A Summary Report of the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) for Trent...

8/14/2019 A Summary Report of the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) for Trent University

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A Summary Report of the Sustainability, Tracking,

Assessment and Rating System (STARS) for Trent University

By: Timothy Shah, Adam Wright & Scott Baker

1.0 STARS in Brief

This summary report is based on the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment & RatingSystem (STARS) version 0.5, a report produced by the Association for the Advancementof Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The authors of this report were hired asinterns with the student group, Sustainable Trent to conduct both primary and secondaryresearch on the universitys sustainability performance. The research was carried outfrom May to August 2009.

Measuring a universitys sustainability performance is by no means an easy task. Giventhe complexity and numerous intricacies of an institutions system, there are numerous

factors that can determine the level of sustainability. For the report, these levels ofsustainability are categorized into three sections:Education and Research, OperationsandAdministration and Finance. The three sections will outline the main researchfindings and provide recommendations for the university.

In a time of great uncertainty surrounding the natural environment, universities are beinglooked to by society to produce research in areas ranging from climate change tobiodiversity. Ultimately, universities have great potential to provide recommendationsbased on sound research that are progressive and incorporate a high degree ofenvironmental, economic and social sustainability. Centres of higher education like Trentare indispensable for researching, publishing and teaching on the aforementioned topics.

Collectively, institutions like Trent are fostering awareness of the environment andproviding students with more of an inclination to take on career jobs that have someelement of environmental and social responsibility. In addition, sustainability actionssupport other institutional priorities such as saving money and improving buildingoperations. It is for these reasons that the institution is taking these sustainability mattersseriously; their implications will be summarized in this report.

The purpose of this report is to measure the sustainability performance of TrentUniversitys Symons Campus. Using criteria and guidelines from STARS, we were ableto research various levels of sustainability on campus including the environmental,economic, social and technical dimensions and to ascertain whether they constitute a

credit under the STARS system. Ultimately, the descriptive findings from the report willlead to a better understanding of Trents sustainability performance. This will provide theinstitution with greater knowledge on how micro and macro level changes can lead tosubstantial savings on capital costs and more importantly lead our university towards amore sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

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2.0 Education and Research Summary

2.1 Co-Curricular Education

First and foremost, Trent University is a leader on the co-curricular education front.STARS define co-curricular education as institutions that provide their students with

sustainability learning experiences outside the formal curriculum. Through our researchwe were able to categorize different levels of Trents co-curricular initiatives.Unsurprisingly, the university met most of the tier two credits for this STARS section.The nature of this section explored co-curricular themes such as outreach programming,sustainability-related competition and sustainability in Introductory Seminar Week. Allthree STARS credits are of equal weighting with the purpose of determining how auniversity bridges its co-curricular activities with meeting its institutional goals.

Outreach programmingis best epitomized through the campus environmentalorganization and levy group, Sustainable Trent. In brief, this group meets the criteria ofSTARS as it facilitates and manages sustainability outreach programs that aim to raiseawareness over the environment and sustainability more generally. This is done throughencouraging education and involvement of any interested party be it students, faculty ormembers of the Peterborough community. Furthermore, the aforementioned parties areeligible to receive funding for sustainability projects but must complete a form thatdetails the nature of the project and its benefits for the Trent community. All of theprograms and events put on by the group act as peer to peer education and awarenessthrough engaging campus students to think critically about their daily consumer choices.

Sustainability-related competition was principally demonstrated through the OneMillion Acts of Green campaign in the 2008-2009 academic year. The campaignmobilized Trent students to think consciously about their habits and activities and theimpacts they have on the environment. Competition among other universities acted as animpetus to spread awareness and environmental advocacy across campus to bring peopletogether and share a common purpose. While competition on campus exists between thefour colleges, it mainly comprises athletics, college spirit and fundraising. All of theseinter-collegial competitions are critical for increasing university spirit; however there isno present sustainability-related competition amongst the colleges. This is something thatcan be explored in the future.

Sustainability in Introductory Seminar Weekhas become an integral part of theorientation. Among many of the activities, the highlights include proper wastemanagement orientation and a pocket guide for sustainable campus living, prepared byTrents Sustainability Coordinator. The former, is a more of multifaceted activity whereStudent Dons, ISW staff and volunteers orient first-year students on how to recycle andcompost materials. This is an important step for first-years because their wastemanagement system at home may vary tremendously from the one on campus. The latterinitiative outlines sustainability information that is specific to the university. It outlinestips from water conservation and waste reduction to green event planning andvolunteering for sustainability. In sum, both initiatives are intended to orient students onsustainable living and encourage them to get involved with campus groups and volunteeropportunities.

