Sustainability
Texas A & M Kingsville renowned dedication to excellence does not stop at academics - it also translates into efforts to be an environmentally sustainable campus. At its core, the University's commitment to sustainability has always focused on public service, transparency and excellence. As the program matures it is also acquiring a new focus on innovation, apparent in the abundance of cross-cutting programs and projects led by student, staff, faculty, and academic communities.
The Sustainability commitment includes:
• Protecting and enhancing the campus environment;
• Purchasing environmentally preferable products, minimizing the use of toxic substances,and handling wastes responsibly;
• Conserving natural resources through their sustainable use in building projects,
transportation, and campus operations;
• Significantly reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions;
• Conducting innovative research on sustainable technology and practices;
• Increasing awareness of these values through instruction and example; and
• Collaborating with a diverse and engaged campus community on these issues to help
fulfill the University’s mission.
Concrete and measurable goals are necessary for ensuring real progress toward sustainability. At the same time, implementation of these goals will require connecting this larger vision of sustainability to daily actions, in ways that ensure a better final result or outcome. Texas A & M Kingsville can develop a new paradigm for implementing sustainability on campus - simultaneously reducing the resource footprint of the campus and improving its economic bottom line.
Successfully achieving campus sustainability goals will result in rethinking business as usual. A new approach to campus activities should embrace basic values of maximizing efficiency, eliminating waste, and generating positive returns - either as direct cost savings or other intangible benefits like more comfortable classrooms or time-saving technology. "Going green" should entail minimizing the amount of electricity or water used without decreasing the quality or quantity of education, research, or administrative operations. Better yet, sustainability should actually ensure an improved outcome. Work can be done better by streamlining processes, empowering the work force, and avoiding 'work around's (fixing problems without fixing the process that produced it).
This page was last updated on: February 02, 2012