Since the late 1970s, the University at Buffalo has been a leader in energy conservation, completing hundreds of projects designed to increase energy efficiency. UB Green, the environmental office at UB, promotes campus environmental awareness and responsibilities. Clean Air-Cool Planet, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending global warming, reports that UB has saved an estimated $100 million through these conservation initiatives. Although past years have seen enormous strides taken to improve the green nature of this campus, future environmental developments at UB still have significant hurdles to overcome.
The lack of student awareness and involvement is one of the major concerns among environmental activists, along with the recent retirement of UB Green’s director Walter Simpson. Joe Raab, the Director of Environmental Health & Safety, is playing the role of interim director of UB Green in the meantime. The possibility of UB becoming a more environmentally friendly campus is being debated. Is there more the university and its students can be doing to further its green reputation?
UB initiated their research and development of environmental concerns in 1970 by promoting energy conservation and recycling. In 1999, the UB Green office was officially created and now has several environmental organizations and programs under its umbrella in order to promote a greener environment. Walter Simpson was responsible for many of these advances during the 26 years he worked for the university.
UB Human Resources stresses that the university has the environmental impact of a modest-sized city. According to their official website, they feel, “Through campus environmental stewardship we can make campus operations less consuming of natural resources and less polluting of natural ecosystems. By committing ourselves to becoming a ‘green campus’ we can better fulfill our educational mission, demonstrate environmental leadership, and set an example for the wider community.”
In November of last year, the Committee on Environmental Stewardship at UB was formed. The committee is planning to help reduce carbon emissions from buildings and transportation, while addressing what products the university purchases, improving the environmental education, and the development of research programs in sustainability. This is one of the responsibilities that UB Green Environmental Educators have. Erin Cala, an environmental educator in the UB Green office, said, “UB Green is very involved with the Committee for Environmental Stewardship, which is responsible for developing a climate neutrality plan for UB. I am also developing the framework for a new UB Green program, which will empower individuals with the tools necessary to create a sustainable campus.” According to the Environmental Stewardship Committee website, “The committee is made up of people from the university that work with the budget authority and have the operational capacity to implement a climate action plan.”
James Simon is also an environmental educator for UB Green and works closely with the committee to address the sources of greenhouse gas emissions and help develop solutions that will take UB closer to climate neutrality. A climate neutral campus would reduce or offset the levels of greenhouse gases that UB emits to produce no outside environmental impact, which Simon states is the ultimate goal of UB Green.
Simons’ main responsibilities involve calculating and tracking the greenhouse gas emissions for UB. He remarked that, “Last year, UB Green released a report on UB’s greenhouse gas emissions that showed that energy use and transportation are the two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.” Simon recognizes that this is pertinent to the Committee on Environmental Stewardship, so they can make informed decisions regarding green issues.
John B. Simpson, the president of UB, committed the university to a leadership role in improving the state of global warming. He took an active role by signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007. The Presidents Climate Commitment establishes guidelines for each university, whereby each institution develops its own plan for reducing emissions and meeting educational goals.
According to a Business First of Buffalo article in spring of 2007, UB was the first institution in Western New York and the second campus in the State University of New York (SUNY) system to sign the commitment to achieve climate neutrality. Walter Simpson feels that these achievements made by the university are more publicity then progress. He told the magazine, “In my opinion what has happened under current campus leadership is that real commitment and progress have been replaced by public relations non-sense and hype.”
The College Sustainability Report Card is a measurement of how “green” individual college and university campuses are. It was designed to identify those institutions that are leading the country in the development of green ideas and solutions. The aim of the College Sustainability Report Card, according to their webpage, “is for schools to have accessible information so that they can learn from each other’s experiences.” The report cards give an overall grade from analyzing the different divisions of what can be done to improve the campus. The categories are administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and share holder engagement.
For the upcoming year UB has received an overall grade of a B-. They received their lowest score, an F, in shareholder engagement. This is of concern because this is the category that the Sustainability Report Card emphasizes its focus on. Schools that have a good score in this category tend to be more prominent green schools.
Though they were awarded A’s in the administration, climate change, and energy categories, these marks left room for debate for some. Walter Simpson feels that the A’s are a poor assessment of UB’s environmental program. He said, “I beg to differ with the College Sustainability Report Card’s assessment of UB’s environmental program. While the report card gives the UB Administration an A grade for its support of the university’s green campus program, I left UB last May, after 26 years of service, in large part because of a complete lack of support from the administration. For four years I sought that support through UB Vice President Beau Willis and it never was forthcoming. Prior to the arrival of John Simpson and Beau Willis, UB’s energy and green campus programs were among the very best in the country. I don’t believe that can be fair.”
UB received C’s in the categories of student involvement, investment priorities, and food and recycling. The low grade in recycling could be blamed on the lack of recycling accessibility on campus. UB has recycling containers scattered indoors around campus, but not outside or in classrooms. Other local schools, such as Buffalo State College, already have implemented outdoor recycling units. Simon says, “This is a project that the UB Green office is working on as we speak. Cala agrees. She said, “UB Green is working with a professor and a number of community members to design and manufacture outdoor recycling bins for campus. We hope to have a prototype by the end of the school year, and will then begin to seek funding to populate outdoor spaces on our campuses.”
While B- may not be perceived as a bad score, especially when compared to other universities, UB received the same score last year. The grade system is meant to help foster improvement in the green-factor on campus, though UB’s grade reflects no change with the exception of transportation, the only subject score that improved. Simon is working on that. “I try to help bring more bicycle amenities and programs to campus,” he said.
Student involvement is a new category, and despite the wide variety of environmental organizations and clubs at the university, it received a mediocre score of C. This score seems low due to the large amount of environmental student activities that are offered on campus. Aside from recycling and being more environmentally consciences, there are several clubs to join and committees that allow student input. Simon works with these various student groups on campus, providing assistance and guidance.
The Environmental Network is a student-run club on campus. It is a network of progressive organizations and individuals whose aim is to uproot environmental injustices through actions and education. Jordan Gerow, the president of the Environmental Network, states that they are currently working on a number of incentives, including political ones.
“From now until election day, we’re really gunning it on the political side of things, however, past election day we’re hoping to do more outreach and education across campus, whether it be programming in the residence halls or in the form of a film and speaker series,” said Gerow. “We’re totally eager to keep people updated about what we’re doing, and when we do something outside the general meeting times, we like to make it known and invite all the people who couldn’t be at our general meetings.”
There are also several volunteer opportunities available for students. Simon said that they are also working on bringing the national recycling competition Recyclemania to campus this spring. Along with a book club and community reading series, they are reaching out to students on Facebook and through regular email newsletters. Simon said, “We’ve gotten a great response from these efforts.”
After all this progress, however, the recent budget cuts to UB might hurt the environmental programs. Simon said, “Recent budget cuts have taken a toll on the entire campus and UB Green is no exception.” Yet he also recognizes that, “The budget cuts, however, may actually bring more attention to the energy efficiency and conservation projects that can save UB energy and money, making the best case for the work that our office does.”
This could be the attention that the program is not only looking for, but needs. Despite the substantial advancements in the conservation and energy that UB has made in the past with the help of UB Green and the Committee on Environmental Stewardship, the strive towards excellence may soon be impeded. A pervasive apathy that has plagued the student body and the administration in regards to environmental issues has left UB’s future as a prominent green campus in the gray.
