Many coffee shops encourage sustainability by offering small discounts to customers who bring reusable mugs, though many consumers do not take advantage of the discount. Would a change in price framing at coffee shops increase the use of reusable mugs? The neoclassical law of demand suggests a same-sized discount and fee would not change behavior. The behavioral economic principle of loss aversion suggests that a fee may be more behavior-changing than a discount. To test these competing theories, a 10-week experiment was run at Colorado College. Before the experiment, customers received a $0.25 drink discount if they brought their own mug. The experiment lowered all drink prices by $0.25 and, if customers needed a disposable cup, they were changed an additional $0.25. The prices in both scenarios are the same, but in the first a disposable cup is included in the price and the second frames buying a disposable cup as an additional cost. Results show the experiment did not impact total drinks sold, but reusable mug distribution and the price change increased reusable mug-bringing by 3.8 and 1.9 percentage points respectively.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on September 5, 2012.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on March 28, 2012.
Program for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Conference held April 9 through April 11, 2007. Includes listings of presentations and speakers: Water Sustainability, with David Havlick, Tyler McMahon (CC class of 2007), Melinda Kassen, Gary Bostrom; Keynote speaker, Kay Brothers; Forest Health, with Brian Linkhart, Carissa Look (CC class of 2007), Merrill Kaufmann, Mary Mitsos, Phillip Kannan (CC distinguished lecturer); Keynote speaker, James Hubbard; New Communities/New Urbanism, with Ruth Kolarik (CC professor of art), Chris Jackson (CC class of 2006), Mark Johnson, Mark Tremmel; Keynote speaker, Peter Calthorpe.
Sustainability is a fast evolving movement in higher education demonstrated by a proliferation of academic programs, co-curricular initiatives, and campus projects. Sustainability is now viewed as vital to the mission of many institutions of higher education, creating a paradigm shift that librarians can help advance with their collective interdisciplinary expertise. A review of LibGuides (online resource guides) showed that academic librarians are involved with sustainability efforts on many campuses and have a role in shaping curriculum-related activities. The author administered a survey to creators of sustainability LibGuides during the spring of 2011, posting the survey on library listservs as well. Librarians returned 112 survey responses that illustrated their engagement in sustainability activities through the forging of campus partnerships with administrators, faculty, staff from the Office of Sustainability, and library colleagues. Telephone interviews conducted with 24 of the respondents showed librarians’ wide-ranging professional interest in sustainability, and their initiatives to promote its cause, including creating resources, collections, exhibits, and events; library instruction; co-teaching with faculty; serving on sustainability committees; and collaborating with sustainability faculty and staff. However, both the survey and the interviews suggest that librarians would benefit from increased collaboration and knowledge of work undertaken elsewhere. Moreover, as the needs of students and faculty studying sustainability increase, libraries need to appoint librarians with special responsibilities in this field. Included is the author’s experience as the Sustainability Studies Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her engagement in professional development activities related to sustainability. Best practices for librarians to advance sustainability efforts are offered.
The awareness of sustainability issues has increased the demand for contemporary environmental, social, and economic solutions. The green building movement, with LEED as the primary assessment standard in the United States, is a major focus of urban sustainability and the built environment. The Catamount Center Dorm, an ~3,000 sq. ft. small environmental education dorm at the rural Catamount Mountain Campus, located in Woodland Park, Colorado, underwent a preliminary LEED evaluation during the early construction stage. This qualitative case study identifies three theoretical constructs that address contestable concepts and gaps within the literature, and may be beneficial for directing future study; they include 1) LEED can serve as an effective educational tool for students, building designers, and LEED accredited professionals 2) LEED impacts building design team dynamics, influencing individual roles, advocacy, and group conversations, 3) LEED provides narrow sustainability solutions within the greater scope of green building practices and should be weighted against the larger ambitions of a project.
For the last ten years, the words ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ have been used by many prominent political and economic leaders. But what is sustainability really and is it possible to accurately measure the sustainability of countries’ economies objectively? This study focuses on three sustainability models, namely the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), the Sustainability Assessment by Fuzzy Evaluation (SAFE) and the Sustainable Human Carrying Capacity (SHCC), and their evaluations on the sustainability of the Hungarian economy and environment. Furthermore, it also surveys the opinion of Hungarian undergraduate economics students on the Hungarian economy and its sustainability. The study shows that the ability of current sustainability models and measures to give accurate portrayals of countries and regions is problematic, because they use different definitions of sustainability, use different environmental and/or economic indicators, do not differentiate between the impacts of the individual indicators, and are able to be used for political purposes. This is especially true for Hungary, as the country’s economy is crumbling with increasing social unrest, yet sustainability models give it a high ranking. Also, the Hungarian students’ views on the country’s sustainability depend on what school of economics they were taught in, and what they think about Hungary’s past, current and future economic and environmental situation.
As society has progressed over time, we have developed extensive unsustainable consumption habits, and we will have to deal with the future consequences of those actions. Problems, like climate change, have developed into intricate issues that will require innovative marketing and promotion methods, as they will involve the alteration of solidified social patterns and constructs. Through analyzing products like residential renewable energy, we can better understand how sustainable and responsible behavior can be fostered from the individual level to a national scale. That is why this study asks what factors explain homeowners’ decision to invest in renewable energy? Through exploring past research, understanding current markets, and surveying potential and current renewable energy user, this study attempts to identify the most prominent barriers and effective promoters of residential renewable energy.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on September 7, 2011.
Two academic librarians from The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library partnered with a young adult librarian from the Scranton Public Library to help plan, organize, and implement, a sustainability themed summer series of events for a teen group. This paper discusses experiences of collaborating across traditional library boundaries from perspectives of a technical services librarian, an academic reference librarian, and a young adult librarian united to work together and educate teens about going green. Various resources and literature helped build a successful summer series on sustainability and demonstrated the important role librarians can play in promoting related environmental issues. The project also formed a meaningful bond between a public librarian and two academic librarians.
The Catalyst is the weekly student newspaper of Colorado College. This issue was published September 9, 2014.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on October 5, 2011.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on October 3, 2012.
The 2014 Colorado College State of Sustainability report benchmarks our campus’ performance across broad sustainability metrics and provides a road map for incremental improvement in the coming years. More importantly, it recommends specific strategies for a holistic systems approach to successful integration of educational, engagement, operational, and planning outcomes. This report utilizes the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS®) outline and assessment methods developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) to address the integration of sustainability across campus and the community. A focus on the Priority Actions not only impacts sustainability across campus and makes us more applicable as an institution of higher education to the current generation, but it also maps ways to improve our overall STARS® score and standing as well as other ranking systems, such as the Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges and Sierra Magazine’s Coolest School rankings. To this end, the 2014 Colorado College State of Sustainability report is fundamentally organized around the STARS® organizational outline. CC’s 2014 benchmark report can be found at: https://stars.aashe.org/institutions/colorado-college-co/report/
The Colorado College Sustainability Plan (CCSP) is designed as a web-based “living document” in three hierarchically-nested parts: Strategic Initiatives, Action Projects, and Implementation Plans. Strategic Initiatives are divided into six categories, including: Structure, Energy & Carbon Neutrality, Natural Resources, Buildings & Landscape, Education, Financing. This document includes the background, goals and lists of action items for each strategic initiative.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on November 30, 2011.
Minutes of the Colorado College Campus Sustainability Council meeting held on January 25, 2012.
