Business View - August 2015 35
outreach programs. According the Halfacre, the city
has publicly said that it would like to be the “greenest
Greenville in the country.” (There are 38 Greenvilles in
the U.S.)
Halfacre says that over the next five years, she would
like to gather more demonstrable evidence about the
benefits of Furman’s sustainability programs. She
would also like to concentrate on a training program
for both faculty and students that would emphasize
techniques that better measure environmental, social,
and economic factors “in a more robust way.” In ad-
dition, the campus’ Sustainability Planning Council is
charged with helping Furman meet the commitments
of is 2009 Sustainability Plan. “Sustainable Furman”
has eight primary goals and over 100 strategies. A key
element of the plan is to make the campus carbon-
neutral by 2026, the school’s 200th anniversary.
Like many of her colleagues at colleges and universi-
ties around the country, Halfacre sees her school as
a microcosm of the larger society and a place where
sustainability ideas, initiatives, and programs can be
created and allowed to germinate: “Colleges and uni-
versities have a really unique and distinctive opportu-
nity in that we can set an example and we can learn
from our mistakes, so that others can benefit from our
learning about those things. So by walking the talk,
colleges and universities can provide the ideal living/
learning laboratory.”
Today, sustainability is part of the fabric of life at Fur-
man. And has Halfacre has noticed, “There is amazing
progress being made.”
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CLEAN AND GREEN
