| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 76.02 |
| Liaison | Rochelle Owen |
| Submission Date | July 21, 2021 |
Dalhousie University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The Dalhousie Annual Sustainability and Commuter Survey has been implemented since 2009 and was developed through a collaboration between The Office of Sustainability and DalTRAC (Dalhousie Transportation Collective). The purpose is to measure sustainability beliefs and get feedback on our programs and policies, and well as an in depth look into how student staff and faculty commute to and around campus.
A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
See above document for sample questions.
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The cultural assessment is administered though an online survey program used by Dalhousie called Opinio.
The participants were reached by emailing a list of all faculty and staff employed at Dalhousie, emails to individuals Departments and Faculties to share, promotion through the DalNews and Today@Dal newsletter, survey promotion to all students through student services, promotion to student groups and societies, on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Sustainability Blog.
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
In terms of general sustainability, 81% of respondents strongly agreed that "Environmental Sustainability should be a campus-wide goal" and 14.05% agreed.
Information from sustainability and university strategic planning questions were analyzed and used as information in the self-study report on environment and sustainability for the renewed University Strategic Plan.
Members of the Dalhousie community live in a variety of locations and use different modes to travel to and from campus and among campuses. Overall, walking and driving are the most popular commute modes. Respondents from Halifax campuses favour walking while those from the Agriculture campus drive more often given lack of access to transit. Dalhousie students tend to live closer to their primary campus, have the shortest median commute favour less expensive travel modes such as walking and public transit. Many faculty also live close to campus and walk or cycle to work. Staff tend to live the furthest from work and have the longest median commutes. Over the years there has been a noticeable increase in walking as a primary mode of commute. Average commuting time has seen to be decreasing over the years, suggesting a trend in commuters living closer to campus and therefore spending less time commuting per day.
https://www.dal.ca/dept/sustainability/get-involved/office-surveys.html
Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Summary and data pulled from 2020 report
Summary and data pulled from 2020 report
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.