The Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability (OESS) recognizes the importance of the planet and its resources. We serve the University community by shepherding awareness of stewardship and sustainability, as well as catalyzing action throughout the campus, the Domain, and the region.
Sustainability Commitment
Climate Commitment
Carbon Neutrality
The University of the South’s institutional endorsement of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007, by Vice Chancellor Joel Cunningham, was the first and largest sustainability-focused public commitment the University has made. This served as part of a series of efforts to increase sustainability practices on campus and reduce Sewanee’s carbon footprint. It also includes a plan to reduce campus carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
AASHE STARS
Sustainability Standard
In late 2018, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS), awarded the University a STARS Silver rating for transparency and commitment to sustainability. The STARS system is the most comprehensive and widely recognized measurement of institutional sustainability progress in higher education.
Better Buildings Challenge
Energy Conservation
Sewanee committed to the US DOE Better Buildings Challenge in mid 2016 to further increase operational efficiencies and reduce energy consumption by 20 percent within 10 years. In just 5 years, Sewanee has already reduced energy consumption by 18 percent.
Ecosystem Management
Sustainable Land Stewardship
We seek to promote sustainable land stewardship through strategies of adaptive management that promote and protect ecological values, including biodiversity and ecosystem services and the protection of cultural heritage, all within the context of a working educational landscape.
Sustaining Arcadia
The Gifford Pinchot-led Domain management plan is something of an origin story for Sewanee, particularly as it concerns the relationship between the University and its resources. The importance of that story is not always completely apparent, but it comes down to this: A healthy and restorative earth is not an entitlement; it always and only exists because of a good plan.
There have been many historical management plans, with the most recent being the 2019 Domain Management Plan which outlines goals by which the Domain is to be managed.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability builds authentic cross-cultural relationships, improves environmental outcomes, and facilitates meaningful experiences with our environment that promote equity for future generations.
Our office has set forth the following commitments to ensure a thoughtful approach to DEI:
- Build community through genuine relationships and enable experiences to build a deeper connection with the natural world.
- Encourage the transfer of knowledge from subject matter experts in surrounding communities and provide them the platform to share their knowledge and become mentors for our students.
- Support the local economy by contracting labor and materials from surrounding communities in a way that is line with responsible and sustainable practices.
- Educate ourselves and the community about environmental injustices occurring locally and globally.
- Empower a strong and diverse set of future leaders advocating for environmental and social justice.
OESS and Black Lives Matter
OESS and Black Lives Matter
As we remember the momentous month of June 2020 when protests throughout our country rightly focused the world’s attention on the imperative for racial justice and equality, environmental studies, programs and initiatives at Sewanee seek to sustain this crucial momentum by declaring that #BlackLivesMatter. In particular, we call for environmental justice, recognizing that climate change, pollution, resource extraction, biodiversity loss and other such exploitation disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in this country and around the world.
