The Sustainability Plan was created in 2011 as a way to promote environmental sustainability at OU.
Ohio University officials are hoping to update the university’s plans for encouraging sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.
The university is starting a "full revision process" of its Sustainability Plan and Climate Action Plan, according to a university news release Monday.
OU's Sustainability Plan was created in 2011 as a way to promote environmental sustainability at OU and to create goals for the university’s sustainability efforts. In 2013, the Climate Action Plan was approved and set a goal for OU to reach carbon neutrality by 2075.
“We chose to create a full, public revision process because sustainability issues are constantly evolving and we realized that we needed to refresh the public’s understanding of these plans and what they stand for,” Director of Sustainability Annie Laurie Cadmus said in an email. "Now that the Climate Action and Sustainability Plans are four and five years old respectively, there are now a few areas of both plans that are outdated or incomplete."
The Office of Sustainability and other groups have already proposed amendment suggestions, though they are not official amendment proposals yet, she said.
"As we were discussing these smaller issues with colleagues throughout the campus, we realized that they were leading to really meaningful conversations about institutional goals and values," Cadmus said in an email. "People on this campus and in this community really do value sustainability, and they want to be included in the conversation."
Some of the submitted suggestions include changes in language for measurement practices and changes in titles.
"In some cases, there has been overturn, or a position title or department has changed or infrastructure/processes have changed," Cadmus said in an email. "We aren’t always made aware of such changes. Republishing these plans gives us a reason to formally ask everyone connected to the plans if the language is correct and goals are aggressive enough."
Officials will collect feedback through an online form and written suggestions at OU's Earth Day Festival on April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Walter Hall Rotunda.
According to the news release, the university is asking that recommendations include a goal, a timeline, strategies to reach the goal and supporting research or data.
Officials will take comments from the public until May 1. They then will review the comments and create a draft plan by Aug. 2.
After voting takes place on potential amendments between September and November, officials plan to formally submit a finalized plan to OU President Roderick McDavis for approval in December.
"The amendment process to either plan is open to anyone at any time, and we won’t change that," Cadmus said in an email. "But by creating a full revision process this year, we’re able to help people’s voices be heard more easily and maybe even more effectively."
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As part of OU's current Sustainability Plan, the university started purchasing 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources last December, according to a previous Post report. Last year, the university received a "silver" ranking for sustainability from a national report.
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