I am pleased to announce the commencement of UCSC's first Campus Sustainability Assessment, an undertaking that will be a vital component of our University's continued efforts in stewardship of our unique campus, environment, and community.
The Assessment is planned as a centerpiece of an ongoing collaborative effort involving students, faculty, and staff members working toward campus sustainability. Our Assessment team will collect data to benchmark our performance in a number of sustainability areas including energy, purchasing, transportation, recycling and waste management, food systems, water, and other areas involved in campus operations and student life. UCSC's environmental achievements will be catalogued, and our current policies and practices measured against the University of California Office of the President's Policy on Sustainable Practices and other generally accepted sustainability criteria.
This assessment will provide an accessible record of UCSC's continuing achievements in environmental leadership, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement.
A crucial element of this assessment - as well as future efforts to document our activities and performance as we strive to become more sustainable - is the involvement of interested parties. The assessment will look for insight and information among individuals involved in all aspects of teaching, research and campus operations. The Assessment team will contact your departments in advance of any necessary meetings and those interactions will be as streamlined and efficient as possible. The majority of the work will involve providing data that will be used by the Assessment team to develop the draft document and vetting the drafts for accuracy.
The project is currently supported by the Advisory Committee for Facilities, which is comprised of the Deans, Vice Provosts, Vice Chancellors, students and other representatives. ACF reports directly to the Chancellor and CP/EVC.
We encourage you to contact the assessment's project team if you have questions about how you might participate. Please direct inquiries to the Project Manager, Marcia Aurora Winslade at: marciaw@ucsc.edu
I look forward to the results of this effort.
Campus Sustainability Assessment Team:
* Project Director - Ilse Kolbus, Director of the Physical Plant and Chair
of the Campus Sustainability Subcommittee
* Project Manager - Marcia Aurora Winslade,
* Chancellor's Undergraduate Intern - Laura Kelly, ENVS student
* Project Consultant - Joshua Skov, Good Company
