Green campus of the green university: The RUDN-University experience

Modern universities are not only the educational and research centers. There are here the ideas of sustainability can be developed and implemented most efficiently. Environmental friendliness and saving of resources require the innovative approaches that formed in the university. Hence, along with the popular rankings of effectiveness of education and research activity by the representatives of University of Indonesia was created the Green Metrics World University Ranking. Its participants are hundreds of universities of the world. 2016 People’s Friendship University of Russia (RUDN-University) presented the results of environmental management and took first place among the Russian universities and 115-th place in the World. The territory of the University is a place of a compact residence of thousands of students from more than 150 countries of the world, the work place of hundreds of employees. Therefore, the analysis of the ecological state of campus is an important practical and scientific task. Among the Russian universities the RUDN-University is unique with its campus infrastructure and territory with a large green area. But the surrounding objects (highways, gas stations, neighboring institutions) create a significant technogenic pressure, worsening the ecological situation. The current environmental monitoring system in Moscow does not allow to monitor these changes. Maintaining the state of RUDN-University as a leading “Green university” of Russia the initiative group of students of the Ecological faculty realize the project on monitoring of the campus territory. Scientific advisers and consultants are the teachers of the departments of Applied ecology and Geoecology. The main goal is to collect and to analyze the information on the state of the environment (pollution of environments, noise loads, levels of electromagnetic fields, vegetation). On the territory of campus there was defined the observation points with the own year-round monitoring program. The “background” points are far enough from highways, it’s a green zone. Another points are in the zone of the intensive pressure. The monitoring results are visualized. This allows us to understand the technogenic load on the campus, to develop recommendations for maintaining the green zone in a comfortable state. It also allows the students to apply the theoretical knowledge in practice. The database of the monitoring data will be a part of the future information system “The Green University” (assessment of the resource consumption, pollutions, environmental comfort zones etc.). Within the program will be developed the imitation model “Impact- result” that should allow to realize the environmental management of campus using the own environmental standards. The project combines the effects of practical skills of student, development of their environmental culture and environmental management in the university. © SGEM2017. All Rights Reserved.