Process: Executive Subcommittee
One of the most important things for Questers to understand is that the chief executive must make the trade-offs between the best ideas in each of the other six modules. How, for example, does the campus choose between a really good idea from the Waste management team, and a really good one from the Energy team? This module asks those questions.
It is expected that the participants on the Executive subcommittee will meet with the chief campus executive or his/her delegates early in the Quest. Among the important roles of this subcommittee is feedback from that meeting to the other subcommittees as they proceed with their work. As those other teams pursue their parts of the Quest – what are the special concerns of THIS client? For THIS campus? The other subcommittees rely on the Executive team to make sure they address the more important issues, and produce their work in terms that help the campus executive make good decisions.
Question 1: Where Are We Now?
What is the situation on this campus now?
What have we already accomplished?
What are we in the middle of doing?
What is planned?
How do we stand up with our peers?
Websites of interest
To get good information about your own campus, start with the Home webpage, and see if you find anything Green there. Do local searches for Sustainability and Policy or Programs. Take a look at the President’s or Principal’s webpage, speeches, and Board of Trustees Minutes.
To assess broader issues, and develop some comparative standards, try:
http://www.sustainablecampus.org/
http://www.aashe.org/
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10094
and, of course, our own NJHEPS website: http://www.njheps.org/
and especially the NJHEPS Sustainable Campus Initiative: http://www.njheps.org/projects/SCI.htm
Smaller campuses are like smaller businesses – where do we start?
At http://www.thestreet.com/story/10414913/1/reduce-your-companys-carbon-footprint.html, Kelsey Abbott identifies some starting points, and some more links to additional sources.
Question 2: What Commitments Govern Our Choices?
What are the more important commitments we have already made?
Have we signed the President’s Commitment?
What have our major funders established as the guidelines for us?
What laws and regulations are the most important constraints (or motives) for our choices?
Websites of interest
This whole WebQuest begins with a question about the Presidents’ Commitment, and it is worth reviewing in this specific context:
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/
One of the big issues in the recent past has been the Kyoto Protocol, to which most countries (notably excluding the USA during President G. Bush’s tenure) are signatories. It mandates radical changes in carbon and other emissions. How would our campus adapt if similar standards were applied to us? Now? To our growth plans for the next 10-50 years?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27318-2005Feb15.html
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/kyoto.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/kyoto/kyotorpt.html
US rules are dominated by the Environmental Protection Act and its derived agency, the EPA.
http://www.epa.gov/
Many states are enacting new standards, sometimes with incentive programs.
There is a nationals database of such programs at: http://www.dsireusa.org/index.cfm?EE=1&RE=1
For an example, see what’s going on in New Jersey:
http://www.dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=NJ12F&state=nj&CurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=1
In the Buildings sector, be sure to look at the work of the US Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org/
And an example is: http://www.edcmag.com/CDA/Articles/Leed/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000135452
Question 3: Values and Metrics
What aspects of Sustainability are most important at this Campus? Is that changing?
How do you measure our performance? How do we know how important different things are?
What are the examples (stories) you use most often to communicate our values?
Websites of interest
Chief Executives have to manage scarce resources across the entire enterprise / campus, to get the best possible results in a very multivalent world.
One starting point is the money: How much does it cost? But, that’s not really even half of the equation, is it? We need to know more about other costs, such as time of staff, renovations to cherished buildings and landscapes, etc. AND, we need to know about benefits – in terms of subsidies available, cost savings in the future, and many other benefits, including public relations, community goodwill, educational merits, and organizational reputation.
Let’s begin with the money. What would it cost? What are the expected financial benefits?
http://www.env-econ.net/2005/07/costbenefit_ana.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-benefit_analysis
Next, let’s expand the discussion by looking at a “Triple Bottom Line.” Add the financial discussion to ones covering the geophysical environment – and the impacts on social justice.
CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies)
http://www.bsdglobal.com/tools/principles_ceres.asp
Andrew Savitz’ blog: http://getsustainable.net/blogfiles/blog.html
Includes a Blogroll of “The Best Sustainability Sites” on the Web.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line
http://www.bsdglobal.com/tools/principles_triple.asp
Finally, how do we make trade-offs?
http://www.smallfailures.com/
Question 4: Long-Term Vision
In the long-term, say over the next generation or longer, how do you see this campus changing?
How does Sustainability fit into that picture?
Websites of interest
Definitions of sustainable organizations:
http://www.bsdglobal.com/tools/principles_sbp.asp
The World Business Council for Sustainability shows how good environmental stewaqrdship is good for companies (and campuses) in the long run. Start here, and explore WBCS:
http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=Mjk2MzQ
Some people see sustainability as a matter of intergenerational justice and stewardship. Take a look at the Aboriginal vision.
Seventh Generation takes its name from the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee, which states that "in our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." http://www.fastcompany.com/social/2008/profiles/seventh-generation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_generation
What about the leadership dimensions, and any leader’s legacy?
http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/ldr_sustainability.php
http://www.sustainabilityleaders.org/
http://www.sustainabilityleadershipalliance.org/
Question 5: External Forces
What are the big trends that you and the Board and other campus executives discuss most often?
What important changes in the world outside this campus are going to be the most powerful forces on the choices you make in the next few years?
Websites of interest
Trends in science and technology
http://sustsci.aaas.org/content.html?contentid=628
Socially responsible investing
http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/2465.html
US EPA maps it out:
www.afcee.brooks.af.mil/eq/programs/summary.asp?rscID=1203
