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Another example is parking—the one issue Kelly was warned to avoid when he arrived on campus in 1997. Instead he brought together campus, town and regional officials to develop a transportation management strategy. Wildcat Transit ridership has doubled since 2000, parking permit requests have leveled off and the Environmental Protection Agency has declared UNH a Best Workplace for Commuters every year since 2004.

Campus parking, of course, remains a favorite source of grumbling. "But a year or two from now, if fuel is even more expensive, people are going to be able to adapt and change more easily because there's an infrastructure," says Lamb.

"The old way was to isolate a problem and try to solve it," says Kelly. "With sustainability, we don't isolate problems; we put them in the context of a whole set of relations."

"Thanks in large part to Tom Kelly's tutelage and vision, UNH has been establishing itself as America's most sustainable learning community—we just haven't been making a lot of noise about it," says President Mark Huddleston. "Our impact on campus ripples out into the state and even the nation as our graduates take their knowledge and experience with them—helping to guide and educate their new communities in the ways of sustainability."

AN ESSENTIAL PART of sustainability is a wariness of single-factor analyses. Kelly speaks of "carbon blindness"—measuring everything only in terms of reducing carbon emissions, or disregarding the impact carbon-emission reduction might have on other life-sustaining systems. "Climate change is a mega-issue and must be addressed. But there are equally urgent issues," he says. For instance, switching to biofuels might reduce carbon emissions, but using crops to produce those fuels is also seriously affecting the world's food system. "With sustainability, we don't isolate problems," says Kelly. "We put them in the context of a whole set of relations."

That kind of critical, synthesizing, cross-disciplinary thinking is—or should be—the heart of a liberal arts education, along with a discussion of the common good and how to define "the good life," according to Kelly. Mimi Becker, chair of the natural resources department and an early sustainability advocate at UNH, agrees: "Sustainability means people conduct their relationships with their environment, life support systems and each other in such ways that enhance, rather than diminish, the quality of life."

KELLY IS "A BRIDGER who understands strategic alignment and knows how to lean on a concept and move a system," says Lamb. Kelly, who holds a doctorate in international studies plus degrees in musical composition and conducting, works toward sustained change by bringing people together to identify a problem, understand its context, develop a policy framework and—only then—initiate action. It's not always a fast process: "I told everyone when I interviewed for this job that just to reach the first plateau of sustainability would take 10 years."

The next plateau, Kelly hopes, will include maintaining and deepening UNH sustainability programs, with a continued focus on collaborative, cross-disciplinary work. There also is discussion of creating a Sustainability Academy at UNH, building more partnerships that reach beyond campus, and positioning UNH as a national model in sustainability.

As Sara Cleaves, associate director of the sustainability program, notes, "Our mission is to work with everyone at UNH until sustainability on campus becomes like water to a fish and is integral to who we are, how we see ourselves in the world and where we are headed." ~

Gold Stars for Sustainability

IN 2006, RESIDENCE HALLS at UNH were the first to receive the Energy Star rating from the EPA.

UNH WAS ONE OF 25 universities in the nation to be named a Campus Sustainability Leader by the Sustainable Endowments Institute's 2008 College Sustainability Report Card.

IN BUSINESS NEW HAMPSHIRE MAGAZINE'S first Lean and Green Awards, published this year, UNH received the top honor.

UNH WAS NAMED in a 2008 National Wildlife Federation report of approximately 100 colleges that demonstrated leadership in responding to global warming with best-practice strategies.

SINCE 2004, UNH has been named a Best Workplace for Commuters by the EPA.

WILDCAT TRANSIT WON the Federal Transit Administration's Success in Enhancing Ridership Award in its category in 2008.

THE ANNUAL UNH LOCAL HARVEST DINNER won an award for themed dinners in 2007 from the National Association of College and University Food Services.

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