University receives a slightly-above average sustainability grade

On October 7th, The Sustainable Endowments Institute released its annual College Sustainability Report Card, a report card that evaluates college campuses on their environmental efficiency, and the University received a B-.

The report card is available at GreenReportCard.org. Since its initial release in 2007, the report has graded and ranked thousands of schools across the U.S. and Canada on their levels of sustainability.

“Sustainability is the ability of a campus to meet basic needs of the present without having to compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” said Susan Paykin, communications fellow for the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

GreenReportCard.org is the only independent organization involved in sustainability research and it looks at sustainability from a campus investment point of view, Paykin said. The 300 schools with the highest endowments are automatically included in the report and 32 additional schools participated for a small fee. The University has been in the College Sustainability Report Card every year since its inception in 2007 because of its endowment.

Colleges are graded in nine different categories, ranging from dining service practices and energy-efficient renovation, to administrative commitment and student involvement. Schools are given a letter grade in each category, which are then averaged together into a final letter grade. Those grades, ranking from A to F, are released on their website and in their report.

There are several ways to look at the B- grade, said Dick Warner, director of the Office of Sustainability.

“The glass is half-empty; we would have liked to see a higher grade, but we improved from a year ago, and that’s the glass as half-full. We are seeing our progress, and others can see it as well,” Warner said.

The University was named a leader in campus sustainability this year, said Tom Abram, sustainability coordinator for Facilities and Services. Illinois led the Big Ten in six of the nine categories.

Although UI has made sustainability a priority and has made large strides in the movement to “go green,” there is always room for improvement.

“If we do not become a sustainable University and society, we will seriously impair the well-being of future generations within the University and beyond,” said Stephanie Lage, assistant to the director of the Office of Sustainability.

In July 2007 the University set a goal of reducing energy use by 10 percent within three years and by 25 percent within ten years. Thus far, energy consumption has been decreased by 9.6 percent and its only been two years in only two years, Lage said.

Small changes make big differences and Warner said that students are a vital part of that change. Every part of student life is considered by the sustainability report.

“Our students will be the leaders of tomorrow and have to address any problems created by our current state of affairs,” Lage said.