The Orion Online

Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Marcella Garofalo The Student Services Center received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification for its sustainable aspects, according to the facilities planning Web site. [Click to enlarge]

With about 22 percent of the campus' energy coming from renewable sources, it's no wonder the university keeps getting recognition for its sustainability efforts.

The university was named in "10 of the Greenest Colleges in America" by The Daily Green, a sustainability Web site.

The Daily Green also named Harvard University, Duke University and Oberlin College on its green list.

Another achievement came when the Green Campus Program received the 2008 Best Practices Award for Student Energy Efficiency on Thursday from the Energy Efficiency Partnership Program.

A new strategic priority guides the college's sustainability efforts, said Scott McNall, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Development, in an e-mail.

Part of the strategy includes only using green cleaning products and prohibiting pesticides.

"We continue to tell the 'Chico Story' at national conventions, receiving recognition for our efforts," McNall said.

Senior Christina Balistreri, exercise physiology major, works in the A.S. Bookstore and noticed sustainability efforts around campus.

"Over the summer, the bookstore would black out at times to save power," Balistreri said. "This, combined with the solar panels that are used, shows the school has done a great job."

In 2007, Grist.org, another Web site for environmental issues, listed Chico State as No. 8 on its 15 Greenest Colleges and Universities list.

In April 2007, the university won the grand prize in the National Wildlife Federation's first Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming Contest. Chico State beat more than 100 other colleges in the contest for its work to fight global warming on multiple levels.

Through student effort in 2002, the Academic Senate endorsed the Talloires Declaration, which began the campus' efforts at reducing its carbon footprint and being careful with the use of natural resources, McNall said.

"The campus completed its first greenhouse gas inventory in 2005 and began to reduce our carbon footprint with significant help from the Office of the Vice President for Business and Finance," McNall said.

President Paul Zingg was one of the first to sign the American Association of College and Universities' "Presidents Climate Commitment." The university had to immediately reduce its greenhouse emissions with the hopeful result of carbon neutrality.

Zingg said in an e-mail he thinks the campus deserves recognition for its sustainability efforts.

"Sustainability is a true university orientation, not just an isolated activity," he said.

The new buildings on campus will add to the sustainability effort, said Kaari Martin, capital projects and planning specialist.

The plan is to put in native drought-resistant trees in the courtyard between the Student Services Center and the library, Martin said.

"It will help with the feel of the campus, as there are lots of trees and the native species won't interfere with other plant life," she said.

Ben Burg can be reached at
bburg@theorion.com

Related links
The Daily Green Web site

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