Topic: Sustainability/Environment

September 24, 2008

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) continues to regard Ball State University's environmental leadership as a model for other schools to follow.

The university has extended its 16-year history of earning NWF honors with its inclusion in "Campus Environment 2008: A National Report Card on Sustainability in Higher Education." The NWF report card has been called the gold standard for charting the sustainability efforts in higher education, so Ball State is quite pleased to receive high marks in this publication, said Robert Koester, chairman of Ball State's Council on the Environment.

Ball State earned exemplary rankings for its:

  • environmental goal setting
  • academics — majors, minors and required courses related to sustainability
  • future plans to do more with recycling, solid waste and materials
  • future plans to do more with green landscaping and grounds
     

"Ball State is being praised for a wide range of important initiatives, spanning academics to facilities," Koester said. "And we really believe that with some minor improvements in other areas such as transportation we'll score even higher ratings in the next publication."

In recent years, Ball State has consistently earned national notoriety for its sustainability efforts. Sen. Richard Lugar has honored the university with an Energy Patriot Award. Its newest buildings, per Ball State's strategic plan, pursue the highest standards of sustainability. It is participating in the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) pilot program, a national initiative to make campus life more sustainable.

Past NWF recognitions include honors for incorporating hybrid cars into its fleet, being the first university in Indiana to add an electric bus to its fleet, using biodiesel fuel, enacting an artist studio waste disposal initiative and establishing a composting program.

For this year's NWF report card, visit www.nwf.org/campusEcology/.