Sustainability Reports

OREGON UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Sustainability Updates

March 2004
Sustainability Plan 2004 - excerpt from Overview

OUS considers this plan as the first effort and foundation of an on-going process of reporting on the system's sustainability performance. To that end, this document is a starting point for three efforts:

• On-going reporting, as required by the state;
• Collaboration with the campuses in creating a more detailed version of this plan; and
• A web presence to support the reporting and collaboration.

OUS considers it premature to develop more than this preliminary structure, and asks all campuses to consider how best to reach the initial goals herein. OUS will engage all universities in the process of setting the goals. Since sustainability means such different things to different people in different contexts, it is not desirable or feasible to impose a comprehensive and detailed plan in a top-down manner. OUS does, however, describe the channels for feedback and areas of emphasis, as laid out throughout this document.

The challenge of sustainability is far-reaching and forces us to think long-term and holistically. It involves the transformation of both individual perspectives and organizational processes. It involves new ways of understanding the world and society, our constraints and our opportunities. Perhaps most of all, the challenge is a collective one - especially for a system of institutions whose job it is to think, to train thinkers and to disseminate better thinking into the rest of society.

Download the complete plan (465kb pdf)

Visit the Oregon University System online at www.ous.edu