Start Up Story

Early Beginnings

In 1999 an interfaculty group of faculty, staff and students met on a number of occasions to discuss campus sustainability at Harvard University. While the group had numerous ideas, the ongoing lack of dedicated staff and time meant nothing was getting done.

Towards the end of the year this group received a presentation of campus sustainability efforts in Australia from Leith Sharp. This presentation provided an overview of the campus environmental management program that Leith had established at the University of New South Wales. The underlying success of the program was the result of successful fund raising efforts, wide ranging engagement of faculty, staff and students and the establishment of a well staffed organization (10 staff) dedicated to greening the campus.

At the conclusion of this presentation, the co-chairs of the group, Tom Vautin and Jack Spengler, along with Joe Griffin, Director of EH&S, decided to recruit Leith to work with them in establishing a campus sustainability program at Harvard University. Immediate efforts were undertaken to secure a one-year grant of $70,000 to employ Leith for 12 months.

Development

From March 2000 to June 2001, Leith Sharp (Director) worked with Tom Vautin and Jack Spengler (Co-Chairs) to create a well-supported strategic plan for Harvard University to green the campus. Along the way the Harvard Green Campus Initiative was named and effectively birthed. In late 2001 the Co-Chairs and Director met with the President and Provost to request five years of funding at $150,000 a year to further establish the Harvard Green Campus Initiative along with the establishment of a $3 million Green Campus Loan Fund. The proposal was approved.

With this new financial support in place, Leith was able to focus all energies on building an organization capable of providing green campus programs and services to multiple schools and Department across Harvard University. It is worth noting that preserving the Director’s function as program development (figuring out funding, project definition, staff training and management) rather than project management (staffing the actual project implementation itself), is essential for creating a wide reaching green campus effort.

Learn More

For a snapshot of the growth in funding please see the Funding page.

To learn more about the general approach adopted during this development period please read:
Greening Universities: The Road from Little Victories to Systemic Transformation (PDF: 376k).

To learn more about how each program was developed, view our overview for 2007/2008.

Currently, the HGCI runs over 7 dedicated programs and services. All programs and services have been designed and implemented to ensure cost effectiveness and to maximize campus environmental impact reductions. A regular update of all HGCI programs and services can be found in our newsletter.

Looking Forward

The HGCI is poised to support the implementation of the Campus-wide Sustainability Principles.

The HGCI continues working to expand:

  • peer-to-peer training and education programs across Harvard;
  • exploration of renewable energy sources for Harvard University;
  • the utilization of the campus as a living laboratory for applied sustainability teaching and research;
  • internal building modeling and performance assessment capacities.

The HGCI continues to seek funding for all ongoing and new green campus efforts.