Sustainability: Purpose Statement

Updated April 17, 2023

The Office of Sustainability seeks to integrate sustainability into the built, natural, and learning environments, and to advance a community that actively pursues environmental and social justice for the common good. 

Areas of Service

Waste, energy, water, transportation, landscape, procurement, academics, research, food, environmental justice, engagement, planning & governance, green investing, professional development, among others as requested by partners.

Definition of Sustainability

Sustainability is the recognition that humanity is part of the natural world, not separate from it, and that healthy social and economic systems depend on the health and resilience of ecological systems.

(Established by the Humboldt Advisory Committ on Sustainability, Spring 2018)

The Office of Sustainability accomplishes their purpose by:

• Mobilizing the campus to meet or exceed CSU-system sustainability goals and policies
  • 2022 CSU Sustainability Policy Update
• Providing leadership in the development, implementation, reporting and evaluation of sustainability in energy, climate action and resilience planning
  • Climate Action Plan
  • Climate Resilience Plan
  • Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating (STARS)
• Supporting and leading the integration of sustainability into curriculum, research and service learning to realize the ambitions of the Cal Poly Prospectus and our strategic plan. 
  • Sustainability Literacy
  • Campus as a Living Lab
  • Alignment of students and faculty to to experts and practitioners (Directory of Local Sustainability Practitioners)
  • Faculty professional development on sustainability 
  • Applied and experiential learning
• Offering and supporting co-curricular learning experiences for students through internships, employment, service-learning opportunities and events 
  • ESM 482 internship (2 and 3 unit opportunities)
  • Green Campus, HEIF, WRRAP, CCAT, Associated Students
• Assisting departments within Administrative Affairs and throughout all divisions to integrate sustainability into campus infrastructure and operations
  • See Sustainability Dashboard for updated tracking in key performance areas  
• Fostering a culture of sustainability by engaging the campus community through education, outreach and behavior change campaigns
  • Resident peer educator program Eco Reps
  • Sustainability Employee Educators Developing Solutions (SEEDS)
• Connecting with community and regional partners
  • Provision of student opportunities
  • Representation of public officials on Committees 
  • Consultation with local experts
• Advising campus leadership through the Humboldt Advisory Committee on Sustainability and the Sustainable Transportation Committee
• Engaging with the CSU Chancellor’s Office, sustainability officer affinity groups, and the broader higher education sustainability community to seek synergies and best practice case studies, and to leverage support for system level policy and program development