the appleby promise:
a sustainable future
Looking after tomorrow is one of the biggest challenges the world faces today.
Rising to the challenge of developing an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable future, one that uses resources to meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the needs of the future, is at the heart of our aspiration.
Unsustainable practices deepen the impact of environmental degradation, extend inequalities in our society and across the globe, and limit our quality of life.
We are committed to being a sustainability leader in Canadian independent schools.
The Appleby Sustainability Program is intended to strengthen our credentials and add value to what we do, improve our services, growth and profile.
We have an institutional commitment to global responsibility and are working to embed sustainability across our infrastructure, programming, curriculum and culture. It is not only about challenging unsustainable practice, but also about developing and habituating ways of thinking. It is our promise for the future.
sustainability – key programs for the twenty-first century
Vision
Leadership in sustainability.
Mission
To weave sustainable practices into the fabric of everyday decisions and activities;
To serve as a role model to the entire Appleby community through our commitment to sustainability;
To form partnerships to ensure a sustainable future; and
To be a sustainable campus and community.
Embracing Sustainability as a Strategic Priority
Appleby College is leading a greater community in actively pursuing sustainability. Our school intends to lead Canadian independent schools in the current movement to embrace sustainability across all sectors.
The education landscape is changing. Schools are now being challenged to extendtheir sustainability actions - such as the ‘greening’ of campus operations and the reduction of campus carbon footprints and to go beyond the teaching of environmental programmes to embed a commitment to dealing with sustainability issues and developing skills into the institution’s core values.
In response to this challenge, Appleby College created the Appleby Sustainability Program. The Program commits the school to a process of continuous improvement which extends into activities and programs right across the campus, facilities and administration. It provides a strategic vision for the school which is focused on shifting mindsets as well as changing unsustainable practice. Its ultimate goal is to contribute through its academic, co-curricular and operational arenas, to the promise of a sustainable future for all.actions: 2008-2011
The following corporate targets will guide actions in the first three years (2008-2011).
Details of content, costs and dates are provided in the Appendix.
Inventory and Benchmarking:
Complete a biannual baseline sustainability assessment and establish benchmarks for eight sets of sustainability indicators.
Visioning and Backcasting:
Backcast from the principles of sustainability to develop a strategy to meet our institutional vision of sustainability.
Strategy:
Release the Sustainability Strategy with a 5-year planning horizon, and which informs all aspects of the school’s strategic plan.
Action Planning:
Develop campus action plans for sustainability which are reviewed and reported on an annual basis.
Communications:
Develop sustainability webpage which showcases our ambitions, activities and achievements across the school.
Reporting:
Commencing in 2010, release an annual sustainability report. Include sustainability as a standing agenda item across the four Board committees.
Administration:
Develop institutional policies related to buildings, energy, procurement, waste management, event planning and transportation.
Accountability:
Develop a system for tracking the implementation of the Sustainability Strategy.
Sharing Best Practices:
Develop a series of documents and presentations to allow us to share our experience, expertise and programming while raising our profile as leaders in sustainability in the independent school community.
the appleby promise: a sustainable future
Below is a summary of the key ambitions of The Appleby Promise: A Sustainable Future
Q. What does it require?
· That sustainability is woven through the core values of the school.
· A focus on mainstreaming sustainability policies and programs across all portfolios.
· Establishing monitoring and accountability systems.
· Investment in capacity building.
· Strong alignment with the core strategic priorities of the school.
Framing this vision are ambitions associated with :1. Embedding sustainability in the curriculum and programming;
2. Increasing expertise in faculty and staff, and;
3. Linking capital development initiatives with sustainability.
Q. How will it be implemented?
· Above all, this ambitious strategy requires continuous commitment from the Appleby Community, Board of Governors, Senior Management, Faculty, staff and most important, the students: young men and women developing into future leaders.
· The Sustainability Director will lead working groups to facilitate the initiatives. The implementation of the proposed strategy requires engagement from management, staff and students.
It is, however, important to recognize that:
1. This is a journey of continuous improvement.
2. There is a need to be inclusive and seek engagement of staff and studentsas well as the greater Appleby community.
3. There is a need to be systemic and not just strategic when implementing this new strategy.
Q. What are the Key Performance Indicators?
· Sustainability informs all policy and decision making.
· Development of a sustainability accountability system.
· Student experiences in sustainability through curricular and co-curricular programming.
· Appleby community engagement.
· Sustainability related partnerships with other organizations.
· Carbon management plan.
appendix:
Inventory and Benchmarking:
2008-2009, then biennially, done in-house with student participation.
Data for the preliminary baseline sustainability assessment was collected by eight working groups in 2008-2010. This is an important component of the framework because it quantifies the results of our efforts as a series of easily understandable measures. Benchmarks and indicators are also important to establish because they allow us to compare our progress and achievements against those of other schools. At present, there are no available benchmarks for sustainability indices for independent schools. The closest comparison would be to university campuses.
