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| STEP Program Evaluation
The main purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of Yale’s STEP (Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnership) program in meeting the goals set out in its mission statement. Specifically, STEP’s stated goals are to “educate Yale students and the Yale community about sustainability and to foster a community ethic of environmental stewardship and sustainable behavior.” To complete such an evaluation, students will design and conduct a survey of the student body and also look into relevant research areas.
While Yale’s Office of Sustainability (through which STEP is run) has often publicized the decreased energy use and increased energy efficiency of Yale’s campus, these positive statistics are not necessarily accurate indicators of how STEP is doing. It is important to note that many of the changes currently implemented by both STEP and Yale are technology- or procedural-based. Examples include LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for new buildings, decreases in heating (by a few degrees) for buildings during the winter, and the passing out of fluorescent light bulbs. Thus, sustainability gains made in the recent years might have been achieved without any significant increase in awareness, or more importantly, action from the larger Yale community. In other words, it is possible that STEP has achieved sustainability gains without fulfilling its mission statement.
Throughout the course of last semester, the Center on the Environment was in the process of developing a policy paper to evaluate the effectiveness of the Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnership (STEP). To complete our evaluation, the Center had decided to use a two-pronged approach involving research and a survey of the student body. Research into general strategies to change attitudes and behaviors as well as similar programs at other universities was started and a survey for the student body was drafted. The goal of this survey is to obtain quantifiable data that can be used to establish a baseline to which future progress can be compared to. More importantly, it would provide a glimpse into the current situation at Yale.
The Center seeks to finish up the work started last semester and to write up a policy paper summarizing the results of the survey and offering specific policy suggestions based on both survey results and conducted research. When expanded and generalized, this policy paper will also prove useful for similar programs at other universities. Group members: |
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