled the delicious cuisine from a variety of different serving stations.  Vegetarian foods, including vegetarian protein sources, were plentiful and many healthy dishes were offered.  There was also very visible labeling of all locally sourced ingredients, which helps students make more sustainable food choices.

After lunch, Shannan George of Life University, the world’s largest chiropractic college, made a presentation about Socrates Cafe, the new zero waste dining facility on her campus.  All food and drinks are served in compostable containers with biodegradable utensils.  They are testing a prototype composter that breaks down all food “waste” into a natural soil amendment in only 18 hours.  This product can then be mixed with soil and returned to the earth, rather than a landfill.  This system requires no chemicals or enzymes, but relies 100% on mechanical processes and heat to break down food, including meat and bones which can not normally be composted.  Campus Ecology also recently published a Case Study on this project!

I followed with a brief presentation about reducing the environmental, social and health impacts associated with eating large quantities of factory farm meat and animal products.  In addition to offering more vegan and vegetarian options in dining halls and food courts, campuses can choose to provide more sustainable animal products like organic, free-range eggs and wild game.  While vegetarianism may not be for everyone, by decreasing our consumption of unsustainable meat and animal products we can reduce: land and water consumption, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, world hunger, unnecessary use of antibiotics, the cost of health care, and the rates of heart disease, obesity, cancer and swine flu, among other ailments.  Just some food for thought.

Nell Fry, Georgia Institute of Technology‘s Sustainable Dining Coordinator, made a presentation about cost-neutral sustainable dining initiatives.  These include energy and water conservation efforts, waste reduction through composting and recycling, local purchasing, substituting vegetarian protein options for meat, employee education, and several other simple steps that any campus can take to reduce their environmental impact.

Lastly, Emory University’s Sustainable Food Service Education Coordinator, Julie Shaffer, presented on Emory’s leadership in the areas of local and organic purchasing, as well as student engagement through on campus gardens and free culinary classes.  It was inspiring and informative to hear about the wide range of sustainable dining initiatives being taken by campuses across the state of Georgia.  Thanks to everyone who presented at the event!  I hope to hear many more great stories from campuses who participated in the workshop and look forward to future events with the Georgia Campus Sustainability Network.

If you are interested in learning more about the network or possibly getting involved, contact Carly Queen at queenc@nwf.org .

Fifty-two participants from 24 different campuses and five organizations across the state of Georgia attended this meeting to network, learn and share best practices for campus sustainability with their peers.  The group was a diverse mix of faculty, administrators, sustainability coordinators, facilities directors, environmental health and safety staff and students.  Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to converse with representatives from other campuses who approach sustainability from a variety of different backgrounds and perspectives.

The following campuses and organizations were represented: Agnes Scott College, Albany State University, Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, Clark-Atlanta University, Clayton State University, Emory University, Georgia College & State University, Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA), Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University, Gordon College, Kennesaw State University, Life University, Macon State College, MarionEco, Mercer University, Middle Georgia College, Morehouse College, National Wildlife Federation (NWF), North Georgia College and State University, Savannah State University, Save Our Rivers, Inc., South Georgia College, Spelman College, Southern Polytechnic State University, University of Georgia, University of West Georgia and Valdosta State University.

Overall, the meeting went very well and participants found the practical information, sharing of ideas and networking to be most valuable.  While everyone seemed very attentive and interested in the variety of presentations offered, several individuals did express a desire for more discussion, socializing and Q&A time at future gatherings.  Most of the attendees stayed for the entire meeting and it seemed that everyone who remained at the end was in favor of continuing to network with each other, as well as organizing and attending future gatherings.

Already, seven individuals have express interest in forming a steering committee to establish a more formal network for campus sustainability in Georgia. Representatives from several different campuses have also expressed interest in hosting a workshop or other event in the future.  Further, some of the meeting co-hosts have indicated that they would like to also form a regional Southeast network in addition to the newly formed state network.  I will be exploring this possibility, along with many opportunities to continue engaging and supporting the Georgia Campus Sustainability Network (official name TBD).

Needs identified at this meeting: Website, Communication channels, Contacts list, Examples of local sustainability solutions and Future gatherings (proposed 1 annual state-wide gathering with multiple smaller, more-focused workshops, webinars and other events throughout the state over the course of the year).

Quotes from the meeting:

“This is the most important thing to happen in campus sustainability in the five years I’ve been in my position.” – Dr. Doug Oetter, Biology Professor and Chair of the Environmental Committee, Georgia College and State University

“I am so encouraged by the interaction of the group
and the number of sustainability best practices I see being applied by the attendees. Thank you for the opportunity to attend and to present.” – Greg Adams, Director of Management and Operations, Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

“I thought the first-ever Georgia Sustainability Network meeting was a huge success.  Thanks for your organizational skills and tireless efforts!” – Kevin Kirsche, Director of Sustainability, University of Georgia