University of New Hampshire
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

The first sustainability culture survey at UNH was developed in 2017 by assessing best practices for sustainability literacy and culture assessments 9as we knew we wanted to assess both) at other AASHE institutions (e.g. the ASK survey). Once draftedwas vetted and refined by the UNH Research Office, and UNH Survey Center, and the office of the Provost. There are two versions (one for students and another for faculty and staff) of the instrument designed to assess not sustainability knowledge, values, behaviors, beliefs and awareness of campus sustainability initiatives. 

A full set of all questions are contained in the uploaded copies of the survey instrument. (Faculty and staff version is contained above, student version is included below in "additional documentation to support the submission.)

Sample questions include:

Which of the following is the United Nation’s definition of sustainable development?

• Achieving responsible production and consumption
• Addressing the climate crisis
• A collective commitment to human dignity and wellbeing for all people and ecological integrity in all places (3)
• Eradicating poverty
• Don’t know/Not sure 

How much have you heard about each of the following UNH sustainability initiatives? ROTATE STATEMENT Nothing at all (1) Only a little (2) A fair amount (3) A great deal (4)

• UNH is ranked Platinum by STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating and System), one of only a handful of institutions to have achieved that ranking
• UNH has reduced its carbon footprint by more than half since 2001
• UNH provides 1 day of paid time off each year for all employees to dedicate to community service
• UNH has a program that guarantees free tuition for NH students receiving Pell grants
• UNH hosts and encourages faculty, staff, and students to participate each year in the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
• The majority of the energy used to heat and power UNH's Durham campus comes from methane gas piped in from a local landfill and from small hydroelectric dams in New England
• UNH has a Student Emergency Assistance Fund which provides short-term financial assistance to
• UNH students who are unable to meet essential expenses due to a temporary or unexpected hardship
• UNH has four 3-star Green Certified restaurants on campus
• In 2020, UNH launched a Postdoctoral Diversity and Innovation Scholars program to increase the diversity of UNH's faculty
• UNH has a Sustainability Task Force comprised of staff, faculty, and students to guide a shared vision of sustainability at UNH
• UNH composts food waste from the dining halls, using the resulting product to fertilize fields at our research farms
• UNH Dining Services created a program called
• Swipe it Forward to address food insecurity on campus
• UNH has a unique partnership with our local utility, Eversource, that promotes campus energy efficiency
• More than 25% of the UNH endowment is now invested in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) qualified investments
• UNH employees have access to several Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) qualified investment options through the USNH Retirement Plans
• UNH recognizes and incentivizes sustainability leadership among our faculty, staff, and students through the Sustainability Awards Program
• UNH is one of the few universities in the country to have a dual major in sustainability, open to students from any major
• UNH has many co-curricular options to engage students in sustainability (e.g. Sustainability Fellowship, Sustainability Advocates, Changemaker Fellows)

Values & Beliefs Regarding Sustainability
Indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statements:

• Sustainability includes cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors (1)
• My lifestyle has become more sustainable since working at UNH (2)
• Through my work, I feel empowered to contribute to sustainability at UNH(3)
• I considered sustainability when I chose to work at UNH

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How likely are you to engage, or do you currently engage, in addressing the 17 SDGs in your professional or civic life?

How often do you engage in the following activities?

• Make food choices with broader impacts in mind (1)
• Select sustainable investment options through my retirement plan or other investments (2)
• Participate in political organizing and social movements (3)
• Use a reusable water bottle, coffee container, etc. (4)
• Seek out products and services from companies that engage in sustainable practices. (5)
• Participate in university-wide councils, forums, and other types of gatherings to facilitate positive change on campus (7)
• Contact local, state or national representatives when I feel strongly about an issue (8)
• Attend lectures and events on sustainability issues (e.g., human rights, arts, and society)
  (9)
• Volunteer or engage in community service (10)

Overall, how important is sustainability to you personally?

• Not at all Important (1)
• Not Very Important (2)
• Somewhat Important (3)
• Very Important (4)
• Don’t know/Not sure (98)

Overall, how important is sustainability to you professionally?

• Not at all Important (1)
• Not Very Important (2)
• Somewhat Important (3)
• Very Important (4)
• Don’t know/Not sure (98)

Please share your thoughts on how UNH can improve our sustainability efforts regarding, education, research, and practice.

The survey was administered by the UNH Survey Center, our professional on-campus quantitative research experts.

Prior to the launch of the surveys, the leadership of the UNH Sustainability Institute contacted Deans and Directors across the University giving them a heads up that their faculty, staff and students would be receiving an invitation to participate in the annual survey. We asked Deans and Directors to send their units a message talking about the value and importance of the survey (especially in light of sustainability being a key component of all four of the UNH President's four strategic priorities, and one of the key performance metrics) and encouraging their units to participate. An email then went from the leadership of the UNH Sustainability Institute to faculty, staff and students with a similar message and inviting their participation. Two additional reminders went out during the survey period.

The survey is hosted on UNH's Qualtrics platform and built and administered by the UNH Survey Center.

