University of Wisconsin-Madison

UW-Madison is committed to identifying and minimizing its environmental footprint. In 2006 UW-Madison initiated an aggressive program, WE CONSERVE, to strengthen its environmental stewardship. The goals of the WE Conserve Campaign are 1) To reduce campus energy consumption by 20% by 2010 and 2) To instill the spirit of environmental stewardship in the community consciousness (www.conserve.wisc.edu). UW-Madison is taking steps to purchase more local food. Ten percent of the university’s annual food budget is spent on local products. Dining halls receive weekly produce deliveries from a sustainable agricultural group on campus, work to educate residents about alternatives to disposable to-go containers and some halls host organic dinners throughout the semester. Environmental centers on campus sponsor multiple speakers and programs throughout the year. The Nelson Institute hosts weekly community forums centered on current environmental topics. The SAGE center sponsored its first Climate Leadership Challenge, which is a student competition that stimulates creative solutions for global warming. The Business, Environment & Social Responsibility Program (BESR) was recently created by the Wisconsin School of Business. The program currently offers a graduate certificate and is developing an Executive Training program. The certificate is designed to provide knowledge and skills in strategically applying business principles to environmental and social challenges and to prepare students to systematically integrate sustainability issues into day-to-day management decision-making. The Wisconsin School of Business is also a key facilitator for the WI Sustainable Business Council, which is a network of Wisconsin businesses and organizations that are interested in, or actively responding to, the challenge of sustainability. The University also has a very active student community with a variety of student organizations focused around sustainability. These include: B.A.S.E, Net Impact, WISPIRG, the UW Energy Hub, Big Red Go Green, Emerging Green Builders, Greener RE, and the Future Energy Challenge.