Sustainability infrastructure insights from a campus sustainability survey

Abstract

The physical and social infrastructure of an environment influences the ability of that place to be sustainable. To evaluate the sustainability culture and literacy of a university environment, a campus sustainability survey was deployed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). This inaugural survey provided a snapshot in time of the sustainability literacy and culture of the university during the Fall 2021 semester. Results of the survey found a high level of sustainability literacy, however the awareness of social and physical infrastructure which support the campus sustainability culture was largely based on environmental actions and concerns. The survey results also reaffirmed the challenge of what actions are perceived to be sustainable and urgent by the campus community, versus which have real and measurable impact. There is also an unsurprising tension between what is desired by the campus community and what is achievable in the same resource constrained environment of the survey respondents. The survey also identified a need to further increase communication channels of the actions which are already occurring on the UW-Madison campus. Acknowledging that in a mesocosm the size and scale of the UW-Madison campus, and its overwhelming amount of general communication, that targeted communications plans are necessary to reach more of the information channels of the campus community.