Project Description
The University of Oregon’s Environmental Leadership Program has created a Corporate Sustainability Team (CST) to work in partnership with our client to do social science research regarding environmental attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge. Social science research is valuable because it is based on empirical quantitative data that allows for more informed hypotheses.

The environmental attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of our client employees are being measured in the following areas:
Transportation
Energy use
Water use
Waste and recycling
IT hardware life-cycle management
Paper procurement and use

In Fall Term 2006, the CST created a survey measuring environmental attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of our client employees. This survey was designed to provide the critical baseline data that our client can use to establish workplace sustainability. Individual CST members created a Quick Hit for our client; a one page brief designed to provide useful information and solutions for one of the six impact areas. Upon completion of the term, the CST gave a twenty minute presentation to explain the project’s goals and accomplishments to date.

In Winter Term 2007, the Corporate Sustainability team will analyze this baseline data regarding current knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among our client employees to: 1) identify barriers to promote sustainability within office practices and 2) articulate strategies for overcoming these barriers.  The team will then identify the best approaches to promote sustainability for our client based on the analysis of the survey data. The goal is that these actions will be more effective because the baseline survey data will be guiding this phase. The CST will also be researching and writing one section for a Resource Guide focused on one of the eight impact areas. At the end of the term, the CST will present a report of our findings directly to our client.