FOREWORD | INTRODUCTION | EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
ENVIRONMENTAL SELF-STUDY
"Environmental Responsibility" is a call for action. The words have recently come to stand for a practice, a mission, an expectation, a way of living; but for each, there is a different interpretation.
It is important to create and implement focused plans for environmental action. Each facet of manufacturing and consumption uses various energy sources, whether renewable or non-renewable. It is the responsibility of each individual, organization, institution, corporation, and government worldwide to examine their waste management. Your goal is to reduce energy use and waste consumption, increase environmental awareness, manage your waste stream and make purchasing decisions based on the complete life cycle of each product to be consumed. At the same time, your physical plant management can examine what will sustain your institution, environmentally, for the future.
Your campus has taken the first steps towards environmental responsibility by looking at the physical dynamics that directly and indirectly affect its environment. Complying with environmental regulations is everyone's responsibility, what sets you apart is your commitment to your campus and your community to do more! By taking this initiative, you are sending a clear message that through the Self-Study, you can educate yourselves, empower others, and discover solutions that will ensure a sustainable future.
The environmental movement is not a new issue, it is not the latest headline in the daily newspaper, nor is it a new buzzword for the media. The environmental movement in the on-going motion of our planet's production, consumption, and disposal. Our natural resources are currently being exhausted because of indiscriminate demands and waste. Some of the natural resources used are renewable, others are not. Some materials we use in our daily lives are biodegradable, some are not. If we continue on a path of denial, over-consumption, and environmental neglect, we ensure our planet's demise.
Leading by example has always been the way for Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science. Your audience, which includes students, faculty, staff, administrators, Board members, and campus visitors, deserve to live in a clean and healthy environment. The Self-Study is an excellent tool to gauge your current environmental compliance and responsibility. Through change, you will instill social responsibility and create a sustainable environment on campus, for generations to come. "Make Change, Right Here, Right Now."
Darcy Heppenstall, Founder, ECOMANIA Inc.
Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, Class of 1992
As I reflect on the beginnings of this Environmental Self-Study, I am reminded of our mission, which was to take an objective assessment of the environmental quality of the College, and to suggest strategies for change. To accomplish the goal of documenting what the College has done and what it needs to do in terms of lowering its impact on the environment, Vinny Browning and myself received both the institutional and financial backing of the College to work throughout the summer to compile this report. We certainly were not alone in this process as we had the support and dedication of an almost countless number of people. Later in this report we attempt to list at least some of the many faculty, students, and staff that contributed to this document.
In keeping with our mission of rendering an objective environmental assessment of the College, Vinny and I took part in dozens of interviews, formal and informal, to determine exactly where Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science stood in relationship to the environment. In addition to conducting interviews with specific department heads and deans, a campus-wide memorandum was sent asking the entire campus community to take part in what would be a blue or "greenprint" for future campus planning.
While reading this report, it is important to keep in mind an assumption which we needed to make in order to form our recommendations in this report: We assumed a common goal of a campus working towards environmental sustainability, and community and global leadership.
This assumption was made because there are recommendations throughout this report that go above and beyond what is required of a private institution. This is an issue which is brought up frequently in managing our environment: do we simply comply with State and Local regulations, or do we take the progressive steps needed to rise above and become a model institution? That is our choice to make. We hope that this document will help to facilitate and inspire the campus community to make those choices. However, the possibilities should not start and end with this report; it is a living document which can and should be evaluated for its relevance to the campus and the environment. Each section of this report can in itself become a more in-depth study which is why we stop short of saying that this Self-Study is complete.
As you begin to thumb through or read this report, we ask that you not tuck it too far away when you are through. Many people will not read this entire report from cover to cover; however, the following pages give the entire campus a glimpse into their College in a way not often possible in academic settings. It is a candid look at the daily operations of the College and how they impact our environment. You can use this report as a reference tool or as a catalyst for future campus initiatives. The recommendations made in the following pages may well be your own as they were drawn from many conversations over the course of a year involving the entire community. All of the above is what made this Self-Study truly the most challenging and certainly the most rewarding project that I have ever had the pleasure and opportunity to be a part of.
