University Launches Campus Sustainability Plan
After a five-year collaboration between students, faculty and staff, ¶¶Òô»ÆƬapp has announced the launch of its first Campus Sustainability Plan. Not only will this plan take concrete steps to reduce the University’s environmental impact, it also makes the University poised to be a regional leader in sustainability. With an eye toward the future, the plan is designed to provide guidance and clarity of focus for the many sustainability initiatives already happening on campus as well as those still in the planning stages. The new plan includes actions to enhance education and student engagement, manage energy use and other resources, and build new facilities to increase sustainability all over campus.
Director of Environmental Studies and member of the team responsible for the plan, Dr. Jim Biardi, reports, “I am proud of the fact that this plan was developed with input from a mixture of students, faculty and staff. Everyone had a voice and the plan represents the consensus of many integral parts of the University.”
While Fairfield has long been committed to modeling stewardship in the social and ecological environment, this plan marks a significant step to further unite and improve all the sustainability efforts of the University in to one deliberate, comprehensive approach.
According to University President Jeffrey P. von Arx, “As a Jesuit and Catholic University, Fairfield has a particular obligation to be conscious of its obligation to God’s creation in all dimensions of our operations – in our classrooms, in the maintenance of our facilities, and most particularly in our collective sense of responsibility to be a body of hope, and an agent of positive social transformation. “
This plan reflects our University mission and will take ¶¶Òô»ÆƬapp into the future with the environmental sustainability our planet deserves.