Membership and Partners
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
AASHE is an association of colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada working to create a sustainable future. It was founded in 2006 with a mission to promote sustainability in all sectors of higher education - from governance and operations to curriculum and outreach - through education, communication, research and professional development. AASHE aims to advance the efforts of the entire campus sustainability community by uniting diverse initiatives and connecting practitioners to resources and professional development opportunities.
The university’s AASHE membership extends to all employees and students. Take advantage of these member benefits:
- Bulletin - A free weekly e-newsletter that keeps subscribers up-to-date on the latest news, resources, opportunities, and events related to campus sustainability. You can sign up here: http://www.aashe.org/publications/bulletin.php.
- Resource Center – Assessment tools, fact sheets, publications, presentations, policy databank, reports, and other resources. To establish an account, follow this link: http://www.aashe.org/members/memberlogin.php and click “create new account.” Use your campus email address as your username (i.e. myname@myschool.edu). AASHE’s database will then send a password to your campus inbox. Go back to the login page, enter your username, and type or paste the emailed password into the password box. That will give you access to all of the locked resources.
- Individual Consulting - AASHE offers individual phone and email consultation to members.
- Conference - AASHE's conference brings together every sector of higher education as well as business, government, and NGOs. The next conference is in Raleigh, NC, November 9-11, 2008.
- Sustainability Across the Curriculum Leadership Workshops – For faculty leaders of all disciplines who wish to develop curriculum change programs around sustainability on their campuses. Held twice a year in January and July.
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
The USGBC is a non-profit organization committed to expanding sustainable building practices. USGBC is composed of more than 15,000 organizations from across the building industry that are working to advance structures that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work. Members includes building owners and end-users, real estate developers, facility managers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, product and building system manufacturers, government agencies, and nonprofits.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Developed by USGBC, LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED is a practical rating tool for green building design and construction that provides immediate and measurable results for building owners and occupants.
Seattle Climate Partnership
Seattle University is a member of the Seattle Climate Partnership—a voluntary pact among Seattle-area employers to take action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and work together to help meet the community-wide goal while at the same time cutting costs, improving the work environment for their employees, and improving their record of corporate responsibility. The Seattle Climate Partnership was a key recommendation of the Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels to develop recommendations for achieving the goal to meet or beat the global warming pollution reduction target of the Kyoto Protocol. Visit the Seattle Climate Partnership web site.