Entry 7: Sustainable Campus

What is a sustainable campus?

The university is seen as a microcosm of the local and global community. In the campus, social relationships thrive in the population, there are governing structures, resources are consume and waste generated, and economic activities and transactions take place. More significantly, the university is a place where knowledge is created and transferred and ideas and creative solutions take root.The campus is a fertile ground where the seeds of social change are sowed amongst the campus, local  and global  communities. Cultivating better and more informed decision making is crucial to the achievement of sustainability.

     

A sustainable campus is not only the protection of the local ecosystem. One framework visualizes the ecosystem enveloping and supporting the people within the campus community. Both subsystems must be mutually supportive for the entire system to be healthy.  Each of the subsystem has five major issues which must be monitored and assessed to achieve campus sustainability. The ecosystem comprises air, water, land, materials and energy while the people system is made up of knowledge, community, health and well-being, governance and economy and wealth. In operational terms campus sustainability must  involve three major  activities, namely, administration (or operations), education (or academic departments) and research. It must also extend its reach to the local community. 

The administration’s actions have major impact on sustainability through appropriate design, repair, maintenance and renovation of  buildings, landscaping, procurement policies, waste management, energy management, transportation policies, health services and lodging, food and catering services.  Education is the key to change unsustainable lifestyles. Students and staff must be provided with learning opportunities in the real world environment to integrate knowledge and concepts of sustainability to local practices and applications.  Research at the university in the areas of ecology, environmental issues, green design, ethics, culture, food production and so on will contribute to short and long-term impacts. 

The local community including alumni, the business community,  utility suppliers, transportation providers, vendors, community organisations, and local chapters of professional associations can contribute  towards campus sustainability by providing expertise and support.  In turn, outreach programmes by the university will extend sustainability to the local community

Source: http://redac.eng.usm.my/html/USWM/SUDS/KampusSejahtera-Lestari-2007.pdf