By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
In light of an ongoing climate crisis, Baylor’s Office of Sustainability is committed to fostering a community that preserves natural resources, safeguards quality of life, advances economic vitality and prepares students for the social, environmental and economic challenges of the future.
Smith Getterman, director of sustainability and special projects, said Baylor’s policy of sustainability is in place to give the university guardrails for best practices while helping it maintain its Christian mission.
“Baylor’s got a very unique position — that we are the largest Baptist university in the world and we have a distinctly Christian mission — and it would be a failure on our part to just do sustainability like everybody else is,” Getterman said. “Honestly, the way everybody else is doing it has proven that it doesn’t work. What we have seen being successful for us is leaning into what makes us unique, and that’s our Christian identity.”
Despite not having a ton of resources to work with, Getterman said Baylor’s Office of Sustainability has practical, beneficial initiatives.
“What way can we make the biggest impact?” Getterman said. “We don’t have the resources necessarily as a huge state-funded school, … but that doesn’t mean we can’t make good choices as a university.”
Getterman said many options are being looked into in order to create a healthier environment for Baylor’s campus.
“We are constantly refining our recycling program as the market changes,” Getterman said. “We are always looking at what changes can we make — let’s say our fleet of vehicles that we use. We’re looking at electric leaf blowers versus gas-powered leaf blowers. And is there something we could do to make changes that would be just as effective … but also better for our campus?”
Alan Northcutt is the director of Waco Friends of the Climate — an organization based on educating and helping the Waco area address environmental concerns. Northcutt said he would encourage Baylor and other universities to transition to electric vehicles and install charging stations on campuses.
“In the United States, this might be surprising; the No. 1 source of these greenhouse gas emissions is the transportation sector,” Northcutt said. “That’s why you see so much emphasis on EVs. Because EVs, when they move, their energy and their motor does not release greenhouse gases. It’s a clean form of transportation.”
Houston freshman Norie Yowell said students may think more about their actions if there was more awareness of the negative effects that some activities have on the environment.
“There could definitely be more awareness of [environmental concerns] brought about,” Yowell said. “There could be signs saying not to litter in the Brazos River or more recycling bins on campus. I don’t know if incentive would be the right motive or the right move, but that would be something.”
Getterman said Baylor is looking at environmental concerns with a more holistic approach.
“A lot of times when people think of sustainability, they just think about energy, water, recycling, but we really take it seriously and look at it holistically,” Getterman said. “We do a lot with food insecurity, and you know, composting is a big thing that’s happened just in the last year on our campus. Even though it’s taken over a decade to get there, we see a lot of momentum with that program right now.”
Getterman said anybody can help with sustainability simply by doing the little things.
“The experts can do the experts stuff. We really need people who are not environmental science majors, not biology majors — we need the people who are in the business school, people who are the English majors, our theater majors, our art majors — to really embrace what it means to care about God’s creation,” Getterman said. “I really genuinely think that everybody can do something, and the main thing that I tell people is if there’s anything you can do right now, it’s to not buy so much stuff. It would make a huge impact.”
Although there are always more actions that can be taken to address environmental concerns, Getterman said Baylor has come a long way thus far.
“Fourteen years ago, we weren’t recycling, we didn’t have composting, we didn’t have a community garden, we didn’t tell people to turn their lights off when they left the room and our energy usage was through the roof,” Getterman said. “When I started this job, we were actually given a D minus by the Sierra Club — I mean just as bad as a grade you could get — and now we’re one of the leading programs in the country. So everything that we have done in the last 14 years really has been revolutionary for Baylor’s campus. … We continue to have a lot of things that we can improve in, but it’s been fun to watch and fun to be a part of. I’m thankful that I’ve had so many great partners to help make it happen.”
