Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.......3 What is the Green Movement? ........4 Organizations SEAS..........5 Office of Sustainability .....5 Interview.........6 Recognition LEED.........7 Princeton .......8 Changes on Campus Smoke Free........9 Green Energy Fund.......9 Comparisons Campus to Campus .......10 Report Card Rating and Analysis..11 Conclusion12 Works Cited.....14 Annotated Bibliography..15
Executive Summary
In the United States today, environmental awareness and movements have been becoming increasingly popular and influential. Many companies, business, schools, and universities have been working hard to endorse and maintain a healthy living environment for everyone. The University of South Florida is a university awarded to few buildings and with motivation to do its part to USF is working to get more ensure a clean campus, buildings accredited. USF is community, and overall also a tobacco and smoke free environment. Many efforts are campus, allowing students, being conducted to make sure all faculty, staff, and visitors to earth friendly goals are met. walk the campus breathing in USF not only provides an education for students, but also provides a student life surrounded by many organizations that focus on sustainability. The Office of Sustainability and SEAS are just two of the extremely important organizations at USFSP dedicated to promoting a healthy setting. The earth friendly efforts of the university have been nationally recognized. The Princeton Review has acknowledged the school for its ratings of being a green school. LEED certification, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, has been
years as the green movement has motivated the world to become a cleaner, better place. From the efforts of each USF campus, the university has earned a B plus on their College Sustainability Report Card, clean, healthy, smoke free air. tying and outdoing two other This notion encouraged USF major Florida universities. This Tampa to then designate 25 grade is an improvement from smoking zones so that nonthe past two years, which proves smoking students there could as that the sustainability efforts the well enjoy these same luxuries. university has taken have made The Student Green Energy a difference in the environment. Fund allows revenue to come As we can see endorsing Go in for further eco-friendly Green campaigns is making projects to be accomplished. significant, positive changes in Each different campus lives. Going Green is definitely of USF has their own specific a challenge, but it is a challenge way of participating in this that USF is beginning to tackle. green movement. From the Bull Runner transit system in Tampa, to the recycling programs at the Lakeland campus drastic changes have been made over the past few
Organizations
SEAS: Student Environmental Awareness Society
The SEAS organization at USFSP is the Student Environmental Awareness Society. It stands for promoting environmental awareness around the campus and community. On the first Friday of every month they clean up the harbor front in order to keep our campus green (Student). The main role of this organization is to partake in an active role of preserving the ecosystem. SEAS welcomes anyone for participation in keeping the university green; students, faculty, staff, affiliates, and even members of the community may join.
Interview
Christian Wells is also the Deputy Director of the Patel School of Global Sustainability and the Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology.
Question #1: Was there a particular event that ignited the University of South Florida to become an Environmentally-Conscious Institution? If so, what was it? Sharon Hanna-West and her students in the College of Business organized a going green jobs EXPO in the spring of 2008, at which they persuaded President Genshaft to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (http://www.presidentsclima tecommitment.org/). The commitment obligates the university to inventory and assess our greenhouse gas emissions annually (http://rs.acupcc.org/ghg/21 05/), and to develop and implement a Climate Action Plan (http://rs.acupcc.org/cap/60 7/) designed to reduce (and eventually eliminate) our GHG emissions. Having signed the commitment, the President asked the Provost to create an Office of Sustainability (http://psgs.usf.edu/usfoffice-of-sustainability/) to oversee the commitment (in 2009). Learn more about our story online: http://planetforward.org/ide a/innovating-generation-susf/
An interview was conducted via email with Christian Wells, Ph.D. He is the director of the Office of Sustainability.
Question #2: What do you think USF's biggest achievement in the area of sustainability is to date? Our biggest achievements are probably the creation of the worlds fist School of Global Sustainability (http://psgs.usf.edu/), and the nations largest tuition-based Student Green Energy Fund (http://psgs.usf.edu/usfoffice-ofsustainability/greenenergy-fund/). Question #3: What new plans and projects does the University of South Florida have planned moving forward? We are working on a campus metabolism mapping project, designed to model the inputs (water, energy, resources) and outputs (waste) of the university campus. This effort will help to optimize the efficiencies of the universitys processes, with the greater goal of saving resources.
Recognition
LEED: Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design
January 25, 2010 was the grand opening of USF St. Petersburgs new Science and Technology building which earned enough credits to receive Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification. This is the first building in the USF system to earn this honor and it has done so due to its construction and operation for improved environmental and human performance. The 35,000 square feet building is two stories, cost $12 million, and houses classrooms ranging from holding 60 students to 20 (Marquez). The project was funded by PECO, which is a state program that finances education construction through taxes on utility services. The expanded classroom space supports a cross-section of university programs while the teaching and research labs enhance the undergraduate and graduate Environmental Science and Policy programs and the PreMedical and Pre-Health Sciences tracks, (Marquez). The Science and Technology building may be the first to become LEED certified, but certainly not the last, as USF is continually striving to become a green school by working to get multiple buildings LEED certified.
