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Planning

Sustainability: Planning for the Future

Draft Sustainability Plan: Comments Invited

The first draft of a new strategic plan for sustainability is available for review by all members of the Dickinson community. Comments should be sent via email to sustainability@dickinson.edu by May 12, 2017. 

There are two documents to review: (1) the draft plan, which presents goals and objectives, and (2) an appendix of tables with more details about the strategies, metrics and responsibilities corresponding to each of the goals and objectives. Both documents are in the "Campus Documents" section of Gateway (near the bottom of the page) and can be found by clicking this LINK.

Comment on either or both documents. Tell us what you like and don’t like about the draft plan. Does it inspire? Is the plan sufficiently ambitious? Is it realistic? Is anything important missing? Your comments will help the Sustainability Planning Task Force to revise and improve the plan, which will go through at least two more iterations before being considered for adoption in the early fall. 

Your comments will help the Sustainability Planning Task Force to revise and improve the plan, which will go through at least two more iterations before being considered for adoption in the early fall.

The strategic plan will encompass all facets of the college’s sustainability-related work, including academic programs, co-curricular programs, student and campus life, campus operations and community engagement. The purposes of the plan are to enable Dickinson to advance performance as a sustainability leader in higher education by setting ambitious goals, prioritizing and taking actions, and monitoring progress.

Instructions for sending comments:

  • Write “Sustainability Plan” in the subject line of your email.
  • Clearly identify the relevant page number, goal and objective for each of your comments.
  • Send your comments via email to sustainability@dickinson.edu
  • Comments are requested by May 12, 2017.

Sustainability at Dickinson

Sustainability at Dickinson is about more than recycling and the environment. Sustainability is about answering a fundamental question: How do we improve human wellbeing equitably in this generation while protecting the environment and creating the conditions necessary for future generations to sustain a world that is environmentally healthy, socially just and economically robust? Answering this question requires examining and giving weight to issues of social justice, inequality, participation in civic life, economic development, quality of life and protection of the environment and living systems.

How and what we learn, how we live, how we engage with each other on our campus, how we engage with other communities, how we operate our campus and how we invest our financial and other resources are all connected to the ways in which Dickinson practices and models sustainability as a leading liberal arts college.

Timeline for Planning

January 2017 Initiate work of the Sustainability Planning Task Force
Feb – Mar 2017   Obtain input to the strategic plan, identify main elements to be included, develop an outline and develop draft goals and objectives through meetings of the Task Force and meetings with All-College Committees and others
April 2017 Draft plan circulated for comment
May 2017   Second draft circulated
Sep 2017    Final draft presented to Planning & Budget for consideration