Inside Iowa State

Feb. 13, 2009

Symposium participants propose to-do list for campus sustainability

by Diana Pounds

In the concluding session of the Symposium on Enhancing Sustainability Feb. 10, more than 200 people shared ideas on how to create a more sustainable Iowa State. Those who were unable to attend are invited to send ideas to Leopold Center director Jerry DeWitt, jdewitt@iastate.edu.

Here are some ideas generated by symposium attendees:

• Promote biking by keeping campus and city bike paths clear year-round
• Replace destroyed campus green space with twice as much somewhere else
• Conserve water by collecting parking lot runoff and installing dual-flush toilets
• Create a policy on digital records (for example, PDFs rather than printed annual reports)
• Use timers and reminder stickers to ensure that people turn off computers, printers and other equipment
• Provide incentives for sustainable practices
• Adopt Berea College president Larry Shinn's "living upstream" philosophy
• Create an online calendar of green activities on campus
• Provide sustainability information to students, faculty and staff during orientation
• Integrate sustainability into courses
• Unplug "phantom power" devices, like idle cell phone chargers
• Make recycling easier -- let people know how and where to recycle, and provide convenient access
• Develop a checklist of sustainability actions at beginner, interim and advanced levels
• Compile best practices on the Live Green! web site
• Make sustainable building practices a priority
• Develop sustainable purchasing practices
• Involve ISU Foundation in creating a sustainability donor track
• Have a green Veishea theme
• Give sustainability awards to student organizations, offices and individuals

Catch the symposium online

If you missed the symposium, you can catch Tuesday's action at these sites:

• Keynote by Berea College president Larry Shinn: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p11693805/
• Faculty panel on sustainability perspectives: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p31565792/
• Student discussion on sustainability issues: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p80016370/
• Staff panel on recycling: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p60474416/

Symposium provides some eye openers

If you were unable to attend the Symposium on Enhancing Sustainability Feb. 10 but have ideas on how to create a more sustainable Iowa State, send them to Jerry DeWitt, jdewitt@iastate.edu.