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2.2 Curriculum

To obtain credits in the curriculum section of STARS, the institution must have a formaleducation program and courses that address sustainability. Based on our count, Trentoffers about 144 sustainability-related courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.According to STARS, sustainability-related courses include sustainability as a course

component or module, or concentrate on a key sustainability principle or issue. Thesecourses range in disciplines from Anthropology and Indigenous Studies to EnvironmentalResource Science/Studies (ERS) and Economics. Considering 18 of 27 academicdepartments on Symons campus offer sustainability-related courses, the institutiondemonstrates that it is in progress of advancing the sustainability curriculum. However,STARS also looks at sustainability-focused courses.

STARS identify sustainability-focused courses as courses that concentrate onsustainability, including its social, economic and environmental dimensions, or examinean issue or topic using sustainability as a lens. On this front, Symons campus offers justless than ten courses which includes Greening the Campus and Ecological Design-both of which are ERS. Ten courses is not an unimpressive achievement, however, thesecourses need not be exclusive to ERS students and should be open to interested studentsin other disciplines. As sustainability becomes more popular in higher education, morestudents are going to want to be immersed with its curriculum. Therefore, puttingacademic restrictions i.e. pre-requisites on these courses will act as an impediment forthese interested students. However, on a positive note, pre-requisites also enable thecourse to be offered at a more advanced level. It also helps ensure that the course remainsavailable for students who are majoring in environmental studies.

Formal education programs include Environmental Resource Science/Studies at theundergraduate level, and a graduate program in Sustainability Studies that recentlyreceived provincial approval from the Ontario Council of Graduate Schools (OCGS). Inbrief, the ERS program meets the STARS criteria as it is interdisciplinary covering thethree critical dimensions of sustainability- social, economic and environmental. For thepast three academic years, 2006, 2007, 2008, Trent graduated 80, 77, and 56 studentsrespectively from its ERS program. The program is only getting more innovative andpopular as they just created Canadas first Bachelor of Environmental Science/Studies(B.E.S.S.) degree.

In addition to the new B.E.S.S. degree, Trent has also created a collaborative EcologicalRestoration program with Fleming College and the new Indigenous EnvironmentalStudies Program (IES). In brief, the Ecological Restoration program has aninterdisciplinary focus with a foundation of science-based curriculum. As a jointuniversity and college program, it has an integrated approach combining applied learning,field skills and experience with theoretical and scientific knowledge and principles. Onthe note of interdisciplinarity, the Indigenous Environmental Studies Program is uniqueto Trent University and exposes students to Indigenous knowledge systems as well as thescience and information from the social and environmental sciences. The programchallenges students to better understand the environmental issues that are impactingIndigenous People both in Canada and abroad.

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The Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies will begin in September 2010. It willemerge as a highly dynamic and interdisciplinary Masters program ultimately advancingthe sustainability curriculum through critically examining all three dimensions ofsustainability. Thus, both at the undergrad and grad level, Trent offersformal educationprograms that are sustainability focused meeting the credits of STARS and ultimately

paving the way for advanced research, teaching and publications in sustainability for thefuture. All of these formal education programs are innovative and enhance Trentsreputation as a leader in environmental education.

Sustainability Study Abroad Program is another crucial element of gauging a universityssustainability curriculum. Through an interview with the Director of the TrentInternational Program (TIP), we were able to learn more about TIPs commitment tosustainability. There are two notable achievements- one is INSTRUCT and the other isthe Trent in Ecuador program. In short, TIP helped develop the INSTRUCT programwhich served to enhance the capacity of institutions and communities in Ecuador andMexico to promote environmental remediation and sustainable development through anIntegrated Ecosystem Management approach. The INSTRUCT program is no longeroperating however, for many years, the Trent in Ecuador program offered Trent studentsan internship opportunity to participate in environmental remediation efforts in the LagoSan Pablo watershed.

In summary, Trent recognizes the importance of incorporating environmental educationinto the curriculum both domestically and abroad. We recommend that the TrentInternational Program devise a system that tracks carbon dioxide emissions that arereleased from the flights of student exchanges. A program also needs to be created to putmore responsibility and accountability on the exchange students. We propose thatstudents pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmentalconsequences of studying, living, working, traveling, or volunteering abroad and will tryto improve these aspects of their international experience. This is known as the GreenPassport Program available at: http://greenpassport.ning.com/. We recommend that TIPexplores this program.

