Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 55.77
Liaison Susan Kaspari
Submission Date July 16, 2022

STARS v2.2

Central Washington University
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Susan Kaspari
Professor
Geological Sciences
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
A subset of the campus community or a sample that may not be representative of the entire community

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Longitudinally to measure change over time

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The behaviors survey was developed by a student in the 2020-2021 CWU Sustainability Certificate program, with guidance and mentorship from the SUST309 course faculty and the CWU Sustainability Coordinator. The behaviors survey is combined with the sustainability literacy survey.

In select courses the survey hs been given at the beginning and end of the quarter.

A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
14 When do you think global warming will start to harm people in the United States?
25. Which of the following Sustainable Development Goals are of immediate concern to you? Please select up to six goals. (17 SDGs are listed)
26. Which of these do you do? (options of Always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely, Never)
o I recycle.
o I use a refillable water bottle.
o I compost food scraps and other compostable materials.
o I unplug chargers and other small electronic devices when not in use.
o I print double-sided whenever I can.
o I limit my use of single-use plastics.
o I buy locally grown foods.
o I purchase fair-trade products.
o I conserve water.
o I carpool and/or use public transportation.
o I travel by bicycle or walk whenever I can.
o I buy goods when possible.
o I minimize meat consumption.
o I contact government representatives.
27. Which of the following has educated you the most about sustainability?
o Class or classes
o Social media
o Events
o Family
o Friends
o News media
o Other (type your own response below)
28. When do you take sustainability into consideration? Select all that apply.
o Buying goods and services
o Making financial decisions (e.g. investment decisions)
o Choosing your energy provider
o Leisure activities (e.g. planning your next holiday)
o Choosing your employer
o Voting (politics)
o Child rearing and education
o Transportation and mobility
o Food and nutrition
o In other areas
29. Who do you expect to push forward the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in your country? Please select all that apply. (options Always, Sometimes Never)
o Business and commercial organizations
o Governments
o Research and educational institutions
o Civil society (e.g. non-governmental organization and non-profit organization)
o Other
o I don’t know
30. Mark your familiarity for each of the following examples of sustainability resources at CWU and in the Ellensburg community: (Options: I have never heard of this before, I have heard of this, but never used/visited the resource, I have used this resource)
o CWU Sustainability Certificate
o CWU Wildcat Neighborhood Farm
o Sustainability Cafes
o PUSH Food Pantry
o Flixbus
o Central Transit
o APOYO Food pantry
o LEED Buildings

A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The survey was given out to students in certain classes to see what sustainable actions they were taking in their own lives.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
The results found that students do some of the sustainable lifestyle actions, mainly using a reusable water bottle and printing double sided. We found that majority of the students almost never composted or called government representatives about environmental issues they are passionate about.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Students' familiarity with sustainability resources on campus has been particularly useful, as we are able to gauge which programs need to be better publicized.

The survey that is given is a combined sustaianbililty literacy and behaviors survey. 6 of the questions meet this critera (14, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29), The first 8 questions are short demogrpahic, and 31 asks if it was given for a class. This means there are 22 total questions, 6 of which are values/behaviors/beliefs. While this doesn't meet the full 1/3 criteria, the format of the questiosn contains a great deal of information. We were under pressure to shorten the survey, and have more literacy questiosn to cover the wide scope of literacy topics.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.