| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 74.81 |
| Liaison | Kelli O'Day |
| Submission Date | March 6, 2020 |
University of California, Davis
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
Sue
Vang Engagement and Zero Waste Program Manager Office of Sustainability |
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 survey assessment was developed in 2018 as a means to better understand the current behaviors, barriers and beliefs on campus around sustainability, including an assessment of the current campus programs. This also included some questions about informational preferences and needs. A beta version of the survey was created and circulated with a few stakeholders before being implemented campus wide between May and July 2018.
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:
Have you participated in any of the engagement and outreach programs on campus? Check all that apply
What environmentally sustainable actions are you taking on campus?
What do you think the campus can do to help you be more environmentally sustainable on campus? (Eg. In areas of energy, food, transportation, waste, or water)
How important is an environmentally sustainable campus to you?
Choose your best response to the following statement: My actions can make a difference in the environment.
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The survey was administered to the entire campus population through an online survey on Qualtrics. It was promoted via several student and staff/faculty listservs, at the annual staff appreciation event, on table tents and flyers in popular public areas such as the Coffee House and main library, during lunchtime and Farmers Market tablings, on the desktops of campus computer labs for students, and via direct email to previous participants of campus environmental programs. Participants were incentivized to respond with regular drawings for gift cards throughout the course of the survey implementation. All results were analyzed in Qualtrics.
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
Over the course of several months, more than 700 respondents completed the assessment.
The breakdown of respondents is below (likely lower student response rate due to the timing of the survey at the end of the academic year and into early summer):
50% staff
36% undergrads
9% graduate students
4% faculty
Faculty and staff reported as most influenced on environmental issues by experts and co-workers, while students were most influenced by friends (highest response for undergraduates, second highest for graduates) and experts. All groups preferred receiving information electronically, specifically via email or listserv. Facebook was the most popular social media platform for all groups except for faculty, who preferred slightly more Twitter above other platforms.
Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) had not participated in any campus environmental programs. However, 92% reported taking environmental sustainable actions on campus. Respondents reporting taking more energy and waste-related actions than other sustainable actions (e.g., good, water, transportation, environmental literacy). The top responses on how the campus could help respondents be more environmental sustainable were to provide more education/emails/flyers, more compost bins, and more recycle bins.
The majority of respondents reported solid environmental values. Almost half (47%) felt that an environmental sustainable campus was extremely important to them, with another 36% reporting it as very important and 15% at moderately important. Most respondents agreed to some extent (either strongly, at 57%, or somewhat, at 37%) that their actions could make a difference in the environment.
35% of respondents reported motivations for participating in campus environmental programs as mostly altruistic reasons (e.g. good for the environment) but a smaller percentage reported other reasons such as completing a requirement (16%), education or building their resume (9%), or getting prizes and incentives (11%) as their motivation for participation.
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:
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.