Updating the Campus Sustainability Report
Aditi Rudrashetty, Capstone Scholar
Introduction
My name is Aditi Rudrashetty and I am a sophomore at
USC majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I
am interested into going to graduate school for research
and one of the topics that I want to implement into my
future research is how to promote more sustainable
initiatives in terms of everyday life.
I have participated in a program called IFAL which stands
for the Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders. This
program allowed me to not only understand our
environment better but opened my mind to different
methods and processes that can be used to improve our
environment such as studying overall data and creating
ideas that can help in improving those statistics.
Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders
Aim
The Campus Sustainability Report gives us the statistics
of how our campus is doing and recommends initiatives
for places that are lacking. This report has not been
updated since 2017 meaning that new statistics and plans
have not been initiated since then.
This is an important problem to tackle because by
updating out statistics, we will see how we as a university
stand in terms of sustainability and can aid in not only
improving our but implementing more sustainability
initiatives.
This will impact our campus and its members by giving
breakdown of the different areas that need to be focused
on for improvements and allow USC’s campus to grow in
terms of environmental awareness and overall
sustainability.
Method
Create research teams who will aid in updating the
Campus Sustainability Report.
By creating various research teams, for example having
students and professors from from the
engineering/computing department who are interested
in recording the energy usage landscape, will help in
updating statistics and record campus progress in
specific areas.
This plan of action will be successful because by creating
research teams based on expertise, the members can
focus on researching and updating specific areas.
The top most sustainable campus is the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They have an entire
website dedicated to sustainability with a climate
action plan, ways in which students and staff can help,
and plans and progress which include their yearly
reports and greenhouse gas emission, water use, and
waste dashboards. They recruit different faculty and
students to keep this website up to date and promote
their findings on their Twitter to keep their campus as
updated as possible.
There is a current Office of Sustainability located in Green
Quad and by connecting with them and introducing
students and professors from various departments, it
can not only lift the workload off of them but give
students and professors a research opportunity to
work towards accomplishing.
UNC Chapel Hill
Greenhouse Gas
Emissions Dashboard
UNC Chapel Hill Water Use
Dashboard
UNC Chapel Hill Waste
Dashboard
Detailed Action Plan Evaluation
The goal of updating the Campus Sustainability Report is
Step One: Start a campus group that will eventually
measured by statistics such as greenhouse gas
create an Office of Sustainability.
emissions, water use, waste, etc. The success of this
plan will be shown when we start to have tangible
The goal of this step is to collaborate with different
updated statistics that will show areas where we are
departments, clubs, and organizations that can connect
doing well that can help in influencing campus
already existing groups and initiatives. Having a group
sustainability initiatives for areas that need
working towards a common goal will help in updating the
improvements.
Campus Sustainability Report in a more organized and
controlled manner with tasks designated to certain Success would look like updated statistics that show a
people. decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and
Start by finding those who are interested in this specific waste. We will know if we are on the track for success if
goal by visiting clubs, such as Sustainable Carolina, the statistics collected can start to be used towards
organizations, such as the members of the sustainability coming up with specific campus-wide initiatives that aid in
office in Green Quad, professors, such as those in the decreasing next year’s statistics.
School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, and events to
speak about updating the Campus Sustainability Report.
After forming forming a group of students and staff who
are interested in helping, prepare a proposal to the
University for an Office of Sustainability.
Step Two: Reach out to various departments to aid in
creating interactive and regularly updated
dashboards for greenhouse gas emissions, water
use, and overall waste.
University of South Carolina Sustainability Report
The University provides an abundance of scholarships
and grants aimed towards promoting research on
campus. The University of South Carolina is ranked as a
Research Tier 1 University meaning there is an extremely
high level of research activity occurring.
Conclusions
For research on the greenhouse gas emissions
To be able to have an impact, we as leaders must take
dashboard and the water use dashboard, the School of
charge and work towards a goal. This journey has taught
Earth, Ocean, Science, and Environment can collect data
me that a vision can be attainable and reach success with
across campus to track USC’s statistics in these areas.
The College of Engineering and Computing can help aid
the right thought process and thinking. There is a process
that needs to be followed which includes breaking down a
in exploring the alternative measures that can be taken
complex goal into smaller constituents. This allows for a
and create a separate dashboard on different energy
more specific and goal-oriented form of research to take
consumption taking place around campus. Finally, get in
place which in turn, creates a campus impact plan that is
touch with the Carolina Food Co. as they control all of the
thorough and extremely doable.
dining on campus and they can aid in tracking and
recording food waste.
Sustainable Carolina
References
Sustainable Carolina. (2021, August 17). Retrieved
February 28, 2022, from https://sustainable.unc.edu/
Koppa, N. (2017). UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH
CAROLINA 2017 CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT. Sustainability Report. Retrieved
February 28, 2022, from
https://uscsustainability.wixsite.com/sustainabilityr
eport
University of South
Carolina Green Quad
03/01/2022