Director's Update: Time to SHINE!
This has been an exciting year for sustainability at NMU. While it has been many decades in the making, this year marks a critical turning point. In December 2023, NMU's Board of Trustees approved the President's proposal to make an authentic investment in sustainability, which included several initiatives, such as a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050, fossil fuel divestment by 2028, and a 15 percent increase in sustainable investments.
The Board also approved the launch of an office with an operating budget and a full-time assistant vice president dedicated to sustainability on campus. I'm honored to be appointed to take on this inaugural role at SHINE, NMU's Sustainability Hub for Innovation & Environment.
With a passionate team and a university-led commitment to improving sustainability, SHINE is making a difference. We're helping save energy, diverting waste from the landfill, landscaping with native plants, and writing grants. Beyond the measurable impact in dollars and cents, we've expanded opportunities to learn about sustainability on campus and in our community. It's been an exciting year with an incredible team of interns, volunteers, and collaborators. Come SHINE with us!
-Jessica L. Thompson, Ph.D.
Asst. Vice President for Sustainability
Sustainability Hightlights
Over the year, NMU has dedicated resources to dozens of sustainability initiatives across a dozen different departments. Highlights from this year include:
- Compost Crew" captures over a 1,000 pounds of food waste each week, expanding the dining hall's partnership with Partridge Creek Compost.
- The university's new strategic plan, Our Compass, includes 14 action items to improve sustainability on campus.
- EcoReps hosted zero-waste volleyball, basketball, and hockey games, diverting more than 80% of concession waste from the landfill.
- 100+ people attended Climate@ Noon presentations from February through December.
- More than 72% of newly constructed or renovated building space was designed and built to meet green building standards.
- The Campus Native Plant Nursery opened in October; we're now growing dozens of native trees and shrubs for campus landscaping.
- The university’s GHG emissions were 26,410 tonnes CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), an 8% decrease from 2019 (read more on the next page!).
Measuring NMU's Sustainability Impact
NMU is GOLD! In June 2024, NMU earned a gold rating for a comprehensive, campus-wide sustainability audit. The audit is part of the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) administered by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The sustainability rating of an institution is based on data in five key areas: academics, engagement, operations, planning and administration, and innovation and leadership. Highlights from the audit are featured on our website.
NMU conducted its first STARS sustainability audit in 2017, earning a bronze rating. Since then, we have used the audit to help prioritize sustainability investments and initiatives. More than 1,100 colleges and universities across the world use STARS to measure and track sustainability progress. Only 177 institutions have achieved a gold rating, and only nine of those are public, mid-sized, master-granting universities. In Michigan, only three universities have gold ratings: the University of Michigan, Michigan Technological University, and Northern Michigan University.
See the full audit on AASHE's website.
The Path to Carbon Nuetrality
Since 2010, NMU has successfully decreased its carbon footprint by over 30%, and currently, it boasts one of the lowest carbon footprints among public universities in the state, measuring at 26,410 metric tons CO2e annually.
The Carbon Neutrality Plan serves as a strategic guide to further reduce Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions over the next 25 years.
The plan outlines five key strategies to achieve our carbon neutrality goals, including minimizing energy consumption, optimizing infrastructure, reducing the physical footprint of our campus, investing in renewable energy sources, and enhancing carbon sequestration on university grounds. Together, these strategies will contribute to achieving our emissions reduction goals.
We are on the verge of reaching our 2030 target and are eager to exceed it. As we advance, we will provide updates and share information through our website, newsletter, and social media channels.
Events & Initiatives
There are dozens of people leading dozens of projects across the university to ensure we make progress on our carbon neutrality goals and Strategy 1.4 in the University's strategic plan, "Our Compass." Here are just a few highlights from 2024:
NMU's Native Plant Nursery
The Campus Nursery is a collaboration between NMU Grounds & Facilities and SHINE. The idea for the project was an adaptation of multiple student-submitted Green Fund projects over the past five years. Every year, students propose plans to expand no-mow zones and biodiversity on campus. The nursery will facilitate such projects over the long-term because we will be able to grow our own native, nativar, and cultivated native species to use in future landscaping projects on campus. We celebrated the grand opening of the nursery on October 1, 2024, during NMU's homecoming week.
2049 Climate Change Learning Circles
SHINE collaborated with the Marquette County Climate Adaptation Task Force (CATF) to host a year-long climate change community conversation series. The series kicked off in January with more than 75 attendees and continued every other month through December. Each session had a specific focus. Some of the topics discussed included: food systems, energy, housing, transportation, healthcare, waste & recycling, water & land use, and economic diversification. Marquette County stakeholders discussed how various climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies can make the Upper Peninsula more resilient in response to a changing climate.
Michigan Healthy Climate Corps
In November 2024, SHINE welcomed Dr. Anna Solberg to serve as NMU's climate action coordinator, a role funded through the MI Healthy Climate Corps Program. Anna's position helps NMU align our strategic plan and carbon neutrality plan with Michigan's climate goals and targets. Anna will work on NMU's effort to reduce waste during move-in and move-out, implementing Green Fund projects, and organizing a campus-wide sustainability summit in 2025. Anna is an NMU alum with a bachelor's degree in environmental studies & sustainability and a minor in art + design.