2.3 Faculty and Staff Development and Training

This category is the third and final of the Education and Research credits. Unfortunately,due to time constraints and the difficult nature of obtaining information, we were not ableto explore this category in depth. However, presented below is a summary of the majorfindings which include interdisciplinarity andsustainability research.

Interdisciplinarity is an important area of any universitys research and teaching. STARStreat interdisciplinary research and studies in general as a significant indicator ofsustainability progress within the academy. From our research we found that at otheruniversities (especially, but not only, small universities), programs like Women's Studies,Canadian Studies, and International Development Studies might find themselves with nopermanent appointments and without the status of a department. At Trent,interdisciplinary units have the full status of departments. Also, faculty who dointerdisciplinary research are treated in just the same way as faculty who do single-discipline research. Moreover, because of the ethos of interdisciplinarity at Trent, faculty

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who find themselves in single-discipline departments often think of themselves asconducting interdisciplinary research. In sum, as an institution that valuesinterdisciplinary teaching and research, we are starting to bring about programs thatsolidify and strengthen academic departmental relations.

Sustainability Research is an area that warrants more scrutiny to ascertain how muchfunding and resources go into this area. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature ofour university, we found that a number of academic departments are conducting researchin sustainability. Topics in this area are diverse from researching the controversies inrenewable energy development to understanding how climate change is affecting birdsand other fauna in the Ganaraska Forest. There is also research being conducted in thePolitics Department on the social and economic elements of Fair Trade in the Caribbean.Trents progress on sustainability research is made possible through grants. These grantshelp pay for student research assistantships along with financing software infrastructureand technology.

We recommend that the institution creates a research grant inventory marking all of theresearch grants that are sustainability-related. We know that the total external and internalresearch funding for the past academic year was $15, 000, 000. If the institution places allof the sustainability-related research grants in one category entitled sustainabilityresearch, we can determine how much of this total research funding as a percentage isallocated to sustainability research. In sum, this can demonstrate Trents commitment tothis field, highlight the universitys commitment to interdisciplinary research andexemplify the importance of conducting research in such a salient area.

3.0 Operations Summary

3.1 Buildings

Trents Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) produced a Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design (LEED) report in 2007 expressing the benefit of Adopting acampus wide approach to sustainability in construction, maintenance, energy-usage,water consumption, transportation, landscaping, and health and safety. Since then, Trenthas begun the renovation of the athletics center to have a LEED silver rating. In addition,the Camp Kawartha Environment Center is a stunning example of sustainable buildingpractices. This building was recently built in Trents nature areas.

Trents water usage has been dropping steadily since the 2005-2006 academic year with avery significant drop in 08/09. Part of this can be attributed to low flow shower heads inmost campus residences. Front loading washing machines have also been introduced inall residences leading to a drop in water usage.

The rooftop garden on top of the Environmental Science Building is also important tomention because it provides increased insulation, stormwater management ameliorationand local food.

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3.2 Dining Services

The two dinning service providers at Trent are Aramark and the Seasoned Spoon Cafe.The Seasoned Spoon makes a diligent effort to serve as much local, fair trade and organicfood as possible. The Spoon also has a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Aramarkhas made significant progress in the amount of fair trade coffee they serve. From

speaking with Aramark we learned that in the 2008-2009 academic year, 60 percent ofthe institutions total coffee expenditures were on fair trade coffee.

3.3 Energy and Climate

Trent developed an environmental policy in 2001. One of its objectives is to "minimizeenergy and water use through efficient management and practices." Trent witnessed anappreciable drop in its electricity usage in the 2008-2009 year relative to the perviousthree years. This is at least partially due to lighting retrofits and vending machine motionsensors known as vending misers which were implemented by the SustainabilityCoordinator, Shelley Strain. In addition to Shelleys duties as Sustainability Coordinator,she also runs the Eco Trent program. Trent significantly reduces the amount ofcommercial electricity it purchases by drawing renewable power from the Stan Adamsonpower house. The amount of energy generated varies from year to year but it meetsapproximately 35-40 percent of Trents electrical demand.