Above is the new Science and Technology building at USF St. Petersburg.
Recognition Continued
Princeton Review
The University of South Florida has gained recognition in being one of the top green schools in the nation. Our university was recognized in the Princeton Reviews Guide to 286 Green Colleges. The Princeton Review joined together with the U.S. Green Building Council to determine the rating system. USF was within the top 80th percentile; therefore the university received recognition. Many activities of sustainability have helped USF be awarded such a modern and prestigious acknowledgement. USF hosts the annual Campus and Community Sustainability Conference. This conference includes many participants that share innovations and ideas for Floridas sustainable future. USF was also the host for the Going Green Tampa Bay Expo. A student Green Jobs Fair is also held for students seeking work to support the environment. As for academics, the University of South Florida includes sustainability issues in many general education classes and there are several student organizations that support the green movement such as Emerging Green Builders, Engineers for a Sustainable World, the Student Sustainability Initiative, and the Student Environmental Awareness Society. Specifically, the Tampa campus uses about 35% less water than traditional methods because of the physical plant that lowers water usage by installing lowvolume units and restricting watering certain areas of the campus. The Princeton Review also noted that USF ranks second in Florida in the Recycle Mania contest. This contest is based on the amount of waste that is minimized per person on campus. The dedication and support of the students, faculty, and community have been substantial components of influence on the cleaner, greener environment and workplace at USF. The award by the Princeton Review shows that the student body is environmentally responsible and conscious of the effects recycling, conserving water and energy, and overall creating a more sustainable environment for the community.
Being included in the Princeton Reviews Guide to 286 Green Colleges is a testament to the hard work and steely dedication of numerous students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alumni over the past few years to make USF a cleaner, greener place to live and work. -Christian Wells
Changes on Campus
Smoke Free
Tuesday, March 20, was the first day that the University of South Floridas new smoking regulations officially went into effect. Now 25 areas are specifically designated for smokers to use and while USF is just trying to make the environment for everyone cleaner, students have mixed emotions. While the purpose of this new policy is to supply a healthy working, learning and living environment for the campus community and reduce the risk of secondhand smoke exposure to students, the smokers on campus are feeling they are being pushed into little groups and out-casted. While smokers on the USF Tampa campus may feel segregated, only allowed to now smoke in certain areas, USF St. Pete has taken initiative to have a completely tobacco free campus. They have a very strict policy that inhibits any form of tobacco to be used, distributed, or sold while on campus grounds. They are providing a tobacco and smoke free environment for students, faculty, visitors, staff and vendors. The enforcement of this policy depends on those of the campus, to impose the regulations and to politely remind any violators of the rules. However, any repeated offenses by a student will be charged with violating the student Code of Conduct and may receive disciplinary action.
USF St. Pete implemented the smoke free program in January of 2012, the Tampa campus followed shortly after.
The University of South Florida has participated in many activities that have made the campuses more environmentally friendly, but what about each campus individually? There are four main campuses of USF; they are located in St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee, Tampa, and Lakeland. The St. Petersburg campus is located on the water, so there are many efforts that go into keeping the water healthy, clean, and pollutant free. The organization SEAS, explained previously, has its home base here at the St. Petersburg campus. Also at USFSP is the fairly new science and technology building with the LEED certification. In addition to this building is also a new multipurpose center, which is in progress of being constructed and will have LEED certification.
The Sarasota-Manatee campus of USF is also working towards a greener environment in new ways. Like the St. Petersburg campus, in 2011 they were working towards getting a LEED certification on several buildings. Also in 2011 the campus central energy chiller plant went from an aircooled system to a water-cooled system that stores ice at night (USF Sarasota). This transition has allowed the cost to decrease as well as the energy usage. Because this campus is working to get everything LEED certified, they are also changing the energy consumption habits. Actions being done are using high efficiency fluorescent and LED lighting, occupant sensors for the lighting and air conditioning in classrooms, and reducing the use of high-energy usage machines at night. The Tampa campus is much larger than the others, so it has many more green efforts. The Bull Runner, for example, is a transit bus system that runs on
biodiesel fuel (Sustainability). There is also now a new car charging station at the Tampa campus (Sustainability). This promotes and incentive for the use of electric cars for a greener, pollutant free environment in the community and on campus. The Lakeland Polytechnic campus began to show their participation in the green movement in 2008. This is when they began to recycle paper products, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles. In 2010, USF Polytechnic recycled enough pounds of paper and cardboard equal to the weight of six cars. Each campus may be apart of the same USF system, but each one has different ways of contributing to USFs goals of becoming a cleaner, pollutant free world.
