The Council for Sustainability at SCAD

Scott Boylston, Professor of Graphic Design, has created a pretty comprehensive outline of the steps necessary to make SCAD a more sustainable campus. While I have been lingering on my pet ideas for the last two posts, it’s time to get down to business. Scott recommends a series of incremental steps to get us where we need to go. Like all good plans, it begins not with a series of random moves, but rather the laying of some important foundations.

STEP ONE
Join American College & University Presidents Climate commitment (ACUPCC)
Within 1 year — complete a comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
Within 2 years — develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral
— initiate 2 or more of the tangible actions recommended by ACUPCC
Institute action plan according to our own goals and objectives.

While there are any number of things we could do now to make SCAD more sustainable, a careful analysis will be necessary to determine which of the myriad things we could do, we should do. Once we determine what our level of emissions is, we will then need to determine the primary causes, the corrective actions we can take, and the strategy to get them accomplished.

Joining the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment sounds easy enough. I am not sure if we have already done this, but I’ll look into it. Doing a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory sounds trickier as there is a lot of data to gather and I am not quite sure where to access it off hand. However, that is a question that can probably be answered easily enough once we have the right heads together. It may sound a little bureaucratic to some out there on the green scene who might think we should just take action now, but in order to get all the vested parties on board, we have to plan something that is actually manageable and affordable. A little analysis will go a long toward identifying the most cost-effective way to achieve the council’s goals.

District TV News, the television news arm of SCAD’s student newspaper, produced a nice profile of Jason Dean. In it, he describes his role in recycling efforts at the Oglethorpe House residence hall. Watch it here.

Meghan Woodcock, an interior design M.F.A. candidate at SCAD, was awarded Best of Competition for the 2008 Student Sustainable Design Competition, sponsored by the International Interior Design Association. Woodcock will receive $1,000 and a complimentary IIDA student membership for the 2008-09 school year for her “Disaster Relief Transportable Schools” design. Read more here.

I was going to write on another issue, but then I saw this op-ed piece in USA Today titled “Want to save the planet? Stay home.” Since my last post, I have become even more convinced that allowing some degree of telecommuting might be the single easiest thing an institution could do to become greener. As the columnist states:

…every morning, 76% of America’s commuters drive, alone, an average of 25 minutes to their workplaces. Many of these people then proceed to e-mail or call people in other places. Indeed, about 40% of the U.S. workforce has jobs that, largely, do not need to be done from a central location. If the millions of Americans who never work from home, but could, stayed in their PJs, this would save a sizeable chunk of our oil imports from the Persian Gulf.

“This takes windmills and all the other alternative fuels combined and tops them,” says Kate Lister, founder of the telecommuting research company Undress4Success.

Switching to alternative fuels to such an extent that they will actually have short-term impact on greenhouse is just unfeasible. The technology and infrastructure do not currently exist and most people are unwilling or unable to pay the added costs at this time. Contrast to telecommuting. The technology exists; it reduces costs, and the typical worker would absolutely buy in wihtout a second thought. As mentioned previously, the oft-stated concern has to do with worker productivity:

“Management still thinks people need to be in the office for eight hours a day in order to be productive,” says Makower. “Anyone who works in an office eight hours knows that probably three hours and 45 minutes are spent being productive.” (Are you reading this at work?)

However, a rather large body of peer-reviewed research shows overwhelmingly that this belief is just dead wrong:

Partly because people waste so much time commuting, and waste so much time at work while consuming electricity and office space, companies that have implemented telecommuting programs have seen economic benefits — rather than productivity losses — from this decision. A meta-analysis of 46 studies, published in the November Journal of Applied Psychology, found that telecommuting was associated with higher supervisor performance ratings, increased job satisfaction and a reduction in intent to leave the company.

The abstract from the actual study lends support to my previously stated position about partially telecommuting being the most beneficial arrangement for the workplace:

What are the positive and negative consequences of telecommuting? How do these consequences come about? When are these consequences more or less potent? The authors answer these questions through construction of a theoretical framework and meta-analysis of 46 studies in natural settings involving 12,883 employees. Telecommuting had small but mainly beneficial effects on proximal outcomes, such as perceived autonomy and (lower) work–family conflict. Importantly, telecommuting had no generally detrimental effects on the quality of workplace relationships. Telecommuting also had beneficial effects on more distal outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and role stress. These beneficial consequences appeared to be at least partially mediated by perceived autonomy. Also, high-intensity telecommuting (more than 2.5 days a week) accentuated telecommuting’s beneficial effects on work–family conflict but harmed relationships with coworkers. Results provide building blocks for a more complete theoretical and practical treatment of telecommuting.

The Council for Sustainability and Eco Practices at SCAD has joined the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority, the City of Savannah, Chatham Area Transit Authority, Coastal Commuters, the Savannah Bicycle Campaign and Pedestrian Advocates of the Coastal Empire to encourage people who work downtown to Dump the Pump and leave their cars at home on Friday, May 16.

The purpose of Dump the Pump: Leave Your Car At Home Day is to raise awareness about the benefits of using alternative modes of transportation and to encourage people from throughout the community to commute by carpooling, mass transit, bicycling and walking.

Scheduled during National Bike-to-Work week, the next Dump the Pump will focus on promoting bicycles as a viable mode of transportation in Savannah. Featuring connectivity, level terrain, great weather and tree lined streets, Savannah is a great town for bicycles. In addition to having a great city to cycle in, commuting by bicycle reduces fuel consumption and traffic congestion while providing economic, health, and environmental benefits to individuals and to the community. Furthermore, it has been proven that bicycle commuters provide significant economic benefits in downtowns including increased sales at local restaurants and retail stores.

On May 16th, a Dump the Pump Coffee Break will be held in Davant Park located at the south end of Colonial Park Cemetery on Abercorn from 7 – 9 a.m. The Dump the Pump Coffee Break will celebrate Dump the Pump participants by offering free coffee provided by Jittery Joe’s Coffee, doughnuts provided by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, and fresh fruit from Fresh Point Produce. Prizes have been donated by Bicycle Link, Georgia Bike Law, and the City of Savannah.

Recognizing that distance might serve as a deterrent for some commuters to ride bicycles, those who want to participate in Dump the Pump are encouraged to use the public transportation system offered by Chatham Area Transit or find carpool partners through Coastal Commuters.

May 16 will also feature a PACE Crosswalk Action at Liberty and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard from 12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Crosswalk Action is an organized event in which a group of pedestrians repeatedly cross a street in a marked crosswalk in a legal fashion. The goal is to communicate pedestrian safety messages in a fun and friendly way. Members of the organized group carry cheerful, non-confrontational signs featuring educational and advocacy messages. Successful crosswalk actions require people! So if you are interested in participating please let us know or just meet us at the southwest corner of Liberty and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

The spirit of Dump the Pump will continue on Sunday, May 18 with the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s second Savannah Wheelie ride. The ride will begin at 1 p.m. from Grayson Stadium in Daffin Park. Participants will be eligible for a discounted Sand Gnats ticket to that afternoon’s game.

Information regarding Dump the Pump: Leave Your Car At Home Day will be featured at www.savannahtransit.com. We ask SCAD community members to pledge to Dump the Pump and mention SCAD in their pledges.