Climate Strategy- Sustainability on campus!

This week I was blown away by what the CSBSJU campuses have already done making strides towards sustainability. Remember, coming into this class I knew close to nothing about climate change and sustainability. This week really hit home for me since we were talking more personally, about my college, my campus, my home. CSB has taken great consideration of sustainability as they build new buildings. A new apartment unit, centennial commons is a LEED certified building. LEED is a widely used green building rating system. As CSB makes new renovations and builds new buildings they are trying to follow green building guidelines. Another awesome implementation on campus is composting. We now have compost which the sustainability office gives out free recycled yogurt containers to put your compost in. CSB also has rehydration stations, and has gone to all reusable water bottles. CSB also went tray less a few years ago to reduce the amount of waste. SJU has not gone tray less yet but plans to do trial runs of it soon and hopefully be tray less by next year. In between campuses the Link bus runs constantly all day long increasing our carbon footprint. But, we now have 2 propane buses!! The future goal as we buy more buses is to have 50% propane 50% diesel. Both campuses also have an energy week where student resident halls compete to lower energy. Both campuses also offer options to recycle furniture and other things. CSB does a sale where you donate furniture and they sell your used furniture during move in. SJU has a swap shop where you can swap your furniture for other furniture. SJU has also made several strides towards sustainability which a lot of students don't know about. They have a solar farm on campus! Overall I am so glad to live on a campus that supports sustainability and the cultural of the outdoors. We are a very outdoorsy campus that has so many options of things you can do outside. They have bike rentals, a lake for fishing, swimming, ice skating, hiking trails, and more. Implementing sustainability on college campuses is so smart because as humans developmentally this is the perfect time. We are open-minded and ready to learn. Our first year at college is our first time alone and if you teach sustainability habits right away they will last. Also we are the next generation to hit the market. Not only are we the future consumers but we also are the next people to hold powerful positions.