Gustavus Adolphus College
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

The third goal of the Gustavus Acts Strategic Plan is to achieve financial, institutional, and environmental sustainability. Goal 3G of this focuses on environmental stewardship by emphasizing the connections between campus infrastructure, operations, and student learning. Progress on this goal is measured by five KPIs listed below.

Goal 3G KPI 1: Reach the President’s stated goal of reducing energy usage by 25% by 2024 and make progress on that goal by reducing the amount of electricity we purchase by 1 MW either by conservation efforts or installation of renewable energy. This will also reduce on-campus greenhouse gas emissions.
Goal 3G KPI 2: Develop and implement an internal and external communication plan making our sustainability progress and aspirations visible (ANNUAL).
Goal 3G KPI 3: Create an implementation plan to move us to becoming a Zero Waste campus in three years and carry out that plan.
Goal 3G KPI 4: Incorporate environmental sustainability into the curriculum through the General Education requirements and into the co-curriculum for students through Residence Life, orientation, the Nobel Conference, the Arboretum, and other programming, and for staff through training and professional development.
Goal 3G KPI 5: Incorporate environmental sustainability into all aspects of College planning including investments of fossil fuels, fundraising for sustainability, and LEED certification for new construction/renovations.

In February 2021, for the first time, Gustavus rolled out campus-wide composting. This was a big step towards the goal of being a zero-waste campus, which means that 10% or less of our waste goes to a landfill. Composting has become an important part of the Gustavus campus community waste reduction strategies because compost enriches the soil as well as reduces methane emissions from landfills, which ultimately lowers our carbon footprint.Through an on campus composting system, we do our best to create a closed loop system by growing a percentage of the produce available on campus, properly composting food and materials, and reintegrating the compost on campus grounds. New this year, we began partnering with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Organics Recycling Facility to compost some of our compostable waste at their industrial composting site, in addition to our on-campus composter. Campus-wide composting was achieved once all the operational tools were in place to collect compostables and organic waste from all on-campus buildings, including residential halls and apartments, which was the result of years of advocacy, operational adjustments, and staff, faculty and student time dedicated to get the composting program to this point. Additionally, in Fall 2021, a residence hall room composting program was developed, adding 950 small compost buckets for personal use in all dorm rooms and apartments in on-campus residence halls, which has so far been successful in diverting higher amounts of well-sorted compostable material into the composting system already in place.

Gustavus’ yearly Nobel Conference in 2019 (Nobel Conference 55) focused on climate change in all aspects. Nobel Conference 55 asked “What tools are available, what research efforts do we require, and what kind of people do we need to be to conceptualize and address global climate challenges?” Nobel Conference 55 brought together seven leading thinkers to address climate change from perspectives including paleoclimate studies, climate justice, climate modeling, and climate adaptation. Attendees were encouraged to grapple with the causes and consequences of climate change and with our responses to the challenges it presents us, as individuals and as a society.