Quick Tips for Faculty & Staff
Sustainability Tips for Faculty & Staff
Research
Sustainability is a vast and encompassing subject that has many facets for potential research. Not only can it be the main subject of research, it can also be a smaller component in practically all fields of study. Whether it is how to teach the three R’s in a third grade classroom, media research on the sustainability trend, or the chemistry of decomposition in composting, it’s easy to get creative with sustainability. OSU has many research programs that feature sustainability, such as:
- Sustainable agriculture
- Conservation of natural resources and energy
- Zero waste
- Waste management
- Pollution prevention
- Social and community sustainability
- Sustainable development
- Green architecture and landscape architecture
- Green product design
- Industrial ecology
- Ecotourism
- Business sustainability, and more.
Teaching
The classroom is your stage to showcase sustainability and leading by example is a way to show students how to live. You can reduce, reuse, recycle and conserve energy in the classroom as students learn positive habits while the University benefits from your leadership in this area.
- Take your class on a campus sustainability tour.
- Encourage students to bring a reusable water bottle to campus, to help decrease the usage of single-use plastics on campus.
- Go digital! Use your online classroom for sharing handouts and for students to submit assignments and papers.
- Allow students to turn in their assignments virtually.
- Instead of using paper note books and agendas, take notes and plan electronically!
- If planning and taking notes electronically isn't for some students, suggest they get refillable notebooks or spiral notebooks made from recycled content for the class.
- Let in more sunlight! Opt for natural lighting by opening the blinds in the classroom.
- Encourage students to think of the campus as a sustainability laboratory. Assign projects that allow students to create solutions to sustainability issues they identify in their own dormitories and dining halls.
Office
Your office is your domain away from home. There are basic actions that you can take to help your office be more sustainable. Encourage others to be sustainable and watch how the movement spreads. The benefits stretch beyond the office and help OSU on its way to being more sustainable.
- If possible, take the stairs instead of the elevator to your classroom and/or office.
- Schedule office hours before or after class so commuting students don't have to make a separate trip to campus.
- Set your printer default to double-sided printing.
- Purchase recycled content paper for the office.
- Save printed paper for scratch paper and recycle paper you cannot re-use.
- Make sure to turn off office lights when not in use. If you can, use natural light instead of electrical lighting.
- Use "sleep-mode" so your computer automatically uses less energy when you leave your desk, even if it is just for a short time. Screen savers do not save energy.
- Turn off your computer when you leave for lunch and at the end of the day.
More ways to be sustainable
Oklahoma State University is a tight-knit community, and sustainability has become one of the threads. You work to make OSU the brightest orange in America, and becoming sustainable is part of that mission. Whether behind the scenes or in the spotlight, Oklahoma State employees are what help make this university so successful. We look to you to be the example in the position you fulfill and in how you take responsibility for the resources entrusted to you.
- Build a sustainable work community
- The break room
- Carpool
- Walking, riding a bike, and riding the bus are the most sustainable modes of transportation.
- If you don't have those options, you can still cut down on your carbon footprint by carpooling. OSU Parking and Transit Services offers a free online matching service to help people locate others interested in carpooling. You don’t have to own a car to be a part of a carpool! Paying your share for gas can help alleviate this pressure. If you are worried that your schedule is too chaotic, you don’t have to carpool every day! Figure out what days are the best for you and work with others' schedules to make a functional carpool! Register your carpool with OSU to be eligible for a reserved parking space!
- Reducing paper usage
- Purchasing
- Sustainability Stakeholders