Week 3: Sustainability Plan for OWU
Tuesday January 27
- select vision statement focus group
- select interview focus group
- select content/actions focus group
- read Farley and Roseland books, chapters 1-3 in each (by next tuesday)
Goal Thursday: one page summary including vision statement and content/action categories (and descriptions) to distribute to interviewees. Schedule of available interview times and questions.
Vision Statement Focus Group: Mira, Bridget, Jayne
Interview Focus Group: Jeff, Lily, Ali, Cindy, Sarah
- schedule for interviewing priority faculty, staff, students
- questions for interviewees
- estimated time required for interviews
- online form (Google Drive) for entering responses
Content/Action Focus Group: Thomas, Christian, Ryan, Mary, Jackson
- evaluate content/action categories (add categories, split up categories) and develop a few more details about what is included in each category
- brief description of content/action categories
Results: Thursday January 29
Draft Vision Statement
As a liberal arts institution, Ohio Wesleyan University strives to lead the local and global community in progressive sustainability initiatives through educational, technical, and social means. Human welfare relies on a healthy planet, but harmful practices and the depletion of natural resources have damaged that equilibrium. We are committed to collaborating with the faculty, staff, students and surrounding communities in order to apply environmental theory into practice through a series of goals. Sustainability means a continuous effort to implement environmentally conscious habits in our daily lives. These efforts are necessary and need to be adaptable and persistent throughout OWU’s presence in the community. It is important to understand the cost and funding required to implement sustainability initiatives. However, these are investments in our future that will ensure the conservation of energy, monetary cost, and environmental health. This is the start to the formal introduction of a new culture at OWU, which strives to be to be visible, educational, and effective for a positive impact on the environment.
Draft Content Groups & Actions
- Climate & Energy (Mary, Christian, Jayne)
- Grounds & Waste (Mary, Christian, Jayne)
- Water (Ali, Bridget, Ryan)
- Dining (Ali, Bridget, Ryan)
- Transportation (Jeff, Mira, Lili, Jackson)
- Purchasing (Jeff, Mira, Lili, Jackson)
- Teaching, Education, Research (Sarah, Thomas, Cindy)
- Co-curricular & Community (Sarah, Thomas, Cindy)
Draft Actions (in each content group)
Curriculum
Community
Education
Financial
Coordination
Work to do:
- Add as much content as possible, questions, ideas, whatever
Draft Interview Questions
- What is your vision of sustainability at OWU?
- How have you been involved with sustainability at OWU?
- What would be the benefits and challenges of OWU having a sustainability plan?
- What do you think the challenges will be?
- How can we incorporate sustainability into OWU culture?
- How can we make sustainability more visible? Communicate with faculty, staff, and students?
- What areas of OWU do you think could become more sustainable and how?
- Who else should we talk to?
Work to do:
- Schedule interviews by Friday January 29 (Doodle Poll)
- Include draft of Vision Statement, Content and Action Groups
- Google Poll for entering interview questions: in shared folder (Interview Questions – Documentation)