Description
Colleges have helped shape the future by developing their students into leaders who will address injustice worldwide. One injustice that has received a lot of attention lately is the lack of organizations' concern for the environment. Colleges have an opportunity to demonstrate the importance and rewards that are received while taking care of the environment. Through being transparent with other organizations and having students, faculty, staff involvement, colleges can promote sustainability efforts that will last for generations. For an organization to adequately care for all aspects of the environment, it must analyze how it responds to the triple bottom line- People, Planet, Profit. At Oral Roberts University and CityPlex towers, a team composed of students, faculty, and staff has collected and submitted data to the Sustainable Tulsa Scor3card program to review the organization’s sustainability efforts. In 2017, the submission received a verification level of silver status, with 51 out of 154 items awarded as sustainable. In 2018, the organization completed 75 items out of 154 and was awarded silver status. In 2019, Oral Roberts University received a gold certification, with a total of 119 items awarded. Through the course of this research, there are two reasons for the improved score. The first reason is that there has been an increase in sustainability efforts on campus. The second reason is that the data collection system has been improved to reveal more of the ORU and CityPlex towers’ sustainable initiatives. This paper also addresses how the University could utilize a Sustainability Office to continue to make improvements.
Keywords:
Sustainable Development, Sustainable Campus, Sustainable Campus Operations, Environmental Education, Sustainability Education, Sustainable Tulsa, Scorecard, Scorecard Results
Department
Biology
College
College of Science and Engineering
Included in
Oral Roberts University Scorecard Results and the Development of Sustainable Campus Operations and Sustainability Education
Colleges have helped shape the future by developing their students into leaders who will address injustice worldwide. One injustice that has received a lot of attention lately is the lack of organizations' concern for the environment. Colleges have an opportunity to demonstrate the importance and rewards that are received while taking care of the environment. Through being transparent with other organizations and having students, faculty, staff involvement, colleges can promote sustainability efforts that will last for generations. For an organization to adequately care for all aspects of the environment, it must analyze how it responds to the triple bottom line- People, Planet, Profit. At Oral Roberts University and CityPlex towers, a team composed of students, faculty, and staff has collected and submitted data to the Sustainable Tulsa Scor3card program to review the organization’s sustainability efforts. In 2017, the submission received a verification level of silver status, with 51 out of 154 items awarded as sustainable. In 2018, the organization completed 75 items out of 154 and was awarded silver status. In 2019, Oral Roberts University received a gold certification, with a total of 119 items awarded. Through the course of this research, there are two reasons for the improved score. The first reason is that there has been an increase in sustainability efforts on campus. The second reason is that the data collection system has been improved to reveal more of the ORU and CityPlex towers’ sustainable initiatives. This paper also addresses how the University could utilize a Sustainability Office to continue to make improvements.
