On Oct. 26, UW-Whitewater celebrated Campus Sustainability Day, reminding students of its importance to the community.

Sustainability, the preservation of natural resources to live within one’s means, has played an important part on campus for several years.
Marketing director of UW-Whitewater Dining Services Ann Wick said although a lot of efforts made in her department are not that noticeable or exciting, they work hard to go above and beyond when it comes to sustainability.
“One of the things we do on campus is trayless dining, which conserves water and food waste,” Wick said. “We also have salad bowls at that are made of corn plastic, which we’ve used for about seven years.”
In addition to trayless dining and corn plastic salad bowls, Wick said dining services practices several other means of sustainability.
She said in an effort to eliminate the use of disposable cups on campus, students are given free, reusable “Project Green Thumb” plastic bottles, useable at all dining establishments on campus.  Another example is how they dispose of waste.
Wick said UW-Whitewater Dining Services’ commitment to sustainability has not gone unnoticed.  Wick said Willie’s 360, located in the University Center, was given a prestigious award for its efforts to go green.
“Willie’s 360 was certified by the Green Restaurant Association as a two-star green certified restaurant,” Wick said. “We are the first state school in Wisconsin to achieve that and pretty much the first state school east of the Mississippi [River] to accomplish that.”
Dining Services is not the only department that makes an effort to maintain a green campus.
Through programs such as Project Savanna, a faculty program to incorporate sustainability in the classroom, the role of sustainability in the classroom will become more and more present as well.
UW-Whitewater Sustainability Coordinator Wes Enterline said though many people remain ignorant or reluctant to acknowledge it, sustainability is not a passing issue.
“People are going to have to be more conscientious of their decisions because it’s going to have a bigger impact on their bottom line,” Enterline said. “Now it’s kind of a novelty and a new thing, but in the future, it’s going to be [important to] everyone.”
Enterline also said people and their individual decisions do matter and they should not be afraid to take action themselves.
“You do have the ability to impact the world as an individual,” said Enterline. “Don’t wait for somebody else to take responsibility for how you use resources individually.”
For more information on UW-Whitewater’s sustainability efforts, visit http://www.uww.edu/sustainability/index.html.