Friday, August 27.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hosted the Illinois Green Governments Coordinating Council’s (GGCC) Symposia on Friday.  The mix of workshops, panel discussions, and networking opportunities enabled educational institutions, professors, students, architects and engineers to discuss their challenges and progress in creating more sustainable campuses.

The highlight of these discussions was the signing of the 2010-2015 Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact signed by Governor Pat Quinn, UIUC president Michael J. Hogan, and UIUC Chancellor and Provost Dr. Robert Easter.

The compact signed in 2005 currently has 88 colleges/universities making strides to greater sustainability.  Quinn, Hogan, and Easter were the first to sign the new compact.

The compact has three levels of participation; bronze, silver, and gold.  The participating university or college must achieve all the level-dependent goals within the five year life span of the compact.  Examples include:

Bronze:

• endorsing a written statement acknowledging support for sustainability
• providing opportunities for students/faculty to provide suggestions for advancing sustainability

Silver:

• set measurable objectives/targets
• establish a system to monitor progress

Gold:

• integrate sustainability  into campus operations
• endorse at least one national/international campus sustainability program

The symposium was produced, in partnership, with the Illinois GGCC, UIUC’s Office of Sustainability, and the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability.