Other Models
Green living programs (GLPs) and student internship programs (SIPs) have an array of advantages, one of the greatest being "staying power." Because they are grounded in the administrative frameworks of host colleges and universities, they are more likely to carry on when student leaders graduate. Staff partners, coordinators and manager-mentors are able share the knowledge built up by interns and GLP reps with incoming students and professional colleagues, thereby fostering the momentum of sustainable thinking and action on campus. However, GLPs and SIPs are not the only way to promote sustainability at your institution. Depending on your goals, skills, availability, position and other factors, you may find that one of the following is a more suitable way to channel your efforts.
Course project
Students who wish to tackle a small, specific campus-greening issue may use a course assignment to launch the work. For example, a student in a statistics course may administer and analyze a survey about recycling or energy use. A student in an environmental policy course might use the open-ended term paper assignment to write about environmental policy at the college or university.
Campus-greening Course
Some colleges and universities have courses dedicated to campus greening, which may be taught by faculty or sustainability professionals.
- Harvard Green Campus Initiative staff members teach a course called Sustainability: The Challenge of Changing Our Institutions (available by distance learning).
- Brown University's Brown Is Green Coordinator has offered Environmental Stewardship yearly since 1990.
- The University of Waterloo offers Greening the Campus and Community.
- The University of Oregon has offered Campus Environmental Sustainability.
These types of courses help students develop interdisciplinary research skills and undertake greening projects at their own colleges, universities or workplaces.
Some schools, such as the following, have tapped into student energy to collect data for campus sustainability audits:
Classes might also focus on a particular building on campus.
- Oberlin's Center for Environmental Studies
- A Harvard junior-year Engineering Design Seminar has studied the energy efficiency of campus buildings, with the help of dozens of faculty, staff and outside consultants.
Some schools have found that hands-on courses can enter the course catalog through the side door as freshman or environmental studies seminars, capstone courses, January term offerings or student-run courses.
- Freshman Seminar: Widener University's Campus Ecology: Environmental Stewardship for the 21st Century & MIT's Achieving MIT's Environmental Goals
- January Term: MIT's Implementing the Cambridge Climate Protection Plan
- Student-run courses: 2005 Education for Sustainable Living Program by California Student Sustainability Coalition
For additional examples, see the National Wildlife Federation's list of "campus stewardship" courses.
Other ideas
Other ways to get involved in sustainability projects include unpaid internships, grants or starting a small business or non-profit.
- Fellowships: The National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Fellowship
- Start a Business or Non-Profit: Quad Bikes
- Start providing a service to show there is a demand: Portland State University's Community Environmental Services or Food for Thought Cafe