COMMISION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

and

ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY

GREENING UNIVERSITY: Transformation

Towards Sustainability
A project proposal submitted

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the training course

Training for the New General Education Core Courses

By

Alonzo, Erwin
Balaoing, Joseph
Blanco, Ma. Tereza
Cabral, Sheila
Diamante, Rafael
Lantajo, Justina
Paramo, Orchieliza L.

26 October 2016

Rationale/Background of the Project

Since the establishment of the very first one in the world in the year 1088, universities

have served as a venue for groundbreaking discoveries, ideas and works in science, philosophy

and the arts. Because of them, the world’s greatest thinkers and innovators have a common place

to discuss and share ideas. The tradition continues to the present day as universities remain as

repositories of important materials and avenues for academic work and creative thinking to

address real life issues.

A university is a complex, multi-faceted entity with diverse organizational subcultures,

traditions and concerns (reference). They usually embody the environmental issues, risks and

challenges of the wider communities in which they are situated, but also express their own

unique characteristics. The way a university operates is usually likened to how a town operates.

It has four core purposes: instruction, research, community extension and production. Through

the fulfillment of these purposes, they aim to produce future leaders and innovators of society

who would be at the forefront of solving pressing problems and challenges.

Climate change and global warming are among the greatest threats planet Earth is facing.

In light of recent events, the prevailing battle cry is to abate the effects of climate change by

adapting practices and making a conscious effort to go away with activities that contribute to it.

The most widely accepted way to do that is to pursue sustainability. Once again, universities are

being challenged to rise up to the challenge. No institution in modern society are better suited

and more obliged to facilitate the transition to sustainable future than colleges and universities.

(Orr, 2002) In other words, universities are being challenged to lead the way in going green.

But what is sustainability and sustainable development? What makes a university

sustainable? The most widely used definition of sustainable development is from the Brundtland

Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development which states that it

is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the

future generation to meet their own. (Retrieved from

http://www.circularecology.com/sustainability-and-sustainable-development..html)

Sustainability is viewed as involving living within the limits, understanding the interconnections

among economy. Society and environment and the equitable distribution of resources and

opportunities. (Retrieved from http://www.sustainablemeasures.com). Sustainability is the goal

and the path or way to achieve it is is through sustainable development.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) gives the following as key

characteristics of a sustainable i.e. green university:

a. There is clear articulation and integration of social, ethical and environmental

responsibility in its vision, mission and goals;

b. Integration of social, economic and environmental sustainability across the curriculum;

c. Dedicated research on sustainability;

d. Outreach and service to a wider community including partnerships with schools,

government, non-government organizations and industry;

e. Campus planning, structure, management to achieve zero net carbon/water/waste;

f. Ability to go beyond zero through monitoring, reporting and continual improvement;

g. Celebration of cultural diversity and application of cultural inclusivity;

h. Frameworks to support cooperation among universities both nationally and globally.

(UNEP, 2013 retrieved from

http//www.unep.org/training/docs/Greening_Universities_Toolkit.pdf)

The university is committed to the total development of man for God and humanity.

Therefore, through the pursuit of excellence in instruction and research as well as in the conduct

of community extension activities, we hope to produce graduates who will be future leaders and

innovators. More importantly, the university envisions its graduates to be students who have a

very strong sense of social and environmental responsibility. This proposal has a time frame in

mind which envisions the project being carried out first in the College of Arts and Sciences, then

being adapted by the university as a whole and then eventually, in the adopted community of the

university.

Statement of the Problem

Generally, this study would determine how the academe can promote sustainability and

pursue sustainable development. Specifically, it will evaluate how the four-fold function of the

university (instruction, research, community extension and production) can be used to promote

sustainability in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Objectives of the Study

Given the above problems, the project aims to

a. revisit and revise the OBE-syllabi of the different programs of the college to identify key

areas/topics where sustainability concepts can be inserted, effective methodologies to be used, as

well as plan additional course requirements such as immersion and visits to adopted barangay,

survey of best practices in schools and communities.

b. propose to the university a revisit and revision of the research agenda to include sustainability,

environment scanning, gathering of baseline data on waste generation, energy consumption and

elevation of efficiency and effectiveness of the program.

c. propose a program of activities and conduct evaluation upon completion to be done in the

college (1st year of implementation of program), the university (2nd year) and community (3rd

year) level.

d. craft information education communication materials such as :

d.1. brochures/flyers/tarpaulin/poster

d.2. videos

d.3 workbook

d.4. laboratory manual

to promote sustainable greening project in three languages : mother-tongue, Filipino and English

Methodology

The sustainable greening project will commence with a revisit of the vision, mission and

goals of the university. This is to ensure that the project is properly aligned and supported with a

policy on sustainability provided specifically in the university research agenda. A committee will

be formed representative of all the sectors in the college divided into teams who shall take part

from conceptualization, implementation, monitoring to evaluation of the said project.

