Austin College is committed to maintaining an environmentally responsible campus which strives to lead by example as demonstrated by the President’s Climate Leadership Agreement and Austin College’s Thinking Green organization, a student supported initiative which seeks to lower energy use, resource waste, and the overall environmental impact of our student body. To further support this goal, Austin College has developed an Environmental Management System, which consists of faculty and staff members from across campus who strive to continually improve Austin College’s environmental performance. The goals of the Environmental Management System Team include:
- Promoting awareness and understanding of the environmental impact of daily activities of the faculty, staff, and students
- Conducting education and research in an environmentally responsible way
- Providing training and information to faculty, staff, and students to promote a healthy, safe working environment
- Reducing the use of toxic substances and the generation of toxic wastes across campus, by continually seeking to find less toxic alternatives when available
- Promoting strategies to reuse and recycle wastes when possible and ensuring that all accumulated wastes are dealt with in the most environmentally responsible way
- Striving to decrease energy demands through increased efficiency and conservation in our day to day operations
Austin College considers full compliance with local, state, and federal laws to be the minimally acceptable standard and actively strives to surpass these regulations whenever possible. Continuous efforts by the Environmental Management System will help to advance our environmental stewardship by monitoring our progress in meeting these goals and addressing areas of improvement in our use of materials, water, and energy.
Need more information? Email ems@austincollege.edu!