Turning Indicators into Reality: Methodology and Results on Assessing the Sustainability in Large Campuses Chemical & Biological Engineering (CHBE) Sustainability Club University of British Columbia – Vancouver Dora Ip, Alexandre Vigneault, James Butler AASHE 2010 Conference Denver, October th

Who are we? Since 2006, the CHBE Sustainability Club aims to serve as a model of sustainability for individual members and our community. Since 2007, we have been looking at ways to assess sustainability in our department, Assess our strengths and weaknesses Target Actions: to yield the most results effectively

Relevance of Department Level Assessment Large university campuses are comprised of thousands of students & employees spread out over many different dept & admin units – CHBE represents less than 0.7% of UBC community At UBC, a large portion of the administration is decentralized, with individual departments having autonomy over daily operations. Campus wide assessments are a significant time & resource commitment Campus wide results might not provide an accurate picture of the strengths and weaknesses for specific departments

Why not wait for UBC to do it first? We are here!

What we have proposed 1 st : Using surveys Learn about habits of individuals, Know their perceptions Usually not studied in many campus frameworks 2 nd : Department level Can be answered by an individual Emphasis on “Yes/No” questions 3 rd : Campus level Done at higher level (Sustainability Office) Follow STARS 3 level indicators framework

Others at UBC and beyond (no) Our Method Frameworks for indicators have been reviewed: ie – CSAF, STARS, GRI, UBC Inspiration & Aspiration, College Sustainability Green Card, Gross Happiness Index Can we apply them to a department? Which ones are actually relevant? Influence and or Interest (maybe) Control (yes)

Rating system based on STARS, but with added “Community & Health” Total 144 indicators; 78 answered by surveys, separated by pop. categories (Undergrad, Staff, et al); Department level: 66 indicators; ~40 “yes/no” indicators; For the motivated: e.g. GHG Inventories, paper, electricity, water tracking; Questions with informative answers that are not rated;

Example: Research & Education: Curriculum Section Sustainability Related Courses Taught by Department / total Courses 14 / 51 Sustainability Courses Required by Department0 Surveys [0: least satisfied - 4: most satisfied] Satisfaction with Non-Sustainability Courses3.0 Satisfaction with Sustainability Related Courses2.7 Department level questions (green): What are we doing? Survey questions (blue): Are we doing it well?

Example: Operation: Water Section Drinking Water Options (e.g. filtered water, fountain)Yes* 3/4 *Undergrads don't have easy access to filtered tap water UndergradGraduateFacultyStaffRating Amount of bottled water drank per person per week / 4 Usage of water fountains, coolers, filtration units 29%48%70%46%1.8 / 4 Perception of tap water quality on campus [0 = very poor, 4 = excellent] / 4

Example: Operation: Transportation Section Commuting Average Distance (km) UndergradGraduateFacultyStaff What prevents you from biking/walking to campus? Weather41%20%-- Distance59%15%30%50% Safety7%0%20%8% Time30%20%10%17% No Bike Facilities5%20%-- Other11%30%10%25%

Example: Community & Health Section UndergradGraduateFacultyStaff Sense of Belonging to the Community [0 - None; 4 - Strong] How stressed do you feel at school? [Not at all - 0 Extremely - 4]2.3 Smoking [0 - Never; 1 - Occasionally; 2 - Weekly; 3 - Often]

Conclusion Measuring Sustainability at the Department is a great tool to learn, educate and create real changes Comparing trends from then to now to evaluate what we can do to improve our department We established a tool that can be utilized by all departments across the entire campus to analyze their sustainable efforts that requires modest resources

Thank you! Please contact us: Tips, copy of surveys, excel tool Thanks to our supporters UBC Sustainability Office Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering

Example: Admin & Finance GraduateFacultyStaff Number of Hours Worked per Week (h) UndergradGrad National Average Students with Loans at Graduation42%45%73% Average Student Debt Load Estimate at Graduation $ $ $

Lessons learned Surveys: Undergrad: paper great meet in classroom Grad, staff & faculty, in person contact essential. , close to useless Great education tools, some people might be angry Lead to action: examples of changes