Question: What should Lehigh do to become more sustainable?

Lehigh can increase its sustainability and decrease its carbon footprint by abiding two principles of leadership:

(1) Don’t Micromanage – Contrary to the lessons of big bureaucracy, finding small problems and supporting the average student at the cost of the overachiever is not a goal of sustainability. Instead of focusing on individual energy consumers like students or charging for printing privileges, administrators and policy-makers should look at the entire system.

Starting with a systems map of all power consumption, GHG production, and resource use will allow the University to see what is happening. Using this map, a Pareto chart should be created to find the largest consumers. The chart will identify how the university can make large-scale changes and large-scale impacts. Instead of spending money on building “greener” individual specifications for the STEPS building, Lehigh might be better off building a geothermal cooling system for the buildings like Yale.

Furthermore, less time can be wasted and less people can be upset if we consult sustainability professionals. These professionals will focus on implementation of changes and not university politics. For example hiring a professional like Andrea Wittchen of iSpring Associates, sustainability group, would be more effective than tasking a group of volunteer professors in a green group.

(2) Think big – In order to substantially effect the course of sustainability on a national or global scale, Lehigh cannot limit its thinking to internal causes. If we want to make an impact, we have to help other people that are major consumers of energy and producers of toxins. Expansive change can be executed through centers of excellence and student support.

By supporting the Enterprise Systems Center’s creation of a National Center for Sustainable Manufacturing, Lehigh can make a large step towards setting national standards and providing applied research to the biggest users, companies and governmental organizations. Lehigh should not take an ad-hoc approach of a council here or a department there. We should make a unified approach that is connect to real world problems.

Similarly, students should be given the authority and legitimacy to act along with faculty as partners and not subjects. Student organizations should rise to the occasion of national action. By partnering with larger organizations like EcoEarth or Second Nature, students can cause changes nationally. Students could offer free education seminars to the residents on how to reduce energy costs or help local business with their sustainability efforts.

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