The Campus Committee for Sustainability discussed ways to make the University even greener at its first meeting of the semester Thursday.
CCS is composed of multiple groups who support developing sustainability initiatives for the University, like ECO at LSU and the Coast and Environment Graduate Organization. There are seven staff members from University offices, three University faculty members and three student members from student organizations.
Denise Newell, the facilitator of CCS, listed the University’s accomplishments in green initiatives, citing two recent awards from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, as well as the University’s mention in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 311 Green Colleges.
According to the DEQ web site, these rewards included the Environmental Leadership Program University Achievement Award in Pollution Prevention for reduction of waste during a home football game and the ELP University Recognition Award in Community Environmental Outreach for effectively communicating sustainability information to the campus.
Jason Soileau, assistant director of Campus Planning and chair of CCS, said future sustainability goals will follow a Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System goal scheme developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. 
While the University is a member of AASHE, it is not officially registered in the tracking and rating system.
“The goals are aligned with the AASHE STARS rating system,” Soileau said. “The sustainability initiatives we are advancing are still in alignment with these goals although these are not officially the University’s sustainability goals.”
The STARS goals are organized into three categories  — education, operation and engagement.
Education includes coursework, research and any student sustainability involved activities outside of course work including co-curricular activities. Operations denotes the operational efficiency of the campus. Engagement includes partnering and attracting groups around campus and collaborating with efforts already underway.
“Everything we do that involves sustainability falls into these three categories,” Newell said.
Newell explained STARS members are given green report cards and can be rewarded up to a platinum status of 85 points for having a top tier campus of sustainability performance.  After rough calculations, Newell found the University at about 10 points under the silver status of schools like University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Florida, and University of Arkansas.
But Soileau said many of the specific goals outlined in STARS weren’t included in this calculation, which suggests the University may be at a much higher number.
“Twenty-five points and up is where you want to be,” Newell said. “In the past the green report cards have not included the education category, so I think LSU is really going to excel in our overall standing.”
Newell evaluated the University’s status in the three STARS categories. In education, Newell said the new academic committee determined 13 percent of University courses are sustainability-related.
Newell also cited multiple co-curricular undertakings including the upcoming Bike Week and the new Residential Life Educator Sustainability Committee, which will educate on-campus residents on sustainable practices in their halls.
In Operations, Newell said all cleaning products in the Business Building are now green cleaning products, with hopes this method will spread to other buildings. In addition, trees and a new bike rack extension were added to the union plaza space.  New Electronic Vehicle charging stations were also installed on campus over the summer, she said.
In terms of engagement, Newell said, “it seems every department on campus can work sustainability into their theme.”
 
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Contact Austen Krantz at [email protected]