Abstract
Universities have begun to officially recognize advancing sustainability as an institutional goal. This paper reports on research on students’ awareness, attitudes, and behaviors at the University of Vermont as a means of understanding cultural acceptance of sustainability. We report on the results of a survey administered by an applied research methods class working in partnership with the University’s Office of Sustainability. Survey respondents report strong understanding of sustainability and believe it is important. They perceive the University’s performance as strongest along environmental efforts and weakest along economic lines. Respondents were most likely to engage in sustainability behaviors, like waste and energy reduction, and least likely to attend campus events regarding sustainability. Responses to open-ended questions suggest skepticism of the University’s commitment to sustainability, seeing it as more of a marketing effort, and express a desire for more concrete initiatives to foster sustainable behaviors and culture on campus. Our implications focus on ways to promote a more holistic and nuanced understanding of sustainability.
Highlights
As early as the 1972, and in response to the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, universities began to officially recognize advancing sustainability as an institutional goal [1]
Sustainability is important to University of Vermont (UVM) Sustainability is important to UVM students Sustainability is important to UVM employees Sustainability is important to me UVM’s sustainability reputation influenced my decision to come here I have a good understanding of sustainability as a concept I am well aware sustainability efforts on campus
This study found that, overall, UVM community members believe sustainability is important and are generally aware of, and engaged in, activities
Summary
As early as the 1972, and in response to the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, universities began to officially recognize advancing sustainability as an institutional goal [1]. In 1990, the Talloires Declaration led to the first official inter-collegiate commitments to environmental sustainability, solidifying higher education’s role in championing the idea [2]. With sustainability’s growth has come a more complete understanding of the concept and universities moving away from strict environmentalism to focus on improving the social, economic, and environmental contexts of their future communities [3]. We discuss the specific awareness, attitudes, and behavior of students and community members at the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington VT, with regard to the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic, and environmental. We examine the role that university policy and culture may play
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