Sustainability Committee

About the Committee

The Office of Sustainability established the Sustainability Committee in the fall of 2012.  The committee is comprised of faculty, staff, and students from departments and schools all over campus in order to represent the campus community.

The mission of the committee is to promote sustainability within the campus community and larger Fort Worth community and support our university’s mission of creating solutions for a healthier community. The Sustainability Committee will support the Office of Sustainability’s efforts and HSC’s mission by striving to improve the environmental health and quality of life for our campus community, Fort Worth population, and beyond for present and future generations. The committee’s purpose is to:

• Advance sustainable practices on campus through education, events and activities, outreach, and operations in partnership with the Office of Sustainability.
• Enhance communication among the campus community regarding sustainability efforts and practices.
• Provide suggestions regarding sustainability improvements on campus and review documents from the Office of Sustainability.
• Vote on campus initiatives that use funds from the Sustainable Campus Fee (formerly Environmental Services Fee).

Membership

Committee members serve 1 year terms from September 1 – August 31, and the committee is comprised of students, staff and faculty from all over campus.  We aim to have at least 1 student representative from each school serve on the committee.  If you’re interested in participating, contact us to learn more.

Budget

The Sustainability Committee’s budget comes from the Sustainable Campus Fee, a fee collected from students each semester.  The fee was originally named the Environmental Service Fee and proposed and adopted by the students in 2010 and began to be collected in spring of 2011 as authorized in accordance with Texas Education Code Sec. 54.5041.  In 2016, the fee changed to the Sustainable Campus Fee, and the structure is based on number of hours taken by the each student.  Besides the committee, the fee is used as the operating budget for the Office of Sustainability to fund its programs, events, and initiatives.

Subcommittees

Within the Sustainability Committee, there are subcommittees tasked with more specific goals that align with the overall mission and purpose of the committee.  These currently include:

• Earth Day – plans and promotes the annual Earth Day event to be held in April every year
• Community Garden Steering Committee – oversees the HSC Community Garden in partnership with the Office of Sustainability
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (RRR) – works on initiatives to help our campus community adopt sustainable practices focused on reducing, reusing, and recycling
• LEAP – works to make our research labs more sustainable through the Lab Efficiency Action Program (LEAP)

Committee Minutes