Terry Link directs MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability. MSU was recently honored by the National Wildlife Federation for its sustainability efforts. Photo by G.L. Kohuth

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has been honored by one of the world’s foremost conservation organizations for its efforts to keep its campus “green.”

In its just-released Campus Environment 2008 Report Card, the National Wildlife Federation found that MSU not only has the greatest number of “exemplary programs” among colleges and universities within the state of Michigan, but it is also one of the top five campuses in the nation for such programs.

The report does not rank colleges, but rather lists those that have exemplary programs on specific topics. Of the 18 categories listed, MSU was recognized in seven of them.

“I think it’s safe to say that MSU is truly trying to be a ‘green’ campus,” said Terry Link, director of the university’s Office of Campus Sustainability. “Across campus, students, staff and faculty are taking steps to reduce our ecological footprint. Housing and Food Services, Physical Plant, research teams, faculty in the classroom and student leaders are making a difference.”

The NWF study reviewed programs at more than 1,000 institutions in the United States, evaluating performance on a number of conservation issues, including energy, water, transportation, landscaping, waste reduction and environmental literacy.

The seven categories that MSU was recognized for were environmental or sustainability goal-setting; environmental and sustainability personnel, orientations; interdisciplinary degrees; plans to do more with efficiency, conservation and renewables; plans to do more with transportation programs; plans to do more with recycling, solid waste and materials.

This isn’t the first time MSU has been honored for its efforts to promote sustainability on campus. Last year MSU earned the Campus Sustainability Leadership Award for schools with enrollments of more than 7,500 students from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Following are some examples of MSU’s commitment to sustainability. 

• MSU is a participant in the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first greenhouse gas emission registry.
• MSU has the lowest electrical consumption per square foot among Big Ten universities.
• MSU has plans under way for the construction of a new $13.3 million recycling center that will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.
• MSU has a variety of academic programs and research initiative related to sustainability. Also, five times more courses on sustainability were offered this year compared to 2000, and a new sustainability specialization is in the pipeline open to all undergraduates.

With more than 27 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities responding, the survey is the largest to gauge trends and new developments in campus sustainability.

“The 2008 report finds that campus leaders value sustainability,” said Julian Keniry, NWF’s senior director of campus and community leadership. “They speak about it, plan for it, hire staff to support it, and the campuses they lead are steadily becoming greener models for the wider society.”

“Even under constrained budgets university administrators have been supporting key positions to ensure we can make significant improvements,” Link said. “These include an energy and environmental engineer, environmental management system leader and environmental stewardship project coordinator.”

For more information on the NWF study, visit the Web at www.nwf.org/campusecology.

MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability was organized in 2000. Visit its Web site at www.ecofoot.msu.edu.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.