Author: Riley Kimball
Citing recent improvements, the College Sustainability Report Card – the only comparative evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities at colleges and universities in the United States – gave Occidental a C rating for its environmental friendliness in 2010. This is an improvement over the D+ the college received in 2008, and the C- it received in 2009.
The C grade given by the report card is an average of several categories that include Administration, Food and Recycling and Green Building, in which Occidental scored straight Bs. However, the school scored a D in Student Involvement, a D in Climate Change and Energy and a C in Transportation.
The highest overall grades in the country went to several different schools, including Amherst College, Dickinson College and Macalester, all of which received an A- grade. California schools that ranked highly included Pomona College (A-), The University of California San Diego (A-) and Stanford University (A-).
The activities of the Occidental College Sustainability Group and the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) were a major component of the improved score. “[The Sustainability Group and UEPI] comprised of faculty, staff and students has developed a solar array installation proposal and is exploring energy and water- saving programs,” said the report card. It also mentioned the Food, Energy, And Sustainability Team (F.E.A.S.T.) student-run organic garden and the new Bike Share Program – both programs funded by ASOC’s Sustainability Fund – as reasons for Oxy’s improved grade.
Head of F.E.A.S.T. Elissa Chandler (senior) said, “While I’m glad that we’ve improved over the last two report cards, there is obviously a lot more we can do. There is no excuse for us not to have an A. I think the conversation about sustainability on campus is always geared toward how students can do more green projects, take shorter showers and recycle more. While these are important measures, the administration has to do their part too.”
The Sustainability Committee has worked to improve Oxy’s environmental sustainability since the committee’s inception two years ago. Led by UEP professor Mark Vallianatos and environmental health and safety officer Bruce Steele, the Committee organizes and funds student-proposed projects to address specific unsustainable practices on campus, such as energy consumption within academic buildings and residence halls, and dependence on cars for transportation.
“All of campus gets behind these projects once they begin to take off. They work sort of like, ‘If you build it, they will come'” said Vallianatos. “But there is more to be done.”
Last spring, the committee arranged for bike racks to be placed in high-traffic areas around campus. And now, the Bike Share Program has opened with 10 bikes available for rent. The F.E.A.S.T. garden, a student-managed organic garden, has produced several harvests of organic vegetables and has recently expanded, acquiring chickens for fresh eggs on March 25.
As more and more projects like these take hold around campus, Occidental’s carbon footprint has begun to diminish, the Report Card said.
Future projects of the Sustainability Group, along with the ASOC Senate, include the introduction of a Zipcar, a shared car that students may use temporarily with purchase of a membership, and replacement of the current disposable containers in the Marketplace with reusable to-go containers.
Additional reporting by Dean DeChiaro.
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