Pomona College Sustainability Program

As organizations become more aware of the impact their actions have on the environment, more and more of them are starting programs that help mitigate their environmental impact. Pomona College in California in the US is a school that has implemented such a program. Bowen Patterson, Director of Pomona College’s Sustainability Integration Office, took time to talk about what the school is doing to minimize its impact on the world.

What is Pomona’s Sustainability Program?

Pomona has been engaged in sustainability efforts for at least 20 years, starting with basic conservation and efficiency efforts to save money on utility bills and flourishing into a comprehensive program that incorporates energy, water, waste, transportation, food, and a variety of other issues. It has been a strongly student-led and student-advocated program over the past 10 years, which led to the Administration investing time, money, and resources into developing a formal sustainability program. Our effort is founded on conservation, efficiency, behavior, and personal responsibility.

Why did Pomona College implement such a program?

Pomona is committed to reducing our environmental impact and to increasing awareness of these issues and what people can do. Because we are an educational institution, awareness, problem-solving, and critical inquiry are at the core of what we do.

What are some major accomplishments of the program?

We are just now starting to track and measure our progress, but we have already seen signs of success. For instance, the waste generated by students moving out of the residence halls at the end of the year has been cut in half due to a “reusable item reclamation” program that sells abandoned or donated reusable appliances, furniture, and many other items back to students.

We’ve also worked hard to stabilize and even reduce our water use, due to more efficient fixtures, more native and drought-resistant landscaping, removal of turf, and installation of drip irrigation and other more efficient irrigation equipment. We have an aggressive green building program that has resulted in three LEED certified buildings (with more on the way) and energy, water, waste, and other “green” features in a variety of renovated buildings on campus.

Transportation is included in Pomona’s sustainability efforts, what role do bicycles play?

Biking is a huge part of our sustainability effort. We run a Green Bikes program, started by students in 2005, which provides free semester rentals of bikes to about 75 students and provides free labor and at-cost parts for basic bike repairs. This has been an extremely successful program, and they hope to start providing even more in the way of biking workshops, biking trips, and other educational and outreach programs.

And of course we also have the fleet of folding bikes, which we’re making available for daily rental. This has been really popular with students going into LA for internships and things like that. We have quite a few faculty and staff members that bike to work and those people are paid US$2/day for not driving alone to work (along with walkers, transit riders, and carpoolers).

How have students reacted to the sustainability program and how do you encourage participation?

Students are extremely supportive of our efforts, because they are so interested in and passionate about issues of sustainability. We try to do outreach in a number of ways, including signage and tabling campaigns and the use of our all-student email digests. We try to stay away from flyers and other things that use too many resources, but sometimes it’s inevitable. We also have a strong web presence (www.pomona.edu/sustainability) and are starting to use Facebook and blogs to communicate as well. There’s a strong ethos of sustainability among students here, which encourages others to get involved and do their part.

What do you recommend other organizations do to get started in doing their own sustainability program? Is it for everyone?

Absolutely, it’s for everyone! If you don’t have anything going on, you can start small. There are things that cost lots of money, and there are things that cost nothing (like turning the lights off when you leave a room). Sometimes you can get frustrated that others aren’t doing the things you are, and then it turns out they never even thought about it! Basic communication about efforts and things you should and should not be doing is really key, and a really easy way to start.

To find out more about Pomona College’s Sustainability Program, please visit www.pomona.edu/sustainability.