There is also a new hydroelectric dam currently being constructed on land leased byTrent University. The run-of-the-river dam will use the drop in elevation between lock 22and 23 on the Otonabee River to generate 8 megawatts of renewable electricity. There hasbeen concern raised about the sustainability of the project because over 100 000 cubicmeters of material will have to be excavated and moved off-site in order to dig a 1.3kilometer long canal. Water from the Otonabee River would be redirected through thecanal to a hydroelectric dam; then re-enter down river of lock 22.

3.4 Materials, Recycling, and Waste Minimization

In the 2007-2008 academic year, Trent produced 621 409 kilograms of total waste(includes recyclables and compost). Trent's environmental policy states that it will"minimize waste generation through reduction, reuse and recycling".Programs are inplace to minimize waste including the Lug-a-mug program by Sustainable Trent whichuses free hot beverage coupons to encourage students to use re-useable mugs. Aramarkalso offers a discount on hot beverages when students, faculty and staff bring their owntravel mug. The university has minimized its paper waste by making paper intensiveresources such as the course calendar, available online. In addition, Trent has minimizedits paper waste through charging printing fees per sheet of paper, reducing unnecessaryprinting.

According to Trents Physical Resources office, the universitys average waste disposalcosts are between $90,000 and $100,000 annually. This cost is based solely on how muchvolume of waste we produce. The institution composted 15,000 kilograms in the 2006-2007 academic year.

In the 2007-2008 academic year, Trent composted 56,000 kilograms of organic waste, anincrease of 273 percent. From the 2006-2007 year to the 2007-2008 academic year, the

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waste disposal costs dropped 9.6 percent; from $100,460.55 to $90,820.92. This drop indisposal costs may have been attributed to a higher composting rate.

There are many initiatives on campus to divert waste. Resource Recovery Stations are

available in most places on campus. They make recycling and composting simple withwords and pictures indicating were waste should be placed. The Blue Boxing program atTrent has volunteers from Community Living Peterborough. These volunteers arestationed in cafeterias helping people put their waste in the proper bin of the resourcerecovery stations ultimately increasing the amount of waste diverted from the landfill.The Community Living volunteers also gather used printer cartridges at designated dropoff areas. Trent also has a composting program that encompasses yard waste, pre-consumer and post-consumer compostable materials. In the 2007-2008 waste audit itshowed that Trent diverted 319 916 Kg of waste, more than 50 percent of the total wasteproduced.

To deal with hazardous waste on campus Trent follows a hazardous waste standard,which was developed in 2005.Trents environmental policy states that it will minimizeand where possible, eliminate from physical plant operations the use of hazardouschemicals and toxic cleaning substances.

3.4 Transportation

There are alternatives to single passenger motorized vehicles when commuting tocampus. The Rotary Greenway Trail connects downtown Peterborough directly to Trent,making cycling, rollerblading, skate boarding and other motor less means of transportsafer and more enjoyable.

Students that wish to drive to school need to obtain a parking permit. Permits range inprice from $87.61 to $299.65 (plus tax) for an eight month academic year. The cost ofparking permits helps maintain the lots and also acts as a deterrent to regular, singlepassenger trips to campus. Students also get the benefit of a group discounted bus pass($236.40 compared to $440 at the monthly rate) for the eight month academic year. Thefee is automatically included in their tuition and levy payment. This makes public transitmuch more economically accessible and a more attractive option than driving.

Recommendations

1) STARS Support from Trent Officials

The biggest challenge of this report was retrieving information from busy staff. Somewere not able to take time away from their regular duties and provide us with theinformation we needed to complete the report. If the STARS project had backing andadministration knew ahead of time what information needed to be gathered, then thereport would have been much easier to write and put together. Hopefully, the process willbe easier to do in the future when we notify administration staff well in advance.

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2) Helping to Continue the STARS Project

Continuing to obtain STARS credits will aid the institution in environmental goal settingand will also give the university the ability to showcase all of its environmental initiativesand successes. Depending on Sustainable Trents budget situation, the group might be

able to hire two students this summer to continue to work on this project. Alternatively,obtaining STARS credits can be carried out as micro projects in university courses-Environmental Science 1000 would be an appropriate course to do this in. The Greeningthe Campus course (offered by ERS) could also incorporate a project allowing students tocarry out STARS. These specific recommendations will be made to the courseinstructors: Professor Stephen Hill and Professor and Chair of ERS, Stephen Bocking.