Visioning and Backcasting:
2009/10
Options: (1) Develop in-house capacity for this process to be led by the Sustainability director through a combination of PD and minimal input from consultants; (2) led by consultants with The Natural Step, costs TBD (a copy of the proposal is attached in the file TNS_Appleby_ProposalOptions_042009.pdf ‘). Below is a summary of the process:
A = Awareness and Visioning
· This first step aligns the organization around a common understanding of sustainability and identifies a 'whole-systems' context for that organization; building a common language around sustainability as well as creating a vision of what that organization would look like in a sustainable future.
· The Natural Step principles of sustainability, basic science and whole-systems approach are presented to develop strategies for living in balance with nature and our global community. Participants review details of the state of the earth's systems, including the ecological, social and economic trends that are undermining our ability to create and manage healthy and prosperous ecosystems, businesses and communities.
· During the visioning process, people are encouraged to set ambitious goals which may require radical changes in how the organization operates. Some goals may take many years to achieve.
· This is where businesses often begin to identify the service they provide independent of any one product (for example, providing energy services versus oil). Incorporating this awareness into the visioning process unleashes innovation and releases the company from preconceived limitations.
B = Baseline Mapping
· This step uses four sustainability principles to conduct a sustainability ‘gap analysis’ of the major flows and impacts of the organization to see how its activities are running counter to sustainability principles. The analysis includes an evaluation of products and services, energy, capital and human resources from ‘cradle to cradle.’ The assessment also looks at the social context and organizational culture in order to understand how to positively introduce change. This allows the organization to identify critical sustainability issues, their business implications, any assets they may have and opportunities for change.
C = Creative Solutions
· In this step, people are asked to brainstorm potential solutions to the issues highlighted in the baseline analysis without any constraints. Armed with their vision of success and potential actions, organizations look backwards from the vision to develop strategies toward sustainability. This is called backcasting and it prevents people from developing strategies that just solve the problems of today. Instead, they begin with the end in mind, moving towards a shared vision of sustainability, with each action providing a platform for further improvement.
D = Decide on Priorities
· After identifying the opportunities and potential solutions in the ‘C’ step, the group prioritizes the measures that move the organization toward sustainability fastest, while optimizing flexibility as well as maximizing social, ecological and economic returns. This step supports effective, step-by-step implementation and action planning. At this stage, organizations can pick the 'low-hanging fruit' - actions that are fairly easy to implement and offer a rapid return on investment in order to build internal support and excitement for the planning process.
· Backcasting is used to continually assess decisions and actions to see whether they are moving the organization toward the desired outcome identified in ‘A' step (awareness and visioning).
· Sustainability principles provide new design parameters that drive product and process innovation throughout the system. This step also incorporates organizational learning and change methods, essential elements to move people into new ways of thinking and working together.
· The sustainability principles help people stay on course as they process the myriad of information and decisions involved in long-term planning. What’s considered realistic today never determines the direction of change, only its pace. This approach is based on systems thinking, setting ambitious goals, and developing realistic strategies to achieve them.
· Organizations are not expected to achieve long-term goals immediately. They’re encouraged to move systematically by making investments that will provide benefits in the short-term, while also retaining a long-term perspective. They use The Natural Step Framework to map-out a series of steps that will eventually lead to sustainability.
Strategy:
2011 with five-year reviews, woven into the school’s strategic plan, done in house or in combination with the backcasting workshops.
The Sustainability Strategic Plan should be developed by senior administrators and be based on the outcomes of the visioning and backcasting process
Action Planning:
Beginning in 2010 for the 2010-2011 budget, then annually.
Long and short term opportunities to improve campus sustainability in all areas are identified in the May 2009 Progress Report (accompanying file). With input from key personnel, these opportunities can be prioritized, cost projections determined and included in budget plans for the following fiscal year.
Communications:
Ongoing.
There is a Sustainability information site on SharePoint that is currently used to post events, accomplishments, details of initiatives and programming. Going forward, we can add information on volunteer opportunities, community events, scholarships and grants, provide access to all Framework documents and reports.
Reporting:
2010, then annually, writing done in house, likely a cost to the publication.
Put together by marketing using information provided by the sustainability program. Perhaps an executive summary inserted into an Appleby Quarterly publication, with the detailed version available online.
Administration:
2009-2010
This will require direction from the administration team to best determine the way to add sustainability (the focus and scope) as an objective or consideration to standing and working committees on campus.
Accountability:
2010, courses to be done as part of Sustainability Director’s PD, costs TBD.
These programs exist; it is a matter of choosing an appropriate one and arranging for training for key personnel. Tracking should be done on an annual, ongoing basis.
Best Practices:
Beginning as early as 2010 and ongoing.
Developing documentation and instructions for our programming that could be used in house, for presentations at conferences or to provide training and curriculum material for outside organizations. Current possibilities for topics that could be addressed immediately are:
· The Carbon Neutral Campus
· Sustainability in Residence Life
· Revitalizing an Urban Watershed.