Eco education

Oh, backhanded compliments. Where would we be without them? There is nothing like hearing how good of a job you’ve done on something, only to find that statement followed by some sort of soul-crushing qualifier. \nWell, recently, our University has become the object of a sort-of-but-not-really compliment, and deservedly so. Last year, in the rankings determined by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, IU was given a grade of a D-plus in sustainability, because it largely ignored issues regarding the environment and institutional sustainability. IU showed an unwillingness to fund research and development of sustainable energy policies and withdrew financial support from the Council for Environmental Stewardship, an advisory body composed of students, faculty and staff that guided campus environmental efforts. For heaven’s sake, last year even Purdue scored higher than us!\nThis year, however, the Hoosiers are off academic probation, scoring an earth-shattering C. Which brings us to the back-handed compliment that I will offer: This year, IU is doing fairly well in the field of sustainability … given the circumstances, that is. \nIU is a state sovereign institution, and as such, our priorities are partially out of our hands and dictated by Indiana law. This is somewhat unfortunate when you consider the low marks Forbes Magazine gave the state of Indiana as a whole in its ranking of “America’s Greenest States.” Although we can be proud that we weren’t dead last – that honor went to West Virginia – Indiana came in as the 49th greenest state. The ranking comes as no surprise, however; the coal-loving Hoosier state has one of the largest carbon footprints in the nation and consistently shows some pretty poor trends in maintaining water quality.\nWhat these rankings reflect are the out-of-whack priorities of the state government and the complacency of the state as a whole. Of course the government has other issues on its plate, but many of them are inextricably tied to environmental degradation. As such, this should be one of the foremost issues the government addresses. Smog, for example, compromises the health of the Indiana residents who breathe it in on a daily basis – as if we didn’t have enough health care problems to begin with.\nBut if you head toward southern Indiana, to a quirky college town of some 70,000 residents, despite the environmentally apathetic attitude that pervades the state, you will see that things there are starting to change. Student environmental groups are pushing for policy changes and spreading awareness about the essential need to “green” the campus. Food service managers are incorporating locally-grown foods into their menus. A task force group of students, faculty and staff is hard at work compiling report that will tell us how sustainable we are now and hopefully give us some sense of how best to make an institutional commitment to sustainability for the future. \nA “C”? We’ll take it, especially in light of how far we’ve come since last year. IU is doing its best with what it has been given – and that is no slap in the face.