I was surprised to see a document, “UH Recycles,” spelling out ambitious goals for recycling on the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus.
Among the goals is increasing recycling by 50 percent and developing awareness of the issues on the campus.
The report was presented to the Campus Facilities Planning Board a year ago.
I found it surprising only because the actual changes on campus seem to have been in the opposite direction recently, including dismantling of the recycling project in Saunders Hall, a major classroom building that houses a number of academic departments.
With that in mind, I was quite interested in the recent issue of the Whitman College alumni magazine. Both Meda and I are graduates of Whitman, a small liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. This issue of the magazine features the Green List, “25 ways the Whitman community keeps its commitment to the environment and to sustainability.”
It makes for some interesting comparisons. Whitman has invested some money in various green initiatives, but mostly it has invested thought and planning.
There’s a $50,000 revolving loan fund supporting projects initiated by students, faculty, and staff “that conserve resources and improve efficiency,” like the installation of dual-flush toilets in the campus center. I’m sad to say UH buildings are lucky to have working toilets.
The fund also supported a student agriculture project that grows microgreens in a greenhouse on the campus science building and sells their producee to the campus food service. The group paid off their loan, and is now using profits to expand to a larger garden that will grow other vegetables to be consumed on campus.
There’s a Sustainability Advisory Committee with student, staff and faculty representation. The college supports the effort by funding two paid student coordinators. The committee “evaluates practices and policies, promotes campus-wide sustainability programs and facilitates the sharing of information and resources among Whitman’s many environmental groups.”
It sounds like a minimum investment capable of paying much larger returns. It also empowers students and faculty, something UH sometimes has trouble with.
The college has a program with its own bicycle maintenance technician to help students with their bikes, encourages more bicycle use with places for 750 bikes to be parked and locked. The college took bicycles that were abandoned on campus, fixed them up, and now manages a bike sharing program where you can borrow a bike and helmet for the day.
Other little things–the bookstore no longer uses plastic bags. Bottled water is no longer sold in vending machines or dining rooms on campus. And so on.
A little money. A lot of thought and empowerment.
Perhaps UH is just too big, and small innovative projects are lost in the shuffle. I would like to think that the University of Hawaii is capable of doing as well as Whitman if we unleashed the talents of all the folks on campus.
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It’s funny, but you’d think a college in Hawaii would be the first to adapt ‘green’ thinking. Perhaps they need a change of leadership.
Ian, hope someone with authority at UHM reads & implements this role model. Student jobs coordinating green practices — too cool!
The guy in charge of UH greening David Hafner was fired several weeks ago. Apparently he crossed the wrong senior administrators but I don’t know whom and over what. Whatever the details, it would slow any greening.
The UH document is just a list of goals.
Too often in Hawaii (DOE, other state departments) that is as far as things go. The goals are pretty, but need to be followed by a plan and a budget. Nothing happens without those two. Who is in charge of making each part happen? Timetable? Budget for each part? Who authorizes spending? Etc., etc., usw.
I had occasion to participate in a planning session with DOE personnel during the Felix Consent Decree. DOE had been ordered by the Felix Operations Manager to develop a plan for something. At the session, all they could do was goals (bullet points). They would not assign anyone, nor identify sources of funding, etc. In the end, the Felix Operations Manager said she would develop the plan herself.
Unless there is more to this, don’t hold your breath for something to happen at UH.
My small alma mater–Oberlin College in Ohio–also has made great strides in “greening” the campus.
But check out the dual flush toilets in Moore Hall on the UHM campus.
Ian these are great insights on UH. When I was there it was a commuter school with little to no connection between students and school activities. The place would pretty much shut down after 3pm and everyone would be gone.
It would be wonderful if creative and cost saving green ideas could thrive at UH. I think they would (even with the total absence of forward thinking administration if change is focused in each classroom.
In the past year, I think recycling efforts have gotten worse. The bins are picked up LESS often, there are more excuses for why things can’t be done.
Within our school, staff is trying to do MORE, while the UH system stymies our efforts.
A friend at UH added this information about green initiatives by the Graduate Student Organization.
As someone who has been involved in solid waste management issues for over a decade now – and we added sewer stuff about three years ago – I can tell you that the leadership in government agencies is extremely important if one wants to get anything done.
HOWEVER, what really makes things go forward is for a small group of people who put these issues at the top of their List Of Things To Do.
One of our early victories was to reduce the cubic footage defining illegal dumping at the state level; another one was to extend the operation hours at the transfer stations, convenience centers, and Waimanalo Gulch Landfill at the county level.
As someone who is not very patient when things are going wrong, I had to learn to not get all hoofa-poofa when bad things couldn’t stopped right here, right now.
Perhaps UH is just too big, and small innovative projects are lost in the shuffle.
I’m not sure about this.
Here is a ranking by the Princeton Review of the 20 most politically progressive colleges and universities in the US:
http://education-portal.com/liberal_colleges.html
With the exception of UC Santa Cruz, these are all relatively small, private liberal arts colleges.
Princeton Review also has a “Green Honor Roll” for the 16 most “eco-enlightened” colleges.
http://www.princetonreview.com/green-honor-roll.aspx
Most of these 16 schools are research universities (notably, Harvard).
The only overlapping case of a college on both lists is Warren Wilson College.
I would guess that the distinguishing trait of colleges and universities that are most ‘green’ is not smallness and ‘coziness’, but rather ample financial resources, idealism, ambition and willpower. Harvard in particular has all of those, in spades. Small innovative projects do not get lost in the shuffle at Harvard. They grow to become major, world-class innovative projects.
So the proper question to ask might be: How UH can become more like Harvard?
The only overlapping case of a college on both lists is Warren Wilson College.
Actually, UC Santa Cruz is on both lists.
Also, it is also relatively small scale, at least not gigantic like UC Berkeley. (I had characterized it as a large state university.)