Colorado College presented its first State of Sustainability report to the CC community this fall.

The report, which uses the nationally recognized Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) as a guide, benchmarks the school’s performance across broad sustainability metrics and provides a road map for future improvements and priorities.

The report addresses the integration of sustainability across campus and the community, seeking to put into action elements of the Strategic Plan. CC received a STARS ranking of silver (based on gold, silver, and bronze).

“This is the first year of reporting to STARS, so we didn’t know where we stood,” said CC Sustainability Manager Ian Johnson. “Being solidly in the silver category is an excellent place to land, considering this has never been a fully coordinated effort before. Now that we have that information, it puts us in a really advantageous position to reach gold in the next year or two.”

STARS is managed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and is used by 668 other institutions nationwide.

Highlights from the 2014 state of sustainability report

Curriculum

Best Practices
  • An inventory of course offerings conducted in late 2013 found that CC offers 106 sustainability-focused courses and 24 sustainability-related courses (out of a total of 3,604 courses)
  • 20 of 34 academic departments offer at least one sustainability-focused or sustainability-related course
  • CC’s Environmental Program includes majors in environmental science and  environmental policy, disciplinary tracks in environmental chemistry and environmental physics, and a thematic minor in environmental issues
Priority Actions
  • Possibly add a sustainability learning requirement to the curriculum
  • Develop a sustainability literacy assessment

Research

Best Practices
  • 21 of 155 full-time faculty in 14 of 34 academic departments engaged in sustainability research
  • State of the Rockies Project offers students opportunities to work with faculty and staff in meaningful research in the Southwest
Priority Actions
  • Increase the number of faculty and academic departments actively involved in sustainability research
  • Implement a program to encourage faculty from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct research in sustainability topics

Engagement

Best Practices
  • Sustainability Office’s ECO-Rep program promotes peer-to-peer education to foster sustainable living practices on and off campus
  • New Student Orientation (NSO) includes campus sustainability tours. “Sense of Place” programming was added to NSO in Fall 2014
  • 27 co-curricular sustainability programs active on campus, including the CC Farm, Good Food Club, and Student Divestment Committee
Priority Actions
  • Develop sustainability orientation and guidance materials for new employees
  • Increase outreach materials and campus signage

Public Engagement

Best Practices
  • Partnering with other colleges, universities, and organizations to support and build the campus sustainability community
  • 85 percent of CC students contributed more than 32,000 hours of community service in 2012-2013
Priority Actions
  • Increase number of CC community members engaged in community service
  • Include community service achievements on student transcripts

Operations

Air and Climate

Best Practices/Priority Actions
  • Goal of carbon neutrality by 2020
  • 10.1 percent of total electricity consumption mitigated through purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC)

Buildings

Best Practices
  • Two LEED-certified buildings; Russell T. Tutt Science Center (2003) and Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center (2009)

Dining Services

Best Practices
  • 27 percent of $2,787,668 spent on food and beverage purchases were local, community-based, and/or third-party verified

Energy

Best Practices
  • Hired a full-time campus energy manager
  • Introduced first 22-kilowatt array, the largest solar electric system in the Colorado Springs Utilities service area at the time of permitting
  • In fiscal year 2014, CC purchased 1,992 megawatt hours from wind-based renewable energy
  • Energy consumption down 19 percent since 2008, despite slight increase in building space

Grounds

Best Practices
  • Non-potable water sprinkling system

Purchasing

Best Practices
  • 82 percent of total expenditures on cleaning and janitorial products are Green Seal-certified
Priority Actions
  • Implementation of purchasing preferences for disadvantaged, minority, local, and community-based businesses

Transportation

Best Practices
  • 22 percent of CC’s fleet considered alternative-fuel vehicles, including gasoline/electric or non-plug-in hybrids, fully electric vehicles, and vehicles fueled with B20 or higher biofuel for more than four months of the year
  • 76 percent of CC students use sustainable commuting options, including walking, bicycling, and other non-motorized means
  • CC offers ride shares, shuttles to downtown, Colorado Springs and Denver airports, and a van to Breckenridge, Colo.

Waste

Best Practices
  • In 2012, Colorado College diverted 48 percent of waste produced on campus through recycling and composting
Priority Actions
  • Work toward becoming a zero-waste institution and increase waste diversion

Water

Best Practices
  • Decreased total water usage by 33 percent since 2008 through xeriscaping, retrofits, and equipment upgrades
  • 95 percent of vegetated space on campus is irrigated with non-potable reclaimed water, making up 63 percent of the total water usage on campus
  • Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center parking lot features porous surface to return rainwater and snowmelt to water table
Priority Actions
  • Increase native, drought-tolerant, and xeric landscaping on campus

Planning and Administration

Coordination, Planning, and Governance

Best Practices
  • “Building on the Block” (the strategic plan) and master planning include sustainability goals

Diversity and Affordability

Best Practices
  • Campus climate survey conducted by Diversity Task Force, with results informing the strategic plan

Health, Well-being, and Work

Best Practices
  • Office of Sustainability models health and well-being at work through an ergonomic workstation that includes a treadmill desk to reduce sedentary time

Investment

Best Practices
  • 100 percent of CC’s investment pool holdings available for public viewing
Priority Actions
  • Establish an active committee on investor responsibility that has multi-stakeholder representation
  • Develop a sustainable investment policy