Overarching Commitments

(See Reference Guide to identify commitments.)

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Margo Flood
Environmental Leadership Ctr.

Address:
WWC CPO 6323
PO Box 9000
Asheville, NC 28815-9000

Phone: 828.771.2002

Email: mflood@warren-wilson.edu

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Warren Wilson has a deep commitment and a passionate concern for the health of the planet. (1)
The College has a moral obligation to set a clear example for current and future generations. (7)
Ours is a working landscape, in a particular bioregion, part of an interconnected, but limited global commons. (1)
We will promote sound institutional practices, which balance environmental concerns with the long-term well being of the College. (2)
We will respect and apply the College's Environmental Commitment Statement, Pattern Languages and commitment to the Talloires Declaration. (2)
We must institute a process of democratic acquisition and decision-making that will lead to the development of an effective environmental policy. (1)
All decisions about what to build and how to build will grow out of a participatory process within the shared governance system. (8)
We will actively seek opportunities to incorporate environmentally sound technologies into the College infrastructure in accordance with the (Purchasing) Pattern Language. (6)

We acknowledge the need for a deep, aesthetic, spiritually based involvement with the community that extends beyond the human inhabitants of Warren Wilson College. (1)
We recognize and promote efforts to increase a deep, aesthetic, spiritually-based awareness of our connection to the environment among the members of this and the larger community. (2)

We recognize we are component parts of an interdependent web of social and ecological relationships and our membership in this ecological community causes us to reconsider our ideals, values, and organizing principles. (1)
An essential goal of Warren Wilson is to develop good environmental citizens who recognize and perform their duties and responsibilities as members of the larger human and ecological communities in which we live. (1)
We display that commitment in the way we learn, work, and live. (1)
Warren Wilson College seeks to build a solid and long-term foundation for the educational program. In order to make this foundation building possible, we will stabilize and deepen our relationships with each other and the larger community beyond our campus so we might fully realize the best of our aspirations. (6)

We recognize the need to exercise wise use of the resources of the global commons. (1)
We will strive within the limits of practical considerations to conserve energy and resources, reduce waste, purchase environmentally friendly products, and minimize our adverse impact on the surrounding environment. (2)
We will promote sound environmental citizenship by consciously supporting programs and behaviors that display a willingness to sacrifice personal interests and conveniences for a larger ecological integrity. (2)
We will set an example of environmental responsibility by establishing institutional ecology policies and practices of resource conservation, recycling, waste reduction, and environmentally sound operations. (3)

Warren Wilson College is committed to strengthening of its educational program. We will strive to achieve excellence by thoughtfully integrating a strong liberal arts curriculum with experiential learning and reflection through work and service, international and cross-cultural experiences, environmental citizenship, and active participation in the Warren Wilson campus community. (6)
We will create an institutional culture of sustainability: engage in education, research, policy formation, and information exchange on population, environment, and development to move toward global sustainability. (3)
We will educate for environmentally responsible citizenship: establish programs to produce expertise in environmental management, sustainable economic development, population, and related fields to ensure that all university graduates are environmentally literate and have the awareness and understanding to be ecologically responsible citizens. (3)
We will foster environmental literacy for all: create programs to develop the capability of university faculty to teach environmental literacy to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. (3)
We will convene university faculty and administrators with environmental practitioners to develop interdisciplinary approaches to curricula, research initiatives, operations, and outreach activities that support an environmentally sustainable future. (3)

We will continue to build partnerships on a local, regional, national, and international level that are mutually beneficial and compatible with the College's mission. (6)
We will continue to develop the Environmental Leadership Center as a major outreach arm of the College, extending programs and services off-campus to the area community and beyond. (6)
We will encourage involvement of government, foundations, and industry in supporting interdisciplinary research, education, policy formation, and information exchange in environmentally sustainable development. We will expand work with community and nongovernmental organizations to assist in finding solutions to environmental problems. (3)
We will establish partnerships with primary and secondary schools to help develop the capacity for interdisciplinary teaching about population, environment, and sustainable development. (3)
We will work with national and international organizations to promote a worldwide university effort toward a sustainable future. (3)

We will develop, regularly update, and implement management plans for the core campus, physical plant, farm, garden, and forest that adhere to the College's Environmental Commitment Statement. (6)
The well-being of the whole will be protected by an annual diagnosis that analyzes, in detail, which spaces are alive (productively and/or pleasingly in use) and which ones are dead. (8)
Warren Wilson College is committed to utilizing a fully implemented Environmental Management System (EMS) that takes into account the College's previous environmental commitments, and that enables staff, faculty and students to establish environmental goals, monitor progress and achieve continued performance. Through the use of the EMS, WWC will identify and measure The College's environmental impact, insure compliance with environmental regulations, initiate an environmental improvement plan that consists of short-term tasks and long-term goals, and expect WWC staff, faculty, volunteers and students to take ownership and responsibility for implementation. (4)