If you're like me, you visibly cringe when you see a mom hand her little three-year-old daughter FOUR paper towels to dry her tiny hands rather than using the hand dryer.  Your heart sinks a little when you see lawn sprinklers spewing water like mad during a torrential downpour, and you find yourself picking 20 ounce coke bottles out of the trash in a classroom only to carry them to the recycling container in the hallway.  You'd consider yourself a eco-concious guy or gal.  But you look around (your office, your neighborhood, your campus community) and you know we all could be doing more.  So, what's a campus activities professional like you to do?  The answer is simple: create a sustainability series on your campus and help create a culture of practicing sustainable habits.  

Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let's define sustainability. This definition will help guide your goals as you move forward and also help you think about the larger picture: recycling might not be everyone's cup of tea, but chances are one of the facets of sustainability could connect with each person on campus.  So, sustainability is "the ability of current generations to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." (UN Commission on Environment & Development, 1987).  The three main types of sustainability are Environmental, Social Justice/Sociopolitical/Equity, and Economic.

Now that we know what it is, how do we get anything started?  

1. and 2.  Start small and use your resources.  At UNCW our goal for sustainability programming was not just to change the habits of our peers, but to also start a conversation.  After all, how would people know the impact we're making on our world if no one ever tells them?  Our first programming effort was a sustainability film series.  Luckily for us, our new student center had a 350 seat stadium style movie theatre so folks just plain wanted to come to the space.  We found inexpensive films that discussed sustainability topics.  We chose titles that were different enough to draw in new audience members but similar enough that once people attended the first program, they'd want to come back for more!  In our first year we offered two films about the use of oil and fossil fuels and a film about organic farming. You'll see how we gained momentum as you read on...

Our campus is also lucky enough to a have a wildflower preserve.  While it's right off of a main road, you wouldn't necessarily know it was filled with trails and educational tools unless you went looking for it.  We rounded out our spring programming with a tour through the preserve.  Many students and community members had not been to the preserve before and said the would return on their own and show their friends.  This program practically created itself and came at no cost to us--we simply worked with our colleagues on campus to get the word out and offer insight.  It also allowed for continued conversation on topics of sustainability and involvement.

3. Involve faculty. What good is planting ideas in a person's head if you're not going to discuss the ideas afterward?  We found professors in our Environmental Studies department who were respected by students and were knowledgeable on the subject matter.  Our faculty members were engaging, thought provoking, and hysterical.  They helped audience members tackle tough questions and provide realistic solutions.  While the films were interesting, the program would have been a little lackluster without faculty participation.  When reading through our assessments after the first two films, we found that some students came to the event simply to hear the professors and left meeting their goals as well as taking away information on how to get involved and ways to implement new practices into their daily routine.  

4. Involve the community.  Once the conversations had started, we wanted to expand our programming past the confines of the theatre.  Our last film of the year focused on organic farming and genetically engineered plants.  For this event we brought in the local cooperative market to help in the discussion and (everyone's favorite) offer samples of food.  This was a great way for a local business to gain exposure and for us to enhance our programming at no cost to our admittedly meager budget.  

As our programming grew, we found that many other offices on campus were doing their part where sustainability was concerned but we weren't necessarily sharing the great news with our students.  We thought that most students didn't know about EVERYTHING that was going on, sustainably speaking.  With that in mind, we had a sustainability fair. Different offices set up tables during our already successful Concert on the Commons weekly event.  While students were enjoying music they could stop by the tables and get information about all of the efforts on campus.  This event not only allowed students to see how they could get involved in various areas around campus, it also brought professionals together and helped us remain more connected.  In the two years since our film series began, multiple events and efforts have been created and are still growing.  

Even with a tiny budget, we were able to not only create one successful programming series, we made connections across our campus and community to get more students, staff, and faculty involved.  With more of us looking ahead, the future sure does look bright!

What are you already doing on you campuses to make sustainability a priority?  Share your success with us so that we can use your great programs on our campuses.