3) Use Policy to Bring Local Food onto Campus

There are currently no formal policy or initiatives by the university in an effort to servelocal food on campus. Doing so will help support the local economy and reduce theenvironmental impact of Trent food services.

4) Upgrade the Existing Stanley Adamson Powerhouse

This upgrade would increase the amount of electricity we produce at Trent, saving theinstitution money in the long run, and reducing our dependence on less sustainablesources of power.

5) Once new Water Fountains and Sings are in Place, Create Policy Banning the Sale ofBottled Water on Campus

Empty water bottles are a large unnecessary source of waste that the university has todeal with. Other universities in Canada have already taken this step and we have shownthat we can hold a bottled water free convocation as was demonstrated in June 2009. Thiswould improve Trents image as an environmentally conscious institution and help drawin students to our already strong environmental science and studies programs.

6) Composting improvements

i. The university needs to obtain various community environment funds to operate asustainable composting program. Environment funds could be obtained from the OntarioTrillium Foundation, Eco-Action Canada, Nature Conservancy, Conservation Authorities,the City of Peterborough, the Sierra Youth Coalition and other organizations that valuesustainability.

ii. Compost can be sold to local businesses in the Peterborough community. Given thatthere is substantial demand for the compost, it would generate considerable revenue forthe institution. Trent needs to identify the compost market in Peterborough; this canprovide an outlet for selling the compost produced at Trent. McGill and UBC havealready done this and run their composting programs completely off of the revenuegained from selling their compost to the community.

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We know the cost of purchasing a single compostable take-out container is 33 cents.$0.33 x 100 take-out containers = $33.00.

Therefore, through the introduction of a 15 cent surcharge, Aramark will make back orsave $15 for every 100 take-out containers they order. Thus, the net cost for the

containers ends up being $18. Through the creation of a partnership between Aramarkand the institution, the money collected from the surcharge can be used for environmentalsustainability projects on campus or be used for purchasing local and organic food. Theterms and conditions for the revenue raised from the surcharge can be decided upon at alater date, but it is worth noting the environmental and economic advantages associatedwith the introduction of a 15 cent surcharge on compostable take-out containers.

4.0 Administration and Finance Summary

The credits discussed in category three: Administration and Finance (AF) are uniquefrom the previous two sections in that they utilize more of a qualitative approach to assessthe sustainable aspects of the university. As a result, there were many credits that requirethorough discussion before their sustainability can be gauged. Overall, Trent has takensome great strides towards sustainability including the creation of a permanent positionfor a sustainability coordinator and the creation of a sustainability plan for the campus.Despite these achievements it should be noted that there are areas where Trent could takegreater efforts to focus on sustainability. These concerns include Trents adherence to fairtrade policies and a lack of guided vision towards sustainable investment.

4.1 Planning/ Sustainability Infrastructure

This section proved to be one of Trents strongest sections in the AF category. This stemsfrom the strong sustainability plan and the revised master plan. It should be noted thatTrent Universitys sustainability plan was developed with input from faculty, staff, andstudents. The plan includes measurable goals with corresponding strategies andtimeframes to achieve these goals. The policy guiding the sustainability plan is reviewedannually by the Presidents Environmental Advisory Board. Through this, theEnvironmental Committee supports and monitors the implementation of this policythrough its annual activities and agenda. The plan was approved by the PresidentsExecutive Group (PEG) on October 2, 2001.

In addition to this, the Physical Resources Department established a Sustainability Officein the summer of 2007. Operating under the umbrella program ecoTrent theirsustainability initiative is intended to recognize, compliment, support and expand theefforts currently underway on campus. In addition, the Sustainability Coordinator (SC),together with staff, students and faculty will develop measurements to support theseefforts, report on successes and to boost the implementation of new programs. Throughthe creation of a permanent position for an on-campus sustainability officer, TrentUniversity is tangibly showing their commitment towards on-campus sustainability, thisis a great step forward and will undoubtedly help Trent shift towards sustainablepractices.

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4.2 Investment

This section of the report primarily deals with the investment practices of Trent and theunions that control pension funding. Trent University has an Investment & PensionCommittee which is responsible for recommending Board investment policy. In addition,the institution has an Audit Committee which is responsible for monitoring the

performance of the university's investments. These committees monitor the financialhealth/administration/governance of the employee pension plans and the results of annualexternal audits of the pension fund and general university accounts. It should be notedthat Trent University has two main pension funds; they include TUFA and OPSEU. Whileboth serve to secure better pensions for their members through investment pools, neitherfund has a commitment to sustainable-based investment. The TUFA pension fund is themajor pension fund at Trent and is governed and managed by the Board of Directorsthrough the aforementioned Investment and Pension committee.

