The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education hosted a webinar Wednesday for universities, including USC, to share their approaches to measuring sustainability literacy and culture on their campuses.
More than 5,000 USC students, postdoctorates, faculty and staff participated in USC’s first annual sustainability survey in April. The survey was conducted to help the University inform sustainability engagement and education programming on campus and establish a baseline to measure the University’s progress toward its 2028 “Assignment: Earth” engagement goals, and its results were released in August.
On average, respondents scored 61.5 percent for 10 general sustainability literacy questions and 52.3% on sustainability behavior and culture questions. The survey found more than 50% of respondents had a moderate or strong interest in learning more about sustainability practices and 47% of respondents were interested in getting involved with USC sustainability efforts or groups but had not yet done so. More than 50% of respondents indicated that they “usually” took actions to be more sustainable, such as reducing energy use and plastic waste and conserving water and paper.