CU helps professionals get greener

Sustainability certificate
By Jefferson Dodge

A sustainability management program launched this spring by the University of Colorado at Boulder gives professionals a way to “green” up their resume by earning a certificate in as little as six months.

The program, which is only the most recent step by CU’s continuing education division to increase coursework in sustainability, involves 10 one-day seminars — but some of those can be done online over the course of a month.

Geoffrey Rubinstein, program director, and Jim Wentworth, academic coordinator, say the new certificate joins the division’s existing building and energy certificate under the umbrella of “Sustainable Practices” (see http://conted.colora do.edu/programs/sustainable-practices).

They say the new certificate has proven popular with professionals — not just with those in a sustainability industry, but with those in fields ranging from aviation to medicine who want to work sustainability into their job descriptions.

In fact, Rubinstein says one of the most popular courses so far was led by Boulder Community Hospital Sustainability Coordinator Kai Abelkis.

And the program is not just about solar panels. It’s about the triple bottom line: people, profit and planet. Social justice, workplace well-being and the eventual cost savings that can be generated by going green are also covered in the coursework.

Wentworth acknowledges that there has been a misperception in the corporate mindset that adopting environmental practices increases costs. Sustainability might have some upfront costs, he says, but the long-term savings offset those costs more quickly than some might think.

Rubinstein, who served on an environmental advisory board for the city of Lafayette, says an audit of sustainability improvements proposed for that city showed that the timeframe of paying off the upfront cost was as little as six months.

CU will host the third annual Boulder County Green Building Conference on April 26. More information on that event is available at www.bgbg.org/conference.