The NC State Sustainability Office has made tremendous progress for the environment on campus and off campus for many years. By reporting its progress on improving sustainability and helping facilitate sustainability focused events, projects and programs for students and faculty, the office has received more awards and recognition on a national and global level. However, students should also take action in sustainability to help bring our progress to a higher level as we continue to face countless environmental issues. 

Just this past year, NC State was named an Energy Elite school by the American Energy Society and was ranked the nation’s 18th greenest college by the Princeton Review. Plus, the school recently added sustainability as a value for the Wolfpack Powering the Extraordinary 2021-2030 Strategic Plan, showing it is a primary goal of the University in the coming decade to ensure we have a positive environmental impact.  

NC State also ranked in multiple categories of the 2021 Times Higher Education Impact Report which evaluates the research, stewardship, outreach and teaching contributions of universities toward the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

According to the University’s sustainability tracker, there has been a 37% reduction in campus energy use intensity since 2003, a 64% campus potable water use reduction since 2002, 61% of campus waste has been diverted from landfill and 17% of NC State Dining purchases are local food.

While all of this progress is exceptional, there is still room to improve and increase the difference we are making as a university — and that is where students should take action to help. With a population of over 37,000 students, we could bridge the gap in our numbers and help make an even larger impact with sustainability at NC State by making a number of simple changes and getting involved on campus. 

Lani St. Hill, communications and engagement coordinator for the NC State Sustainability Office, said the task of improving the environment is complex but not impossible if we focus on the ways we can make a difference as individuals.  

“My hope is just to let people know that sustainability is so broad and that’s a wonderful thing because that means there are a million ways that everyone can be involved,” St. Hill said.

The office hosts over 125 sustainability-related events annually, making them easily accessible to students. Some upcoming events for Earth Day on April 22 include the Campus Garden Planting Event, Greater Good Textile Group Clothing Swap, and Sunset Stand-Up Paddleboard Yoga. Many of the events give students the opportunity to help the environment directly, but some are just for fun ways to get outside in nature more. 

There are also many sustainability focused clubs at NC State that students can get involved in to make a difference such as the Sustainability Stewards or Zero Waste Wolves.

The Sustainability Office also offers all student organizations or clubs the opportunity to receive a sustainable student organization certification. By simply completing and submitting the online certification on their website and proving the organization has incorporated a sustainability practice, the group can be certified, receive a plaque and be honored at events like the annual celebration of NC State Sustainability.

Organizations of any kind can receive the certification, it doesn’t have to be an environmental group. Currently, 69 campus workplaces, over 350 campus events and nine student organizations have achieved sustainability certification, but if more students take action to become certified we could increase our progress in sustainability even more. 

We also need to remember small commitments like driving less to reduce air pollution, taking the Wolfline more, using exclusively reusable cups and shopping bags, can really make a world of difference. All students should care about the environment as it will affect all of our futures. We should all take advantage of the multitude of ways to help through NC State’s programs for sustainability.

Furthermore, with such a large student population, the impact of all of us getting involved in sustainability on campus and just practicing more environmentally friendly acts, can help us become an even bigger leader in sustainability as a university.