Strategy
The Evergreen State College is engaging the local, regional and global community to demonstrate and enact clear policies to address the world-changing challenges of climate change. In so doing, we are working to discover the opportunities implicit in reaching our 2020 target of carbon neutrality. Some recent accomplishments include:
• The Evergreen State College was recently recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for purchasing more green power than any other school in our region. The Evergreen State College purchased more than 16 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 100 percent of the school’s annual electricity usage. EPA estimates that The Evergreen State College’s purchase of more than 16 million kilowatt-hours of green power is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 1,600 average American homes each year or has the equivalent impact of reducing the CO2 emissions of more than 2,100 passenger cars annually.
• Evergreen students pay a self-imposed clean energy fee. This fee helps to fund a clean energy initiative that is managed by a Clean Energy Committee comprised of students, faculty, and staff. The Committee awards grants to promote clean energy projects on campus.
• Clean Energy Committee funded projects including a biodiesel production facility for our Organic Farm, a 9-Kw photovoltaic array for our library building, solar-powered lighting for our covered bus shelters, and a new solar-powered weather station that will collect data and reduce campus water use by 6.5 acre-feet per year.
• Evergreen was also recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 as one of the “Best Workplaces for Commuters.” We provide transit passes to faculty, staff, and students, offer a guaranteed ride home program, provide commuter/bicyclist lockers, designate carpool spaces, and employ staff and students to encourage greener commuting options.
• Building on our reputation for the first publicly funded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified Gold building in the United States, State of Washington, students voted to renovate our Campus Activities Building to achieve LEED Gold status.
• We have a vigorous ecological agriculture program that works in conjunction with our organic farm and local farms throughout our region, promoting locally produced food designed to encourage consciousness of the role of food miles and agricultural inputs in climate change.
• Our most recent energy savings and conservation plan will reduce carbon output by 500 tons and save $73,000 per year.
• Evergreen has purchased a fleet of electric cars to replace many of its gasoline and diesel vehicles, has an active commuter options program and uses Energy Star (high efficiency) appliances throughout its operations. Over the seven-year lifespan of each electric vehicle, we will save 5,950 gallons of gasoline and 60 tons of carbon dioxide pollutants by these means.
• Evergreen has also implemented single stream recycling. In the year ending June 30, 2008, we reduced our landfill waste by 14 percent or 100,000 pounds. Since September 2008, Evergreen has reduced its landfill waste by more than 97,000 pounds by expanding its composting efforts, reducing paper use, initiating an electronic waste recycling program and raising student, staff and faculty awareness.
From edible forest gardens to a salmon-safe certified organic farm to campus housing options in which students consciously choose a different way to relate to their natural world, Evergreen provides students with the opportunity to embark on innovative, world-changing ways of thinking. Evergreen students gain knowledge that will help our community grow as a center for a greener global economy and sustainable living. Our wide-ranging activities to meet the challenges of climate change are central to these efforts.
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