NKU Jumps Right in the Middle of Environmental Evolution

     The Northener (the independent student newspaper of NKU) is doing a great job sharing the advancements in Environmental Education and Sustainability as strategies that are setting NKU apart. The online article gives a lot of existing examples of these efforts. Here is a preview of some of them.

     A Director for Energy Management and a Sustainability Manager will be hired to solidify and bring to life the sustainability agenda as part of NKU’s Strategic Plan. This will ensure NKU catches up with compliance commitments (e.g. it hasn’t reported its carbon footprint since 2009) and coordinates efforts that so far were one-off’s. NKU wants carbon neutrality by 2050, only 35 years away and a lot to do and fund.

     Griffin Hall is a lead case for environmentally sustainable construction and the new Health Innovations Center follow the LEED standards which ensure sustainable Energy & Environmental designs. LEED has categories (certification, silver, gold, and platinum) and the higher means more expensive construction but the on-going return outweighs the initial investment. NKU seeks Silver as a minimum standard for every construction in campus.

     Transportation is also a key opportunity: students and faculty need to use bus, car-sharing and bicycles much more to lower the CO2 footprint. Since NKU is in a suburban location it makes it comfortable to come by car, each student or faculty on their own. Creating awareness that TANK, for instance, is free for students is a key aspect of the Transportation planning and perks to make people choose public transportation.

     Lastly, the Center for Environmental Education (CEE) created ‘Environmental Lessons’ that would be shared at schools nationwide. This was funded by NASA (yes! NASA…) and will radically change the environmental literacy of children. CEE also runs reforestation events, chats, field trips with local K-12 students, and even an app development that for $4.99 teaches helps you learn about water quality.

Source: The Northerner. "Environmental Evolution" December 2014 http://goo.gl/2GZ5ZV