Because of the ongoing high level of Covid-related communications to students, faculty and staff during the period, we opted to send the survey to a representative sample as follows:
Faculty/Staff (50% random sample)
Students only seniors (100%)
Other undergraduate students (33% random sample)

Participants were asked to answer a range of demographic questions to ensure the sample was representative.

The responses were analyzed by staff at the Survey Center and the reviewed and discussed by staff at the Sustainability Institute.

Faculty and Staff:

Knowledge of UNH Sustainability Initiatives 

Among sustainability initiaves at UNH, responding UNH faculty and staff report the greatest awareness of how UNH is ranked as Platinum by STARS, provides one day of paid leave for community service, and composts food waste. By contrast, one-fih or less have heard that much about UNH's partnership with Eversource to promote energy efficiency, UNH employees having access to ESG investments, or that more than 50% of the UNH endowment is invested in ESG investments. Respondents are generally slightly less likely familiar with these initiaves than in 2021, parcularly concerning UNH hosng a 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge. Younger respondents, those with lower levels of education, UNH Manchester employees, and those who have worked at UNH for two years or less tend to have heard of fewer of these initiaves than others. Nearly three-quarters think that UNH's Planum rating improves UNH's reputation a lot or some.

Sustainability Values and Beliefs

The vast majority of responding UNH faculty and staff agree that sustainability includes cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. Only one-third say that their lifestyle has become more sustainable since working at UNH, down from nearly half who said so in 2021, and only one in seven say that UNH's naonal excellence in sustainability was a factor when they chose to work at UNH. As in 2021, a majority of responding UNH faculty and staff believe the UN's definion of sustainable development is a collecve commitment to human dignity and wellbeing for all people and ecological integrity in all places while three in ten say they don’t know. Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNH faculty and staff are most likely to say they are currently engaging or are likely to engage in achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, ensuring inclusive and equitable quality educaon, and ensuring healthy lives and promong well-being. Respondents are generally less likely than in 2021 to say they are currently engaging in or are likely to engage in these SDGs and are particularly less likely to be engaged with infrastructure, industrialization, and innovation, ending poverty, ensuring water and sanitaon, and ending hunger. Six in ten respondents agree that the 17 SDGs should be elements of a single integrated approach that requires all goals to be met simultaneously.

Seven in eight respondi ng UNH faculty and staff say they always or most of the time use a reusable water botlle or other container while just under half always or most of the time me consider sustainability in their selection of food, products,an services. Relatively few report frequently volunteering, selecting sustainable investment opons, contacting representatives, participang in polical organizing and social movements, attending lectures and events on sustainability, or partcipating in university gatherings to facilitat e change on campus.

Importance of Sustainability

The vast majority of responding UNH faculty and staff say that sustainability is very or somewhat important to them personally but only have note it as important to them professionally. Responses to these two questions are largely unchanged since 2021.

Student Survey:

Knowledge of UNH Sustainability Initiatives 

Among sustainability initiatives at UNH, responding UNH students report the greatest awareness of how UNH is one of the few universies in the country to have a dual major in sustainability, has co-curricular opons for students to engage in sustainability, has four 3-star Green Certified restaurants, and composts food waste from the dining halls. By contrast, less than one-fifth have heard how the UNH endowment is more than 50% invested in ESG and how UNH launched a Postdoctoral Diversity and Innovaon scholars program in 2020. Respondents are generally more familiar with these initiaves than in 2021, parcularly how UNH has many co-curricular opons to engage students in sustainability and is one of the few universies to offer dual major in sustainability. More than three-quarters think that UNH's STARS Platinum rang improves UNH's reputation a lot or some. Responding students most frequently learn about sustainability initiaves through direct email communications, Instagram, the UNH Sustainability Instute's website, friends, and tabling on campus. 

Sustainability Values and Beliefs

More than four in five responding UNH students agree that sustainability includes cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors. About half say that their lifestyle has become more sustainable since starting at UNH and that UNH's national excellence in sustainability was a factor when they chose to attend UNH. Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), responding UNH students are most likely to say they are currently engaging or are likely to engage in protecting, restoring, and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, achieving gender equality, and empowering all women and girls, ensuring sustainable consumption, and ensuring healthy lives and promong well-being. Few respondents report being engaged or being likely to engage with ending poverty or strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. Three-quarters of respondents, a similar proportion as in 2021, agree that the 17 SDGs should be elements of a single integrated approach that requires all goals to be met simultaneously. 

Engagement with Sustainability Activities

The vast majority of responding UNH students say they always or most of the me use a reusable water bottle or other container while just over half always or most of the me seek out products and services from companies that engage in sustainable pracces. Relatively few report frequently participating in political organizing and social movements, participating in university-wide councils, forums, and gatherings, or contacng representaves.

Effect of UNH Education on Sustainability Outlook

About three-quarters of responding UNH students feel that their UNH educaton has made them think about a range of social and environmental problems of the world and how sustainability touches all aspects of life. It has enhanced their awareness of the interconnectedness has made them consider different types of knowledge,and has strengthened thei r commitment to make the world more sustainable. The vast majority of responding UNH students say that sustainabiilty is very or somewhat important to them personally Responses to this queson are largely unchanged since 2021.