sustainability

A new degree, the bachelor of science in sustainability, that provides an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and resolving today’s most pressing and complex environmental, economic and social challenges, has been developed at University College, the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. The program, which will be offered beginning with the start of the semester Aug. 31, treats sustainable living from multiple perspectives — scientific, political, economic, social, historical, philosophical, anthropological and literary. 

Washington University in St. Louis has released its Strategic Plan for Environmentally Sustainable Operations. The plan details the university’s sustainability achievements, aspirations and challenges in terms of energy and water use, food sources, recycling and transportation, among others.

The School of Medicine hosted a sustainability leadership forum March 9 for corporate and regional facilities managers to share how the medical school is approaching sustainability. The forum, titled “Sustaining Sustainability,” was attended by about 75 area leaders.

Washington University in St. Louis has more than 12,000 students, 4,500-plus faculty and staff and only 5,168 parking spaces on its Danforth Campus.Students at the Olin Business School saw this problem as a real world business case and decided to tackle it head-on with a competition to inspire innovative solutions to the campus parking challenge with an emphasis on keeping it green. 

The Danforth Campus has more than 12,000 students, 4,500-plus faculty and staff and 5,168 parking spaces. Teams of Olin Business School students have been crunching the numbers since December in hopes of solving the campus parking challenge and winning the grand prize of $5,000 in the first Olin Sustainability Case Competition. Four teams compete in the final round Friday, Feb. 12. 

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo The Living Learning Center An opening ceremony for what could be one of North America’s greenest buildings — a flagship building on the cutting edge of sustainable design and energy efficiency — was held May 29 at Washington University in St. Louis’ new Living Learning Center at the university’s Tyson Research Center. The Living Learning Center is a 2,900-square-foot facility built to meet the Living Building Challenge — designed to be the most stringent green building rating system in the world — of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council (CRGBC). No building has met its standard yet, but the Living Learning Center is in the running to be the first in North America.

WUSTL has fielded questions from groups from other universities about how WUSTL implemented the bottled water ban.Faculty, students and staff on Washington University in St. Louis’ Danforth, North and West campuses no longer can find bottled water in vending machines or at most campus eateries. Because of concerns about the environmental impact of bottled water, WUSTL ended sales of the product in January, and administrative offices no longer offer bottled water at events and meetings.

Photo by Joe AngelesChancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced during a news conference Dec. 2 the establishment of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced during a Dec. 2 news conference the establishment of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization. The university has dedicated more than $60 million in financial resources during the past year to advance education and research related to energy, environment and sustainability.

Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability — including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.