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Community gives 25 students the chance to encourage and enhance a more eco-friendly campus environment. The reason the university received an A in this section is because of all the groups an academic programs geared toward being green. Overall, the results of USF and other university green report card grades show that USF is right on track with becoming a greener university.
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Conclusion
In recent years, the Green Movement has taken the world by storm. Corporations, government agencies, institutions, small businesses, and individuals have taken it upon themselves to clean up the environment and make more earth-friendly decisions when conducting business and going about their daily routine. As an institution developing in a world where environment-friendly decisions are changing the way people live every day, the University of South Florida has had to accept and overcome many challenges to maintain its image as a socially and environmentally responsible university. Before the craze of environmental awareness began, the University of South Florida had little or no programs that promoted sustainability beyond the scope of getting students involved in the recycling of plastic materials on campus. This soon changed, however, after a Grad student doing a project on campus sustainability provided the facts and figures necessary for an effective Green Plan to be put into place. Administrators and officials bought in with no apprehension, and have never looked back. The University of South Florida today is nationally recognized as being one of the top Green colleges in the country, and such merits are certainly deserved as incredible amounts of hard work, resources, and dedication have been poured into the efforts to make USF a respectable, clean campus for its students and faculty. The Princeton Review recognizes USF as being in the 80th percentile among 286 environmentally-conscious colleges- a rating that is based on a multitude of criteria including the presence of established and active organizations promoting sustainability efforts, having environmentally-friendly technology in our facilities that lower costs, wastes, and inefficiencies, and increase value. Perhaps our biggest stride in the efforts the make the campus a greener community is the University of South Floridas Science and Technology building, which was awarded the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification in 2010. The grand opening for the new Student Services building in August of 2012 is highly anticipated, and this building is LEED certified as well. The University of South Floridas various organizations that promote a healthier setting on campus have also helped, along with the efforts of top administration, put into place many policies that promote cleaner, help raise funds for projects, and much more. The Student Environmental Awareness Society and the Office of Sustainability are two of the top organizations in the Green Movement, and coordinate many of the activities and processes
Above is the architectural image before construction of the future multipurpose center at USF St. Pete. Below is the multipurpose center 75 % completed as of March 29, 2012.
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Conclusion Continued
associated with its advancement including the Smoke-Free Campus policy which became effective as of January 1st, 2012, as well as the Green energy fund which raises funds for sustainability promotion throughout the university by charging a Green Energy fee in the form of a minute flat rate per credit hour. Moving forward, the University of South Florida plans to maintain its status as a leader in the Green community, and truly believes that the sky is the limit when it comes to moving the entire institution in a cleaner direction. The movement is not just a local, state wide, or even national agenda- its a global cause. With each graduating class, another enters into their first year at USF, and the efforts of students, faculty, alumni, and the surrounding community will prove to be an integral part of its development as they all have been for several years now. With developing technologies and new information regarding sustainability and energy efficiency becoming available each year, the University of South Florida has the unlimited potential to become the true leader in the Earth-friendly community. German Cosmonaut Sigmund Jahn, truly captured the essence of this movement going forward when he said "Only when I saw the Earth from space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I realize that humankind's most urgent task is to cherish and preserve it for future generations." The University of South Florida has shown it plans to do just that.
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Works Cited
"About USF St. Petersburg." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/aboutusf/index.htm>. Cash, J. (2010, May 5). USF One of the Nation's Top Green Colleges. Retrieved from USF News: http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=2295 Mansell, William. "USF St. Petersburg Breaks Ground on $20 Million." Old Northeast Patch. N.p., 11 Apr 2011. Web. Mar 2012. <http://oldnortheast.patch.com/articles/usf-stpetersburg-breaks-ground-on-20-million-student-center>. Marquez, Melanie. "Science & Technology Building Earns LEED Certification." News - USF St. Petersburg. N.p., 22 Jan 2010. Web. Mar 2012. "Organization Search." Usfsp.edu. University of South Florida. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. <https://netid.usf.edu/acso/acso_manager.php>. "Student Environmental Awareness Society." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/coas/espg/seas/index.htm>. "Student Green Energy Fund Has Money, Needs Purpose | The Crow's Nest A Student Newspaper at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg." Student Green Energy Fund Has Money, Needs Purpose. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://crowsneststpete.com/2012/01/24/student-green-e nergy-fund-has-money-needspurpose/>. "Sustainability Programs and Initiatives at USF and around the World." Patel School of Global Sustainability. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/charge-your-electriccars>. "University of South Florida College Sustainability Report Card 2011." University of South Florida. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/university-ofsouth-florida>. "USF Office of Sustainability." University of South Florida. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Sustainability/>. USF Sarasota-Manatee Goes Icy Green. 83 Degrees. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.83degreesmedia.com/devnews/icy032211.aspx> "USFSP Smoke Free." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/saffairs/ccc/USFSPSmokeFree.htm>. "What is the Student Green Energy Fund." Student Environmental Action Society. N.p.,n.d.Web.Mar 2012. <https://sites.google.com/a/uwf.edu/seas/sgef/whatsgef>.
