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PLU leads way to green future
January 05, 2007
Once again, PLU is taking a leadership role in environmental stewardship.
President Loren Anderson joined with a dozen college and university presidents to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The pledge requires universities to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become carbon neutral.
“The future health of our environment affects all of us, and higher education needs to take a role in addressing the issue,” Anderson said. “We are educating tomorrow’s leaders, giving them the skills and abilities to affect change.”
The effort is modeled after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement led by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Other universities whose leaders have signed the commitment include Arizona State University and the University of Florida, along with several community colleges and smaller institutions.
Nonprofit groups Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education are helping to organize the effort. The organizations hope at least another 200 college and university presidents will sign the commitment by June 2007.
For nearly 20 years, PLU has been working to create a more sustainable campus.
The university was among first to offer an environmental studies major and minor, and environmental issues are addressed in courses across the disciplines, from science to religion to literature. And with a recycling rate hovering at 60 percent, the institution boasts one of the highest in the region.
One of the most visible signs of PLU’s commitment came when Anderson signed the Talloires Declaration on Earth Day 2004, making PLU the first university in the Pacific Northwest to commit to incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy into all aspects of the university. (Read the declaration here.)
The Morken Center for Learning and Technology, by far PLU’s most earth-friendly building, is another testament to PLU’s dedication. The building is the first in Pierce County and the first at a Washington state independent college to attain gold-level certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building requires no fossil fuels to operate. It is heated and cooled with a cutting-edge geothermal heat-pump system that regulates the building’s temperature with water stored in underground wells.
Across campus, the effort continues: the residence halls are equipped with low-flow toilets to conserve water; Dining Services is actively working to bring more organic and locally-produced food to campus; and Environmental Health and Safety offers a transit pass benefit to encourage students and employees to commute by mass transit, carpools or riding their bike instead of driving their own car each day.
Additionally, nearly 50 percent of the faculty and staff opted to join the “Can the Can” effort to boost PLU’s recycling rate at the beginning of this year. Employees exchanged their trash cans for a 1.5-liter green container to be used for garbage, and agreed to take all items that can be recycled to the nearest recycling area.
The Presidents Climate Commitment requires colleges and universities that sign the pledge to develop plans to become carbon neutral within two years and to keep an accurate inventory of the institution’s greenhouse gas emissions. To read the commitment, click here.
To learn more about PLU’s sustainability efforts, visit www.plu.edu/~sustain. For more information about the recycling program, including what can and can’t be recycled, click here.
“The future health of our environment affects all of us, and higher education needs to take a role in addressing the issue,” Anderson said. “We are educating tomorrow’s leaders, giving them the skills and abilities to affect change.”
The effort is modeled after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement led by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Other universities whose leaders have signed the commitment include Arizona State University and the University of Florida, along with several community colleges and smaller institutions.
Nonprofit groups Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education are helping to organize the effort. The organizations hope at least another 200 college and university presidents will sign the commitment by June 2007.
For nearly 20 years, PLU has been working to create a more sustainable campus.
The university was among first to offer an environmental studies major and minor, and environmental issues are addressed in courses across the disciplines, from science to religion to literature. And with a recycling rate hovering at 60 percent, the institution boasts one of the highest in the region.
One of the most visible signs of PLU’s commitment came when Anderson signed the Talloires Declaration on Earth Day 2004, making PLU the first university in the Pacific Northwest to commit to incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy into all aspects of the university. (Read the declaration here.)
The Morken Center for Learning and Technology, by far PLU’s most earth-friendly building, is another testament to PLU’s dedication. The building is the first in Pierce County and the first at a Washington state independent college to attain gold-level certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building requires no fossil fuels to operate. It is heated and cooled with a cutting-edge geothermal heat-pump system that regulates the building’s temperature with water stored in underground wells.
Across campus, the effort continues: the residence halls are equipped with low-flow toilets to conserve water; Dining Services is actively working to bring more organic and locally-produced food to campus; and Environmental Health and Safety offers a transit pass benefit to encourage students and employees to commute by mass transit, carpools or riding their bike instead of driving their own car each day.
Additionally, nearly 50 percent of the faculty and staff opted to join the “Can the Can” effort to boost PLU’s recycling rate at the beginning of this year. Employees exchanged their trash cans for a 1.5-liter green container to be used for garbage, and agreed to take all items that can be recycled to the nearest recycling area.
The Presidents Climate Commitment requires colleges and universities that sign the pledge to develop plans to become carbon neutral within two years and to keep an accurate inventory of the institution’s greenhouse gas emissions. To read the commitment, click here.
To learn more about PLU’s sustainability efforts, visit www.plu.edu/~sustain. For more information about the recycling program, including what can and can’t be recycled, click here.