Biology faculty members Becky Brown, Justin Bastow and Robin Quinn show Gov. Inslee a map of the Prairie Restoration Project. The biologists gave the governor an overview of the project, which will transform a 120-acre parcel of the Palouse prairie from farmland back to its natural habitat.
CHENEY-Governor Jay Inslee met with students, faculty and administrators on campus Thursday morning, April 28, to inquire about the university's approach to combating climate change and learn about the Eastern's sustainability efforts.
He also toured the Palouse Prairie Restoration project, which aims to restore 120 acres of the native Palouse prairie habitat. The project provides students with learning and research opportunities while also benefiting the environment.
"The Prairie Restoration Project seeks to restore natural land on campus with the goal to foster research and educational opportunities, increase biodiversity, sequester carbon, and provide recreational space on multi-use trails," said Eastern's Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications and Marking Lance Kissler.
Kissler said the university operates a complete recycling center and manages the collection of materials on campus through a dual-stream process.
"The recycling bins arrive at the recycling center where all materials are sorted, separated, baled, and then sent to respective facilities for further processing-essentially, EWU operates its own transfer station," he said. "We continue to evaluate our performance on waste mitigation and are currently developing new strategies to boost recycling and composting rates across campus.
Regarding the university's sustainability efforts, Kissler shared with the governor that Eastern offers seven academic pathways for students to learn about the aspects of environmental sustainability.
Those courses of study offer a Major in Environmental Science and Environmental Policy and Planning, a Sustainability minor, certificates in Environmental Justice, Climate Change and Water resources and an Environmental/sustainability K-12 teaching endorsement.
Kissler went on to say Eastern's investment portfolio has recently been fully divested from fossil fuel holdings.
"This process took multiple years and was done in a way that was intentional, responsible, and provided excellent returns on our investments," Kissler said. "EWU intends to be a leading institution in the race to carbon neutrality. We currently have multiple active contracts with industry partners to install building sub-meters, conduct energy audits, and develop plans for electric vehicle infrastructure.
"Eastern is also in the process of developing a Landscape Climate Resiliency Master plan to guide the institution in the transition to native, drought tolerant plants that will significantly reduce water use, move away from fossil fuel powered maintenance equipment, boost biodiversity, and sequester carbon."
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