The NSU Team for Sustainability and the NSU Green Sharks have been working to make NSU a sustainability certified campus through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). In December 2015, NSU signed a White House American Campus Act on Climate pledge to be able to start the process of becoming sustainable.
Guenola Nonet, scholar in residence for sustainability and responsible strategy, research and education, and Green Sharks Student Organization Faculty Advisor, is working closely with NSU to help them reach the certification.
“When we speak about sustainability, often people think about only the environment, which is true, but it’s just part of the picture,” Nonet said. “Being sustainable for NSU means to be healthy and sound financially and to take care of our employees and students, so it’s about wellness also.”
Nonet explained that data must be collected to become sustainable with AASHE, and this data must be reported to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). She also said that there are different levels of sustainability.
“Reporting [data] involves everything from the curricula, the scholarships, the administration and employees, nature, the buildings and all the way to resource management,” she said. “Once we report, we can get a certification: bronze, silver, gold or platinum.”
Nonet mentioned that the entirety of NSU is needed to make this goal possible.
“We need students, we need staff and we need professors, directors and deans to help us know what is going on around campus,” she explained.
Steps have already been taken to achieve sustainability on campus. Christian Oppel, member of Green Sharks and representative in the united business council at NSU’s Huizenga College of Business, explained what has been and is currently being done.
“The Green Sharks are responsible for the recycling bins in the residence halls,” he explained. “We are also using reclaimed water here on campus to water the gardens, and we have certified, sustainable buildings.”
The current plan is to send the data report by June 2017. It will take a few months after the data submission before NSU can become certified.
To help report, please reach out to Seth Mangasarian, director of facilities management, at smangasari@nova.edu or Nonet at gnonet@nova.edu.
