The impetus for a successful Green Campus must begin at the top and emanate throughout the rest of the campus. Without a strong message of commitment and involvement from both the president and the administration, well-intentioned initiatives may be too fragmented to allow for campus-wide participation and too easily undermined by nay sayers and other obstacles. Once the decision to become a Green Campus is made, then the real work begins. While no two campuses are alike, and approaches to launching and maintaining a Green Campus will differ from place to place, there are some basic ingredients that will help ensure success:

Establish a Green Campus Environmental Ethic Awareness campaign. Make it known campuswide that a new environmentally responsible way of doing business is in the offing. Outreach and education from the beginning is important so that all members of the campus community are well versed and supportive of the initiative.

Set forth a Green Campus Mission and a Statement of Principles. Spell out your goals and the basis for your strategic planning. Your goals should address such issues as pollution prevention, waste minimization, regulatory compliance, energy conservation, social/behavioral change, and the role of your institution as an environmental leader.

Establish a Green Campus organizational structure and team to facilitate and coordinate your initiative and establish a strategic plan. Make sure the team is representative of the student body and every campus department. Include all relevant parties from the very beginning. The participation and input of physical plant and maintenance personnel, as well as your chief budget/financial officer is vitally important to securing their cooperation. The backing of your college/university president is essential.

Develop a strategic plan. Be sure it includes policy and curriculum reforms that reflect your stated “green campus” mission.

Create student teams to carry out specific tasks of the strategic plan. The teams should work closely with faculty and administrative staff. If established as course work, these programs should be listed in the course syllabus with an explanation that this is a project oriented course requiring considerable work outside the classroom. Be sure teams are large enough so that Green Campus work does not overwhelm their other studies and that students and faculty advisors are willing to make the necessary time commitments to support the program. (There are, of course, other options, such as internships or classroom projects, for integrating Green Campus goals into school study programs.)

Establish public/private partnerships with personnel from federal, state, and local environmental agencies, utilities, and the business community. These professionals can be invaluable resources to help advance Green Campus efforts, serve as advisors to student teams, and assist students in accessing information and performing environmental audits. Such partnerships may also lead to internships or future job opportunities for students.

Evaluate daily operations in terms of pollution prevention, waste stream management, and energy efficiency—reducing, reusing, recycling, repairing wherever possible.

Implement business practices that are environmentally responsible, efficient, and in harmony with your Green Campus goals. Address life cycle analyses—buying cheaper may sometimes have serious environmental or financial (e.g., high disposal costs) drawbacks.

Adopt and implement an environmental management system that is similar to those being adopted by progressive businesses and industries.

Determine and document short-term and long-term economic benefits. Don’t forget to include the benefits of environmental compliance and improved health and safety.

Secure a commitment up front from the people in charge that well-founded recommendations will be acted upon once audits are completed.

Make the commitment to a long-term program of system-wide environmental reeducation and retooling.

Reference : “Greening the Campus…Where Practice and Education Go Hand in Hand,” p.4-5, A collaborative effort by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and Environmental Training Center (NEIWPCC/NEIETC) and the Northeast Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (NEPETE)