| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.39 |
| Liaison | Marianne Martin |
| Submission Date | Sept. 22, 2021 |
University of Colorado Boulder
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Marianne
Martin Associate Director Environmental Center |
Does the institution have an active student group focused on sustainability?:
Name and a brief description of the active student groups focused on sustainability:
Numerous student clubs and groups exist to promote sustainability and environmental action. A few examples of active students clubs which are duly registered with the university and claim and environmental purpose in their charter are listed here: Biomimicry Club Architecture, Business, Engineering, Environmental The Biomimicry Club offers student-led discussion, research, and innovation through the study of nature's solutions to evolutionary challenges. Colorado Natural Resources, Energy + Environmental Law Review Seeks to publish high quality academic journal of legal articles on relevant natural resources, energy, and environmental law. CU Colorado Ocean Coalition Chapter The mission of the Colorado Ocean Coalition is to create, unite and empower a Colorado coalition with shared values, goals, and actions to promote healthy oceans through education and community engagement. CU Energy: The Student Alliance of the RASEI The CU Energy club aims to connect students to the emerging energy industries through a variety of means. CU in the Garden Our goal is to empower each Colorado student to make small changes that positively impact the world every single day. ENVS Club To increase involvement of Environmental studies undergraduate students in their curriculum, their community and the environment, and to facilitate communications between nonaffiliated organizations on and off campus with the ENVS department Environmental Law Society - ELS organizes service outreach activities, fundraising events, and outdoor adventures each semester, giving law students opportunities to immerse themselves in the larger natural resources law community that Colorado has to offer. Student to Farm It’s not about farming - it’s about about getting off campus and discovering Colorado through food. By working the land, learning from farmers, and eating the food, we wish to promote healthy lifestyles among students! Society of Environmental Engineers (SEVEN) SEVEN, as a branch of the Environmental Engineering (EVEN) program, is a resource for engineering students to connect and explore applications of environmental engineering. Given the interdisciplinary nature and wide applications of environmental engineering, we value the exploration of different focuses within the industry, including water resources, air quality, remediation, energy, applied ecology, chemical processing, engineering for developing communities, sustainable agriculture, and more. USGBC Chapter at CU (The) The USGBC is an organization that sponsors Green Building techniques, promotes LEED certification, inspires companies and school to think about sustainably towards architecture and materials. All CU organizations are listed here: http://www.colorado.edu/involvement/organizations
Does the institution have a garden, farm, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery program, or an urban agriculture project where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:
Graduate and Family Housing has three community gardens. CU in the Garden is a student group which students manage a garden plot on campus as well as off campus for applied learning. Student to Farm group immerse students at local farms and ranches to gain experience over fall or spring breaks.
Does the institution have a student-run enterprise that includes sustainability as part of its mission statement or stated purpose?:
A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
Does the institution have a sustainable investment fund, green revolving fund, or sustainable microfinance initiative through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
Sustainable CU and the Energy/Climate Fund are both managed by student boards. Sustainable CU is a grant program for innovative projects on campus. ECF is funding program for energy improvements.
Has the institution hosted a conference, speaker series, symposium, or similar event focused on sustainability during the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia, or similar events focused on sustainability:
Numerous speakers, films, and events during the school year focus on sustainability. CU Environmental Center has an annual events budget of $25,000 for sustainability programming on campus. CU Environmental Center partners with Cultural Events Board and Distinguished Speakers Board to also bring in high profile presenters. The annual Conference on World Affairs features sustainability topics and presenters. CWA Week is free and open to the public. It is a festival of ideas featuring 200 panels, 100 speakers and performers, over 5 days, attracting more than 70,000 in cumulative attendance each year. The CWA Symposia program is exclusively for students.
Has the institution hosted a cultural arts event, installation, or performance focused on sustainability with the previous three years that had students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations, or performances focused on sustainability:
Inside the Greenhouse: We work to deepen our understanding of how issues associated with climate change are/can be communicated, by creating artifacts through interactive theatre, film, fine art, performance art, television programming, and appraising as well as extracting effective methods for multimodal climate communication.
http://www.insidethegreenhouse.org/. Nature, Environment, Science & Technology (NEST) Studio for the Arts is a network of faculty, students, centers and campus units that combine artistic practice and scientific research to explore our common and disparate ways of observing, recording, experimenting and knowing. A series of cross-campus initiatives allow students to directly engage with faculty mentors and inspire alternate modes of communicating with the public.
Does the institution have a wilderness or outdoors program that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:
CU Outdoor Program: This program is nationally known and provides a gateway for students to enjoy the Colorado backcountry and more. The program offers hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, backpacking, scuba diving, ice or rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, fly fishing, avalanche training, a challenge ropes course and more. Each semester more that 50 classes are offered that emphasize skill acquisition, safety, positive group dynamics, environmental awareness (Leave No Trace) and fun.
Has the institution had a sustainability-focused theme chosen for a themed semester, year, or first-year experience during the previous three years?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
First Year Experience offers seminars is to provide students with the opportunity to get exposure to topics that are important to student success, while balancing the time focused on academic content. There are 10 different topic seminars offered during the first 8 weeks of the semester. The topics cover a wide range of options including both advising-based and opportunity-based sessions. Each seminar is open to students from any section. Sustainability is one of the 10 topics.
Does the institution have a program through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
The ECO-Visits program is a program for students living on and off campus. Student conduct an assessment of their residential living space and identify common practices and areas of improvement. Participants receive an eco-kit. Other programs where students learn life skills: Student to Farm program, Biomimicry club. The Eco-Engage Events program seeks to introduce students to all the ways sustainability is practiced and offers a real time look at what it takes and where they might "plug in" to all that is going on. The program is aimed primarily at first and second year students, (although all enrolled CU students are welcome) and features an array of sustainability oriented half-day and day-long field trips - both on and off campus - focused on sustainability. Also, we offer sustainability skills workshops. These applied learning workshops are focused on skill-building along with applied information to improve your understanding in the practice of sustainability. Most workshops are aimed at newcomers and beginners.
Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:
The main opportunity is via CU Environmental Center which employs over 100 students annually. Students work on peer to peer outreach, behavior change campaigns, sustainability policy, bike station operations, recycling operations and special events, etc.
Does the institution have a graduation pledge through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
A brief description of the graduation pledge(s):
"I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and to try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work."
Graduating seniors at CU Boulder can take the pledge and get an optional green cord to wear at graduation to show commitment to environmental and social responsibility in your future career. https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/graduation-pledge
A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that do not fall into one of the above categories:
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.