Sustainability Advancements, the Vincentian Way
Loyola University’s Aaron Durnbaugh shares sustainability wisdom at a DePaul University event.
By Emily Figueroa
Students have been tasked with the responsibility to take care of the planet and improve its future. But how can we, along with faculty and staff, envision a better future? How can we enact sustainability on our campus and in our city?
Here at DePaul University in Chicago, we have the powerhouse of Loyola University’s sustainability program to provide direction. On Feb. 1, Aaron Durnbaugh, Director of Sustainability at Loyola, visited DePaul to share techniques and knowledge at the Just DePaul Sustainability Network Weaving event. Organized in collaboration with our President’s Sustainability Committee, this event helped attendees to explore ideas and imagine how to enact them at our campus.
Of course, many actions are already underway at and through DePaul. For instance, a recent initiative spearheaded by Howard Rosing, Executive Director of DePaul’s Steans Center, is piloting a program to create composting sites at six community gardens in Chicago. These sites will help residents recycle food scraps and expand food access in the city.
At the Network Weaving event, Durnbaugh led DePaul students, faculty, staff, and alumni in conversation about how to further improve sustainability at DePaul. Durnbaugh currently serves as the interim chair for the Advisory Committee for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). This is one of many organizations through which Durnbaugh serves and educates.
Durnbaugh has devoted the past 11 years to integrating sustainability into Loyola’s curriculum and operations. He believes that no institution should feel behind on their sustainability programs.
DePaul senior Laura Murphy attended Durnbaugh’s presentation and was impressed with how powerful universities can be in advocating for sustainability policies and strategies. Murphy is a Student Fellow through DePaul’s HumanitiesX fellowship, an experiential humanities collaborative designed to tackle real-world problems through a humanistic lens. This year, the fellowship is focused on environmental crisis and action. Murphy enjoyed learning the details Durnbaugh shared, saying
“Loyola University had so many amazing sustainability initiatives, and it was inspiring. For example, I love how Loyola encourages students to get involved in sustainability initiatives, such as having Green Certified dorm rooms.”
Among the many initiatives and ideas that Durnbaugh shared was to think of a campus as a “living laboratory.” Loyola provides audits of waste, energy, and water, as part of their effort to decarbonize the campus. By publishing their progress reports, a wide audience can see the results possible at an environmentally conscious institution.
Monitoring a university’s effect on water quality, air quality and waste is also a part of environmental justice. Both DePaul and Loyola believe our universities have a social responsibility to improve our surrounding neighborhoods. Professor Barbara Willard hopes to incorporate these same efforts at DePaul, as part of its commitment to environmental justice in Chicago.
When asked what inspires her about Loyola’s program, Willard said, “From their robust Urban Agriculture program to their waste audits and Energy Master Plans, their data-gathering capability allows them to measure their impacts.” She added,
“They are able to see where they are contributing environmental ‘goods’ and ‘bads,’ then to help clean up the environmental quality of Chicago’s air and water.”
Green buildings, sustainable landscapes, clean energy, and zero waste all contribute to reducing the environmental footprint of an institution. For Loyola, these requirements and more apply to their Lake Shore Campus, Water Tower Campus, and Health Science Campus. This is work that relies on faculty, students, staff, and partners, but it’s well worth the time to help enhance the communities that we live and learn in.
Loyola has a goal to reach its lowest environmental footprint by 2025. This goal is demanding and may be difficult to meet, but it inspires their continued sustainability work.
If more universities can promise that they will monitor their resource use and waste and give back to the Earth that sustains them, our planet will have a chance at renewal. Younger generations, of course, must pick up this charge.
As DePaul’s Willard said,
“We need to put ideas into practice and start the hard work of transforming our university into a model of sustainability.”
A plausible plan for DePaul is to engage the students, alumni, staff, and faculty that are committed to the environment and environmental justice to begin implementing some of the same steps as has Loyola. Sustainability has already been incorporated into DePaul’s academic offerings through a variety of environmental and sustainability-focused undergraduate and graduate courses and programs.
Willard explained that faculty and staff working on sustainability at DePaul are highly motivated and will continue to keep up to date with the innovations of sustainability leaders like Loyola.
The Vincentian values shared by DePaul students motivate them to work towards sustainability. It’s in our mission, as a university and as a campus community, to be responsible for our actions and to take steps to repair the damage that has been done.
Emily Figueroa is a HumanitiesX Student Fellow and a Junior majoring in Journalism at DePaul University in Chicago, IL.