Thank You.
Leon A. Soltysiak
There are few things that a college or university can do that the entire community can embrace. Often choices are made and money is spent that will only affect one department or program at a time. However, there are a few initiatives such as the environment and technology that a college can invest in that will unite an entire campus. It seems almost whimsical to say that a greening effort is such a thing, but it would not be too far from the truth. People are bonded together by things which they all can relate to, and the environment is obviously one of those things. When the College invests in a campus greening project which would include, among other things, recycling, immediately there is something that people from every area, and every discipline can relate and contribute to. We are unique in that we are small in number, but great, in among other things, size. With a campus consisting of many buildings (56), it is often very difficult to create a sense of community, and sameness throughout the College. Fortunately, through the leadership and vision of the administration, accompanied by the creativity and dedication of the campus community, Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science has been successful in creating that sense of community that is often sought after by other institutions. A successful greening of the College can only add to that esteemed level of community by improving the image of the College to the local and global communities, diverting operating costs from energy usage and waste generation to other campus initiatives, lowering our negative impact to the environment, and giving the entire campus a common bond of doing well by doing good.
Essentially what we found while conducting this Self-Study was that we already are doing well as a result of doing good on campus. We concluded that the College had a relatively solid, environmentally sound infrastructure that was created and is maintained by the department of physical plant. Our own physical plant is responsible for the progressive steps taken on our campus(es) to increase energy efficiency and water conservation which help to substantially lower the College's environmental impact as well as its operating costs. The physical plant also conducts what many colleges and universities need to campaign for and that is an energy audit. Although not a formal report, the close monitoring of each campus building including our satellite campuses serves as a guide to locate potential energy savings.
However, even with the planned retrofitting of the entire campus with Compact Fluorescent light bulbs as a part of the EPA's Green Light Program, there is a level of awareness still missing from our campus that prohibits us from being a truly green one. Seeing that most of our energy efficient programs and campus retrofitting were financially motivated, there never appeared to be an environmental footnote added to these programs. Even if conservation programs are initiated for monetary gain, at some point, on some level, the environmental benefits should be communicated to the campus to increase the level of awareness surrounding both the campus and the environment. This could be accomplished in a variety of ways including using the TEXT and our World Wide Web page as promotional and educational venues to articulate the College's goals and achievements.
While we could be considered pioneers in some areas like energy efficiency, we are still lacking in areas where other institutions have been flourishing for years. Addressed in this Self-Study are the issues surrounding environmental management. Philadelphia College has at best, a lackluster recycling program which fails to realize its full potential because there is no one person solely responsible to coordinate the effort. There is a similar problem surrounding the handling of certain lab procedures on campus. We do not have a department of Environmental Health and Safety which would help to coordinate and follow through on the proper lab procedures in the Schools and departments which handle hazardous wastes. These issues focus more on compliance than they do on going "above and beyond" which is why they are two very crucial areas for concern.
Likewise, there are environmental initiatives that can and should be taken on this campus that are not required of us by law. Just as we can save money simply by complying with environmental regulations (like recycling), we can do the same by taking the extra step in terms of the environment. Some of these recommendations do not, at least at first, have a monetary reward. However, even though the costs savings or generation is less calculable, environmental stewardship is rewarded through a more positive public image, and the attraction of more intelligent, globally minded students, faculty, and staff which will contribute to the intellectual and moral foundation of the institution.
In the following pages there are 163 recommendations all intended to lower the College's environmental impact, improve the quality of life on campus, or lower operating costs. It was difficult to calculate a total figure on how much the College would save if we followed through on every one of these recommendations simply because we could not develop solid enough estimates. For that reason, we did not factor many of the cost savings that are possible from these recommendations. We were able to estimate that with the adoption of four specific recommendations within the Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste sections, the College could save a substantial amount each year. Those savings will only come after a considerable amount of commitment, time, and dedication on the part of the entire campus. However, as we realize what the possibilities are when we all work together towards a common goal, we believe that the environmental, social, and community benefits will far outweigh even the monetary rewards.
END OF INTRODUCTION
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Last updated: August 20, 1997