MILWAUKEE — The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee often looked as a leader ins sustainability by other colleges across Wisconsin.  It’s the first school within the UW System to receive the coveted Green Ribbon Schools Award from the U.S. Department of Education.

The list of sustainable features the college campus boasts illustrate why it won:  campus gardens, a green roof, a stormwater runoff system that benefits the surrounding City of Milwaukee, and a composting site managed by students. 

Junior Antajia Sanders shovels wood chips, covering freshly created compost mulch.  She reflects on why environmental awareness is important to her.

“By us taking care of the planet, we will have more resources,” she said. “It’s important to be able to live in the ecosystem without depleting, or destroying it.”

Alum Nina Hartwig works in the Office of Sustainability. She’s looking into graduate school options at her alma mater and said UWM’s commitment to sustainable practices is what brought her back.

“The freshwater science program here definitely brought me back,” the 22-year-old said. “I’m just excited to be a part of an interesting, one of a kind program we have here at UWM.”

Nina clips back herbs and plants in one of the gardens on campus, that provides fresh produce for the campus food pantry.  Nina reflects on a project she started at UWM, with a similar goal.

“I started the Panther Pale program here on campus, which lets community members sign up for a Panther pale they get to take home,” she said.  “They collect their food scraps in it and drop it back off here,” she said.

Kate Nelson is UWM’s Chief Sustainability Officer.  She said the best part of her job is watching students like Antajia and Nina.

“How you watch them grow and see the change in them,” she said.  “To be in conversations everyday where this matters empowers them and it truly is the best part of the job.”

Nelson motioned to UWM’s large stormwater management system behind her, adding that stormwater management is one of the nation’s biggest environmental problems.

“Our northern edge, Edgewood Avenue, is a border between two communities and it’s one of the the lowest-lying areas of Milwaukee,” she said.  “If we don’t take care of it, there’s basement backups in Shorewood particularly.”

UWM, in partnership with the city, created a large implementation on stormwater management on campus to mitigate that problem. 

“This is a critical area to slow the water down for at least 24 hours and filter through the beautiful roots of these native plants,” she said. “If Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewers District doesn’t support green infrastructure like they did here, they have combined sewage overflows.”

UWM is working to achieve a 45% reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2030 and plans to be net-zero by 2050.  The campus has decreased its emissions by more than 20% since 2005. UWM offers 60 undergraduate courses in sustainability and 356 courses that include sustainability in some form.   

Since UWM, a handful of other UW schools have also received Green Ribbon Schools Awards. They include Madison, Whitewater and Stevens Point. Gateway Technical College is also a Green Ribbon school.