This week, the CTV Media circulated an article about the "greening of our campuses", or how environmental sustainability is becoming an important part of students' post-secondary institution choices. Of course, the University of Guelph was featured, but it actually earned this recognition this time.
The article highlighted how students took the lead by working with the administration, instead of against it, to initiate the Energy Conservation Retrofit Initiative. I have to say that this is a subtle, but very personal statement because at the risk of sounding self-important, it was "my" idea. (I use quotations because, as you'll read below, I can't take full credit for the success.)
A bit of history:
During my undergrad years, I was involved in the Renewable Energy Group. Our main campaign was to try to get the University of Guelph's administration to agree to do a complete energy-efficiency overhaul of the university. We had successfully convinced them to do a pilot project on one major energy-consuming building. The pilot was so successful that we thought we had succeeded in demonstrating its effectiveness and cost savings. We had economic, environmental, and social arguments well-researched and presented to prove that it was the best investment of our tuition-dollars. Yet we were constantly met with inaction and excuses. We wrote letter campaigns, held tense meetings with the VPs and the President, and participated in other typical "Activist" activities, to no avail.
Then I attended the "oikos International Winter school" in St. Gallen, Switzerland to become an 'agent of change' and improve sustainability in our universities. The program included reputable speakers including a senior executive of Ikea, the European Policy Officer of World Wildlife Fund, a university president, and senior managers and executives from major businesses and banks. Their main message was
"don't fight the system, work within it."We did interactive role-play workshops on multi-stakeholder meetings and negotiations, and learned how to facilitate discussions with management staff to have the desired outcomes when dealing with opposing viewpoints.
The lessons were invaluable. I came back to the University of Guelph with a whole new perspective on how the Renewable Energy Group should approach the administration on the topic of the energy retrofit.
Upon my return, I suggested that we propose a similar multi-stakeholder committee made up of Administration, Physical Resources and Operations, and student representatives. The proposal was adopted, and we formed the Energy Conservation Working Group, chaired by the school's Sustainability Coordinator. Following that, the Central Students' Association spearheaded a referendum campaign targeted at students to encourage the support for a $10/semester levy to support the energy retrofit. Funds would be matched by the administration, and would be bolstered by staff and faculty funds through voluntary pay-roll deductions.
The Pay-Off:
The referendum passed by 63%. Students agreed to contribute $4.3 million over 12 years. This incredible support snowballed further support; staff and faculty began offering their own contributions. The following year, the Graduate Students' Association ran their own Energy Retrofit referendum, which also passed. The administration lived up to their word and matched the funds. In the first year of the campaign, we raised over $400,000. The first project was decided upon by the ECWG to be the Energy Lighting Retrofit of the Library - a high-traffic space that was in need of some significant energy conservation measures. The $950,000 lighting retrofit is now complete, with a $200,000 per year payback. Not too shabby!
In the end, a multitude of factors lined up to kick the initiative into high-gear, including student support, staff support, the energy of the student government at that time, and partnership opportunities with the local utility companies. But I still like to believe that the multistakeholder, non-confrontational, cooperative approach that I proposed in 2006 was the tipping point. Maybe that's just my ego talking. :)
Read more at: http://globecampus.ca/in-the-news/globecampusreport/lean-green-campus-machines/
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