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Sustainability

The United Nations defines sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Everything for the survival of life, human or not, depends on the natural environment. To be sustainable, we pursue an ongoing relationship of conserving the environment and being mindful with our daily actions to better preserve the natural resources we all depend on.

At UCA, Green Bears work towards sustainability by educating ourselves and others about sustainable practices, as well as taking action on campus and in the surrounding community. Everything we do has sustainability in mind, and we’re constantly updating our events to promote a diversity of sustainable actions!

Sustainability can take many forms, from turning off the water while you’re brushing your teeth to volunteering to clean up degraded environments. Even the smallest action is important in preserving our future! Check out how to be a sustainable student.

 

An inverted pyramid depicting the order of the Zero Waste Hierarchy

Zero Waste

A central ideal of sustainability is reducing waste. As the amount of consumption around the world continues to increase, so does the amount of waste, particularly with the rise in single-use products. To face a large lack of ethical consumption in the modern age, we should start by consuming less; this is the first layer in the Waste Hierarchy.

The Waste Hierarchy

  1. Prevent purchasing or designing unnecessary or wasteful items.
  2. Reduce the amount of purchases and the amount of materials needed.
  3. Reuse items already available by repairing, cleaning, or refurbishing them.
  4. Recycle unusable items to be made into something else.
  5. Recover as much energy from waste as possible.
  6. Dispose of final end products properly and safely.

We aim to concentrate our efforts on the first layers of the hierarchy in hopes of minimizing waste as much as possible. The disposal of waste is a last resort of the end of a products life. Ideally, all products are repurposed at higher levels of the hierarchy and little is disposed of in landfills, thus the narrowing of the pyramid towards the bottom.