Drexel Green was nominated by 2 individuals. To read the other nomination, please scroll to the bottom of the page and click the link to the supporting nomination.

Early in 2008, Drexel University committed itself to be a sustainability leader. Beginning with a series of "town hall" meetings, "Drexel Green" has changed, in less than one year, the way everyone works and lives at one of the region's largest private-sector employers. Its student body is energized around sustainability issues, and students are co-chairing both the top-to-bottom review of University operations. Its faculty are involved in a complete review of the University's curriculum and program offerings. Administrators are meeting monthly in a "Green Council" and its top officials and trustees are committed to success. Intended to be useful to other universities, Drexel Green is transparent, maintaining a rich website www.drexel.edu/sustainability, and considering the neighboring communities in its actions and strategic plan. By creating a culture of responsibility, "Drexel Green" is helping spread green living throughout its community, and to wherever its students will live and work after they graduate.

With more than 6,000 employees, Drexel University is one of the city and region's largest private-sector employers. With more than 21,000 students, Drexel is the largest private university in Philadelphia. And with more than 80 percent of its students remaining each year in the Greater Philadelphia region - and today, with 65,000 alumni here -there are few institutions that can have a greater impact on this region in the area of sustainability than Drexel. Recognizing that potential, we committed ourselves in 2008 to becoming, in the words of President Constantine Papadakis, "a sustainability leader." "Drexel Green" began in March as a student-organized and led movement with the leadership of the University's Executive Vice President; and every major development thereafter was recorded on its Web site, www.drexel.edu/sustainability, making our efforts transparent and accessible to the entire community and offering a model for replication by the 84 other colleges and universities in the region. Our core mission is education. Within that mission, Drexel Green's objective is to teach our students by experience and to make them appreciate their obligations as citizens, paying particular attention to issues for which students will always have substantial responsibility. That is why students co-chair each of the seven substantive committees of Drexel Green, which are researching possibilities and preparing substantive recommendations that will be included in a five-year strategic sustainability plan. Drexel is also a very large business. As such, Drexel Green has a Sustainability Council, consisting of representatives from each of Drexel's 13 colleges and schools and its 10 largest administrative units. Meeting monthly since June, the Council has already created a list of "best practices" for operating departments, investigated and made recommendations for reducing the number of printed publications by shifting some to electronic delivery and begun to investigate the use of (and alternatives to) bottled water. Ten solar-powered "Big Belly" trash and recycling units were distributed around campus, and competitions were held in how to reduce energy use and increase recycling. We now use electric carts to move employees and guests around the campus to reduce fuel cost and emissions; have switched to smaller, more fuel efficient, utility vehicles instead of full sized trucks; and have a fleet of hybrids for our security officers. "Trayless Tuesdays" in the cafeteria have been used to educate students about healthy choices and food waste. Partnering with the City of Philadelphia and the Sierra Club, we designed and are now launching a 10-week Speakers Series on Global Warming, with events that are free and open to the public, and available afterwards on podcast. We began a new partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation to obtain greener and more efficiently delivered energy. We joined AASHE and sent to its recent national conference student, faculty, and administrator representatives. Drexel University is in the process of changing the culture of our campus community. That will take time. But every year, when over 2000 students graduate, each will be taking with them a better sense of their responsibility as citizens to sustain the health of our planet.

Sustainability is now a visible priority of Drexel University. We have several large landscape greening projects underway, have opened a new 2.5 acre park in Powelton Village and rejuvenated the "community garden" where organic foods are grown by students. We installed a centralized irrigation system, operating on an evaporation rate system, which has already saved thousands of gallons of water. Our composting program produced over forty tons of usable compost which we incorporated back into our planting beds and green areas. We installed ten solar-powered "Big Belly" trash and recycling containers around campus, complimenting the blue recycling buckets that are now ubiquitous; the "Bellies" were so well received by our community that we doubled the number, reducing trash pick ups by at least a third. We increased our recycling from 21 percent to 30 percent of waste, and we now recycle mixed paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, scrap metal and hazardous-type materials such as fluorescent lamps, motor oil, printer toner cartridges, paint, industrial batteries, computers, electrical equipment and tires. Low-flow shower head have been installed in all dormitories, at the students' request. The student-designed Drexel Green logo appears on brochures printed on recycled paper. Drexel Green (recyclable) shopping bags are widely distributed around campus and used instead of plastic or paper. Drexel Green mugs are readily available and rewarded with discounts per cup by our food and drink vendors on campus. New student orientation now includes presentations about sustainability and the culture of recycling and reducing waste. The student newspaper (The Triangle) regularly devotes columns and stories to green matters. Our campus-wide daily e-newsletter highlights "green topics" whenever they occur. The website has a large list of activities and events that is updated daily. Drexel's Procurement Department now maintains an online "green index" to make it easy for administrators to purchase green products and hire companies that operate according to green principles. (We investigate how "green" our suppliers are.) Our departmental administrators meet monthly to discuss best practices and share "green tips." Each college, school and administrative unit is required to submit a detailed report to the President every six months on what it has done to integrate sustainability principles into its mission and operations. We created and distributed a list of courses that addressed sustainability issues, and a "green course catalogue" is close to (electronic) publication. The three largest capital projects now underway have a new focus: our new dorm that will have a green roof; our new academic building will have a bio-wall to filter the air; and our new recreation center will use a unique storm water management system. Green Globes has been adopted to measure the environmental impact of all new construction and existing buildings. We have hired an environmental engineering firm to perform our first-ever carbon/greenhouse gas inventory. Drexel's two newest buildings have significant green attributes. Drexel University is in the process of changing the culture of our campus community. That will take time. But every year, when over 2000 students graduate, each will be taking with them a better sense of their responsibility as citizens to sustain the health of our planet.