In Pursuit of Sustainable Communities …..

by Kelly Cain, Ph.D.

As many of you know, UWRF has been engaged in a comprehensive Strategic Planning Process for almost a year. As a result, it has become clear that the “Modeling of Sustainability Principles” will be a hallmark of our future efforts in educational curricula, facility design, campus operations, and our outreach work with communities around the globe.

In fact, we have intentionally adopted the focus of “Sustainable Community Development” (SCD) as the context by which we will carry out this effort, rather than simply “sustainability” or ”sustainable development”. And SCD will be tightly fitted with our commitment to global literacy, inclusivity, and engaged leadership.

The SCD focus is indicative of our belief that all global issues can ultimately only be solved at the local level ….. community by community, and region by region.

It must be representative of our response to climate change, peak oil, water shortage, biodiversity loss, socio-economic disparity, localized employment, educational access, health care, transportation and commerce, and the myriad of other issues.

The vast majority of us have a realm of influence generally limited to a our own personal, professional, and civic actions that directly affect our own communities. Nevertheless, it is our collective personal decisions and actions that have global implications for sustainability.

There are over 70 published definitions for sustainability and we are all often confronted with the claim that no one really knows what it is.

It is seemingly a complex concept that can be explained and applied in a wide variety of ways depending on the unique circumstances of each community. However, when approached from a holistic and integrated approach, multiple complex problems can be addressed with relatively simple solutions.

Sustainability ultimately comes down to a community’s ability to be as self-sufficient as it can be in providing the energy, water, food, employment, and other resources necessary for citizens to collectively and equitably contribute to the well-being of each other and future generations.

As the reader probably remembers, UWRF has been designated by the Governor as one of the four UW System campuses that is slated to be “off the grid” by 2012. We are also a campus that is formally committed to the American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment for achieving 100% carbon neutrality in its operations.

If for no other reason than pure economics, we are a campus interested in minimizing our energy costs - if not creating revenue streams - that allow us to achieve our sustainability goals across the board. Our intent is to also do this with the broadest economic benefit possible to the City of River Falls and the surrounding area.

As a campus community, UWRF sees itself as a microcosm of a sustainable community that is intimately tied to the sustainability of the City of River Falls, and that of the St. Croix Region. We recognize our responsibility to achieve not only energy self-sufficiency, but one hundred percent renewable energy sourcing, a “zero carbon footprint”, and the elimination of all greenhouse gases to the greatest extent possible.

We are doing this not only for the sake of environmental integrity and social justice, but because it is the right thing to do in demonstrating to the larger community how it can be done in a profitable and proactive manner.

For example, we are working closely with the River Falls Municipal Utility and Wisconsin Public Power Inc in studying the potential for a variety of renewable energy sources that can make a significant contribution to our energy needs and to our educational mission.

One option is the consideration of a large photovoltaic (solar electric) system installed over a portion of one of our large parking lot areas. This would achieve not only significant renewable energy production, but have a wide variety of other benefits, such as cooling of the asphalt surface and the storm water runoff that threatens the cold water ecosystem of the Kinnickinnic River.

A second consideration is to determine if we have sufficient wind for commercial scale turbines. A preliminary wind mapping study indicates that we have a good wind resource over the tops of the ridges on Lab Farm 2 west of town. Further study is needed with a temporary tower to collect data needed to confirm that conclusion.

A third option being considered, is the study of pelletized fuel from locally grown biomass that can be substituted for the coal, oil, and natural gas that we are currently dependent upon for our heating plant. Development of a regional consortium of biomass producers, such a farmers raising significant levels of switchgrass, not only might solve our energy and carbon issues, but dramatically impact our local agricultural economy.

SCD is not a concept that will come and go as if it were a fashion trend. The scientific data and the trend analysis is very clear on many fronts worldwide. The human species and the rest of the natural world are clearly headed for significant challenges that can be avoided if we use sustainability as our “commitment to avoid unsustainability”.

This article is part of what will be a continuing and serious dialogue on sustainability. Through further articles such as this, public presentations and information meetings, public hearings, webpage resources, and other interactive venues, it is our intent to assist the community and the region in turning what would otherwise be very challenging issues into the greatest economic and quality of life opportunities of the coming decades and beyond.

We hope that you will join us in this conversation and in developing the community consensus necessary to achieve our common goals …. that of making River Falls and the St. Croix Region one of the premier examples of what it truly means to be called a sustainable community.

UWRF Sustainability Work Group

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Sustainable Community Campus Models

In Pursuit of Sustainable Communities …..