Conclusion
With every project you undertake in your green living program (GLP) or student internship program (SIP), consider how it might add value to next year's effort. As you approach the end of your season, think about what you can do now to get a step ahead for the next season. How much of your effort is worth recycling? By building on what you have already created and learned, you will have a greater opportunity to break new ground next time.
The depth and breadth of change needed across the college or university campus means that the sustainability advocate's job might never be done. Every time we have a successful program it is time to look around and see how it can be expanded and adapted to other campus arenas or go deeper in the existing arena. The Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI) is constantly working to leverage yesterday’s achievements into greater and greater future program commitments around the university. For example, we are currently revising and adapting our GLP materials for potential use in a new employee-focused program.
The HGCI also constantly works to identify new student leaders and partner with them in undertaking high-level campaigns across the university. This effort is greatly enhanced by the fact that both the GLP and SIP build capacities of student leaders. Students that have worked with the HGCI come to a greater understanding of how the university functions and how they can most effectively have influence. This equates to students with more skills and better lobbying success when it comes to trying to persuade university administrators to consider sustainable practices, infrastructure or policy.
Anyone who tries to transform long-established practices, such as those involved in operating a college or university campus, is doing something innovative and challenging. Campus sustainability advocates need all the support they can get in their efforts. By sharing what you have learned while breaking ground at your institution, you can provide the knowledge and inspiration that may help other advocates be more successful on their campuses.
The opportunities for reaching out to people at other schools and around your own campus depend on the type of program you have. The same is true of the ways for making your efforts this year count for next year too. For program-specific tips, see the "Program Expansion" pages in the GLP or SIP chapters of this manual.