It is difficult to clearly ascertain whether Trents investment pools are making any attemptto make sustainable investments due to the secretive nature of investment. With this ismind it should be noted that both TUFA and OPSEU do not mention sustainableinvestment in their mission statements or values. As well, it was noted that makingsustainable investments are not seen as a great investment because of their lower financialreturns. It is ethical to make these investments but in a time of economic hardship withuniversity endowment funds lower than ever before, academic institutions are primarilyinterested in making those investments that seem to have higher financial returns.

4.3 Community Relations and Partnerships

Trent University has over eighty groups/organizations both on and off campus thatprovide opportunities for students and faculty to get involved with community service,leadership, and sustainability. Trent University, along with the Sierra Youth Coalition,hosted the first ever Ontario Sustainable Campuses Conference from January 13-14,2006. The conference, "Improving Connections in the Sustainability Movement,"featured keynote speaker Elizabeth May, then executive director of the Sierra Club ofCanada.

Prior to this shift towards sustainability, Sustainable Trent, a student-run organization,was formed to create awareness about sustainability issues and provide funding forsustainable initiatives. More specifically, Sustainable Trent was created in July 2005 as amuch needed multi-stakeholder action oriented environmental organization. It is a studentdriven initiative supported by university-wide participation. Other community buildinginitiatives at Trent include the graduation green pledge, and the Trent Centre forCommunity-Based Education (TCCBE). The TCCBE connects students and faculty withlocal organizations to create community-based research, service learning and experientialeducation opportunities. This past academic year (2008-2009), 309 students from TrentUniversity participated in research projects in Peterborough and Haliburton County.

4.4 Diversity, Access, and Affordability

In 2004 Trent University released a plan titled Strategic directions for Trent University2003 2010. In particular this plan discussed the benefits that international studentsbring to the university community. In this, the report states that because international

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and domestic students with substantial international perspectives and experiences enrichthe university and our community academically, financially, and culturally, the TrentInternational Program (TIP) aims to be a core and catalyst for Trent Universitysinternationalization. It should be noted that the term internationalization was broughtforth by the multi-year plan set out by the provincial government. This plan calls for all

schools that are provincially funded to internationalize or diversify their studentpopulations. It would appear that this plan is focussed on recruiting international studentsbecause of both the financial benefits and the cultural enrichment that internationalstudents provide to the university.

4.5 Trademark Licensing

Trent University has a purchasing policy which aims to ensure that apparel manufacturedfor Trent University is made under humane working conditions in compliance withaccepted international standards and local laws and to improve working conditions andlabour practices in the apparel industry worldwide. In addition, Trent is a part of theworker rights consortium (WRC). Despite this according to several reports Trent isaffiliated with Russell athletics even after the WRC initiated an investigation into theclosure of the Jerzees de Honduras factory in San Pedro Sula in Honduras. This is odd asTrent is an affiliate of the WRC but at the same time ignores warnings given by theWRC. In addition to this, there is no mention of the WRC in the Trent on-line archives.Although a loophole in the Trents contract with the supplier absolve them of directlybuying from Russell, the fact remains that Trent took no interest in asserting pressure onRussell athletics despite action from other universities.

5.0 Summary and Future Directions

Gauging a universitys sustainability performance is a complex and laborious process.The summary report of our research findings will hopefully act as an impetus to furtherexplore incomplete STARS credits in the future. The primary findings demonstrateTrents commitment to sustainability including the economic, environmental and socialdimensions. While we have outlined some recommendations for the institution, there arenumerous areas for improvement particularly in the administration and finance area.

In summary, the primary objective of our research was to use the STARS credits to guideour organizational structure and allow us to comprehensively report on how ouruniversity performs on the credits. We believe that our sustainability commitments willhenceforth become even more comprehensive, student-driven and well supportedadministratively. The STARS project will eventually be completed for Trent University.It may continue as a summer project employing students of the university or can becarried out as micro projects in university courses.

Contact information

For comments, questions and/or suggestions about the STARS report, the authors can bereached at the following email addresses. Scott Baker:[email protected], Adam Wright:[email protected] and Timothy Shah: [email protected].

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