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Annotated Bibliography
"About USF St. Petersburg." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/aboutusf/index.htm>. This website provided us with general information about USF St.Pete. From this article we know that the science and technology building is LEED certified. Now we can look further into this information to provide us with material about USF's green efforts. Cash, J. (2010, May 5). USF One of the Nation's Top Green Colleges. Retrieved from USF News: <http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=2295 > This article talks about the high ranking that USF has earned and how they have achieved the progress of becoming a green school. University of South Floridas staff and students have worked extremely hard to help the campus be environmentally safe such as converting organic materials into jet fuels. This source explains how USF is deeply committed to this on going project of becoming green. Mansell, William. "USF St. Petersburg Breaks Ground on $20 Million ." Old Northeast Patch. N.p., 11 Apr 2011. Web. Mar 2012.<http://oldnortheast.patch.com/articles/usf-st- petersburgbreaks-ground-on-20-million-student-center>. This article provides information on the new Student Center building that is supposed to be finished in Fall 2012. This building is also going to be LEED certified as it is being built. It is a little bit more pricier as the construction happens, but over time it reduces the amount of energy and water supply that is needed for the student center. Marquez, Melanie. "Science & Technology Building Earns LEED Certification." News - USF St. Petersburg. N.p., 22 Jan 2010. Web. Mar 2012. This article provides us information about the Science and Technology building as it related to saving energy for USF St. Petersburg. It also provides us information on how the building received its LEED certification. "Organization Search." Usfsp.edu. University of South Florida. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. <https://netid.usf.edu/acso/acso_manager.php>. The campus organization search allowed us to see how USFSP is creating opportunities to help the green movement. The Student Chapter of Environmental Professionals and The Student Environmental Awareness Society are both organizations where students can contribute to the campus environment. "Student Environmental Awareness Society." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/coas/espg/seas/index.htm>. This source provides specific information about the Student Environmental Awareness society of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. It provides the leaders of the organization, the mission and goals, and information about the clean ups they participate in at the harbor. This is a credible source from the university website.
"Student Green Energy Fund Has Money, Needs Purpose | The Crow's Nest A Student Newspaper at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg." Student Green Energy Fund
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Has Money, Needs Purpose. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://crowsneststpete.com/2012/01/24/student-green-e nergy-fund-has-money-needspurpose/>. This article contains information about the green energy fund. It recalls the one dollar per credit hour that is collected from students and what it is used for. This site gives an overview of what the committee has collected so far and what this money will be used for. "Sustainability Programs and Initiatives at USF and around the World." Patel School of Global Sustainability. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://psgs.usf.edu/news/article/charge-your-electriccars>. This website explains programs that suggest sustainability at the University of South Florida, specifically Tampa. It informs about the Bull Runner system in Tampa, along with the new car charging stations that promote being environmentally friendly. This is a credible source because it is an article directly from the Patel School of Global Sustainability. "University of South Florida College Sustainability Report Card 2011." University of South Florida. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2011/schools/university-ofsouth-florida>. This source is an extremely credible source. It provides the green report card of the University of South Florida. The graph in the report card section was created from the information on this site. The source divides the grade into different categories, explaining why the category received the grade that it did. "USF Office of Sustainability." University of South Florida. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://usfweb2.usf.edu/Sustainability/>. The Office of Sustainability website provides all the necessary information needed to know about this organization. It is the home page to virtually each activity and program that relates to becoming a sustainable university. USF Sarasota-Manatee Goes Icy Green. 83 Degrees. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.83degreesmedia.com/devnews/icy032211.aspx> This source is an article that gives information specifically about the Sarasota campus of USF. It explains the transition of the large cooling system from air conditioning to an ice cooling system. It also explains various ways that the Sarasota campus has taken part in the green movement. "USFSP Smoke Free." University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Web. Mar. 2012. <http://www.usfsp.edu/saffairs/ccc/USFSPSmokeFree.htm>. This source provides all the information about how USFSP has gone smoke free. It includes the policy overview, resources for the program such as help with quitting, as well as tobacco use information. It shows the actual policy document that includes the purpose of this new regulation and areas on a map where smoking is permitted. "What is the Student Green Energy Fund." Student Environmental Action Society. N.p.,n.d. Web. Mar 2012. <https://sites.google.com/a/uwf.edu/seas/sgef/whatsgef>. The Student Green Energy Fund grants a Florida University to be able to charge students an applicable fee per credit hour. USF St. Petersburg has adopted this grant and therefore in Fall 2011, managed to collect one dollar per credit hour. The money allocated then goes toward the university to help maintain a cleaner environment for students.
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