USC’s students have their eyes on one of many sustainability initiatives that the university has dedicated itself to year-round: the fifth annual Green Week, beginning on September 15.
This year, though, circumstances are different.
As USC reels from the impact of recent cuts to the university’s budget, students wonder about the future of sustainability efforts on campus and what changes will follow.
Green Week is just one of many ways in which Assignment: Earth, the university’s official sustainability framework, has made a tangible impact on university culture and policy.
This year, events include Mending Monday, where students can learn to upcycle their clothes; Tune-up Tuesday, where students can bring their bikes for a free check-up; an e-waste collection drive; a Sustainability Center open house; and a series of lectures and related conversational opportunities surrounding sustainability.
The Assignment: Earth framework is organized into five branches: education, research, inclusion, operations and engagement. It has been developed by the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education, Research and Operations.
The Presidential Working Group is comprised of students, faculty and researchers, all dedicated to boosting USC’s engagement in sustainability practices and aiding in the development of new methods of sustainability.
Howard Hu, a Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences at USC, as well as a researcher for the Presidential Working Group, shared that he is particularly proud of the steps that the Keck School of Medicine has been taking towards carbon neutrality.
After putting together an extensive research agenda for Assignment Earth’s Framework, Hu and his team found that the healthcare industry in the United States is responsible for about eight percent of the country’s annual carbon emissions.
“That’s when we initiated a project here at Keck Medicine to essentially decarbonize the Keck Medical Center,” Hu said. “So, for the last few years, we’ve been working with the Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, Steve Shapiro, and pursuing this whole agenda of how to lower the carbon footprint of Keck Medicine.”
According to data provided by the Assignment: Earth website, by the end of 2024, USC had achieved a 20 percent reduction in university water use through frameworks and goals developed by Assignment: Earth. Additionally, USC moved 50 percent toward climate neutrality relating to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and completed 61 percent of its 90 percent waste diversion goal.
The progress achieved through these initiatives and operations may be subject to critical changes.
In the shadow of a $200 million budget deficit, USC has been forced to sacrifice across a number of departments and initiatives. It is still unknown exactly how Assignment: Earth and the future of sustainability will be impacted on campus.
“It hasn’t yet, but it will,” said Mick Dalrymple, the Chief Sustainability Officer for USC and co-chair of the Presidential Working Committee. “And we, the Office of Sustainability and other departments that have sustainability folks as well, have all been hit by some of the budget cuts.”
When budget cuts hit the frameworks, there could be a large difference in what the institution of Assignment: Earth will look like moving forward.
“We have to pick and choose which activities we’re going to prioritize,” added Dalrymple.
Contributors to Assignment: Earth are still unclear as to what the project is going to look like moving forward, especially as political concern for climate change and sustainability has appeared to be increasingly diminished.
“We’re wondering where the research priorities will be. And the [presidential] administration has made it very clear that climate change is not their top priority. It’s not even on their priority list,” said Hu.
The Presidential Working Group on Sustainability in Education is set to meet again in the coming weeks to discuss reconfiguration, as well the extent researchers and the framework itself will be impacted moving forward.
Although there is concern surrounding the impact of political pressure combined with the budget cuts and their effects on sustainability, Dalrymple remains positive.
“The climate, the planet really doesn’t care what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and it doesn’t care what’s happening at USC. We just need to stay focused on end goals,” he said.