Step 2: Doing an assessment
In the fall of 2006, Fort Lewis College completed its first-ever campus sustainability assessment and greenhouse gas inventory. Students from the Environmental Center collected data during September and October on energy and water use, waste and recycling, commuting habits, pest control, hazardous waste, and land-use among other things.
The Environmental Center provided this information to Woodard and Curran, a consulting firm that specializes in sustainability assessments. Adam, Erik, Jason, and Kristy, from Woodard and Curran visited campus for four days in November to collect missing data and conduct interviews with students, staff, faculty, and administration.
The Woodard and Curran team took this information back to their office in Maine and organized it into a draft report that included comparisons with other colleges and universities across the country. They also entered information on energy use, transportation, and waste into the Clean Air-Cool Planet calculator for our first ever greenhous gas inventory. The data estimates that during the 2006-07 school year, Fort Lewis emitted the equivalent of 15,329 metric tons of CO2 into the See the raw data.
The Environmental Center gathered comments on the draft report from everyone involved in the data collection and interviews. Woodard and Curran sent the final report to Fort Lewis College for Focus the Nation event on January 31, 2008, a national day of education about climate change. The EC hosts the event featuring 22 speakers, workshops and films. Read the executive summary of the assessment.
To make this exhaustive report more accessible, the Environmental Center summarized the information in seven briefing papers covering the main topics in the assessment. The briefing papers provide the clearest picture of Fort Lewis College's environmental performance. Check out the links below to get the details.
Energy and Atmosphere
Transportation
Purchasing
Food
Waste & Recycling
Environmental Health
Water and Land-Use
In the spring of 2009, the Environmental Center organized the 3-2-1 Sustainability Initiative, which used this information to come up with goals and ideas for action for Fort Lewis College.
Go to Step 3: Generating Ideas
