{"id":36391,"date":"2015-04-22T11:11:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T18:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=36391"},"modified":"2015-04-22T13:35:19","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T20:35:19","slug":"sustainability-woven-throughout-the-nau-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/sustainability-woven-throughout-the-nau-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability woven throughout the NAU experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Issues related to sustainability get a lot of attention around Earth Day, but for Ellen Vaughan<\/strong>, fostering a culture of sustainability is a year-round occupation. As sustainability manager, facilitating improvements in recycling, water and energy use is part of Vaughan\u2019s job description, and she is quick to point out NAU\u2019s growing list of successes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this arid region we\u2019ve got to pay attention to our water use, so that is why it is impressive to have exceeded our goal and reduced water use by 30 percent,\u201d said Vaughan, referring to earlier goals set out in the university\u2019s Sustainability Action Plan<\/a>. Overall use remained flat despite additional buildings and significant enrollment growth.<\/p>\n

About two years ago, before Vaughan came to the university, she was looking for a job in a community like NAU, where it would be possible\u00a0to showcase sustainability efforts in waste minimization, recycling, resource use and transportation, providing solid examples of effective sustainable living.<\/p>\n

Ongoing improvements require behavior changes among students, faculty and staff. Sustainability coordinator Nick Koressel<\/strong> oversees NAU\u2019s Energy Mentors program, which just reached a milestone of 100 volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy mentors do a two-hour training session to become change agents within their offices, encouraging coworkers to turn off lights and unplug devices to reduce energy usage,\u201d Koressel said.<\/p>\n

Eco Reps, a Residence Life\u00a0program, is part of a nationwide effort within residential communities. Eco Rep Alana Weber<\/strong> said she has witnessed substantial behavioral changes in the dorms during her three years as an undergraduate.<\/p>\n

\"Ellen<\/a>
Nick Koressel and Ellen Vaughan are working on many campus sustainability initiatives. NAU has reduced electricity consumption per square foot by 20 percent,\u00a0expanded recycling, composting, irrigation improvements and supported a bicycle-friendly campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe recycling pilot program on campus has increased student and faculty awareness of what is recyclable, giving rise to a campus culture of sustainability,\u201d Weber said. Other efforts include increased residence hall signage that she said instigates five-minute showers and turning off lights.<\/p>\n

As the campus leader of these efforts, Vaughan\u2019s analysis incorporates the three pillars of sustainability: social equity, environmental stewardship and economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

Vaughan\u00a0is encouraged by NAU\u2019s ethos and the way faculty members weave environmental curriculum throughout their courses, even in non-related fields.\u00a0\u201cThere are tons of opportunities for students to learn about the issues throughout their four years here, and they graduate with a better understanding of what the issues are and how they can be part of the solution in the future,\u201d Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

Visit the Green NAU\u00a0website\u00a0<\/a>to learn about NAU’s many sustainability programs or to find out about becoming an energy mentor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issues related to sustainability get a lot of attention around Earth Day, but for Ellen Vaughan, fostering a culture of sustainability is a year-round occupation. As sustainability manager, facilitating improvements in recycling, water and energy use is part of Vaughan\u2019s job description, and she is quick to point out NAU\u2019s growing list of successes. \u201cIn…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":36392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}