The digest, released last month, provides information on environmental initiatives from nearly 700 higher-education institutions.

"In case there is any lingering doubt, sustainability is not just a passing fad," says AASHE acting executive director, Judy Walton. "It is here to stay."

Walton notes in the digest that 2008 brought renewed focus on sustainability-related curriculum change. "With education, the primary mission of academic institutions and a point of immense leverage for societal change, it is only logical that interest in curriculum would broaden," she says.

The digest says that more than 66 sustainability-focused academic programs were created last year. At least 40 institutions (up from 16 recorded in 2007) hired sustainability officers, supporting staff and professors. Three of those positions were at the vice president or vice chancellor level.

Among the other 2008 sustainability highlights noted in the digest:

• Higher-education institutions in the United States and Canada completed or announced at least 22 major facilities upgrades in 2008 in an effort to increase energy efficiency.
• At least 11 campuses installed or announced plans to install more than 1 megawatts each of solar energy in 2008.
• At least 13 campuses installed wind turbines in 2008.
• More than 130 campus green buildings were planned, started, opened or were awarded LEED certification in 2008 (compared with 60 in 2007). Seven buildings received LEED platinum certification, 26 received gold certification, 13 received silver certification, and seven received basic LEED certification.
• More than 17 colleges and universities began bike sharing or renting programs in 2008.
• At least 12 schools (compared with four in 2007) purchased a total of 32 electric vehicles in 2008, and 20 schools began producing or using biodiesel or waste vegetable oil in campus buses, trucks and farm vehicles.
• At least 23 higher-education institutions (up from seven reported in 2007) began offering local, organic and/or fair-trade food options in campus dining halls.
• At least 13 sustainability-themed research centers opened, and plans for 33 more were announced.
• Nearly 300 signatories of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment publicly reported their greenhouse gas emissions.
• U.S. and Canadian higher-education institutions received more than $430 million in grants and gifts for sustainability initiatives and research projects.
• More than 50 sustainability-focused community-engagement initiatives were announced by U.S. and Canadian institutions.

The AASHE, an association of colleges and universities committed to a sustainable future, had 830 members at the end of 2008. The entire 356-page digest is online at www.aashe.org/files/documents/AASHEdigest2008.pdf.

• 264: Number of tons of paper recycled in 2008 by the Topeka (Kan.) school district. The recycling effort earned the district $3,400.

Source: The Topeka Capital-Journal

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