Initial survey research will be conducted to establish the baseline to whatever existing

practices on campus sustainability (ex. Solid waste management, energy consumption, water

usage). This will serve as the point of reference to determine efficiency and effectiveness of the

project which will be measured through indicators spelled out in three areas: Behavior towards

Sustainability, Amount of garbage generated per day and Amount of energy consumed per

month. With baseline data and indicators in place, action plan will be drawn starting with the

setting of objectives and targets. Related activities will be identified including the people

responsible and the much needed budget. The timeline of the project will be presented using a

Gantt chart to monitor the milestones and to ensure that all the different activities are

implemented on time.

Action Plan

The project will be adopting the steps to sustainability in universities as proposed by the UNEP

Greening University toolkit.

Target Date
Persons
Steps Tasks of Budget
Involved
Completion
Conceptualizing Revisiting VMG and Project November No budget
the sustainable inclusion of sustainable Leader and 2016 required
action plans policy in research agenda Identified
key persons
from the
college
admin office
Establishing a Establishing committees that Project December 15 No budget
committee will spearhead the action leader and 2016 required
plans in all department of the identified
college as well as the student key persons
organizations from the
college
admin office
Determining the Determining the existing data Committee February 28 P 500.00
baseline on solid waste management Heads 2017
and energy consumption of
the entire college
Selecting and Identifying measurable Project March 15 No budget
Defining indicators of progress Leader, 2017 required
Indicators Committee
Heads, and
key persons
from the
college
admin office
Setting objectives Setting, presenting, and Committee April 2017 No budget
and targets specifying the objectives for Heads required
the different sustainable
action plans that the college
5
will adapt


Information Drive Conduct of seminars and Committee Whole P 4000.00

trainings on sustainable Heads, academic
universities, information Project year
campaign on eco-friendly Leader
practices, capacity building
on the part of committee and
team members
Developing and Planning, preparing, and Everybody Whole P 3000.00
Implementing implementing different academic
Sustainable action sustainable action plans (per year
plans organization/department)
Monitoring and Constantly monitoring Project Whole P 1000.00
Evaluation progress, and yearly Leader, academic
evaluating the outcomes of Committee year;
the different sustainable Heads Evaluation to
action plans be done on
March 2018

The implementation of the project will start with a general assembly of the whole college

to formally launch it. The goals and objectives, implementation guidelines and duties and

responsibilities of each member will be fully discussed. It bears to mention that the project will

operate on honesty basis where each member will be personally responsible in managing

themselves as regards compliance and reporting of non-compliance.

The project will have an annual cycle corresponding to the academic year. Monitoring

will be conducted on a monthly basis to check on the process of implementation. Evaluation will

be done twice, a mid-year evaluation and final evaluation. A report will be generated and

reported to the general assembly as a form of feedback and an input for next school year’s

implementation.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES/ GANTT CHART

MONTH
ACTIVITY
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

revisit of VMG

formation of committee

Research to determine baseline.

selecting and defining
measurable indicators
Setting of objectives and Targets

Awareness and Training- info

drive

Implementation of Action Plan

Monitoring and Evaluation

LINE-ITEM BUDGET

November -
ITEM June - October March Total

Maintenance and other operating expenses

Supplies and materials 40,000.00 40,000.00

Representation expenses 100,000.00 100,000.00

Communication 5,000.00 5,000.00 10,000.00

Fuel, oil and lubricants 5,000.00 5,000.00 10,000.00

Collaterals and other services 20,000.00 10,000.00 30,000.00

Incentive, tokens for resource persons- 60,000.00 60,000.00

evaluators-judges/prizes

TOTAL 250,000.00

References:

Orr, D.W. The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture and Human Intention. 2002, Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Sharp, L. Green Campuses: The road from little victories to systemic transformation.

International Journal for Sustainability in Higher Education, 2002. 3(2):p.128-145.

UNEP (2013) Greening Universities Toolkit Transforming Universities into Green and

Sustainable Campuses.

Websites:

http://www.circularecology.com/sustainability-and-sustainable-

development.html#.WA9QRC197IU. Accessed 25 October 2016

http://www.sustainablemeasures.com Accessed 25 October 2016