Why Green Labs in CVMBS

 If sustainable research practices are not implemented, the environment and natural resources will not only be over-exploited but also become contaminated with toxic chemicals, which will affect the health of future generations. Therefore, it is crucial to protect the environment by implementing current best practices and discovering new methods to save energy, reduce waste, maintain equipment to maximize efficiency, and conserve resources in scientific research laboratories across CVMBS.

Save the world

Climate change is an ongoing global crisis that detrimentally impacts clean air, drinking water, and agriculture, with a disproportionate burden placed on developing nations with weaker infrastructure.2 Climate change is projected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 20501 and approximately 4.6 million additional deaths per year by 2100,2 which would rank climate change sixth on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) list of leading risk factors for premature death, ahead of outdoor air pollution and just below obesity.3–5 Growing concern to avoid catastrophic health impacts and millions of climate change-related deaths prompted the 1.5° C warming threshold set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018.6

Currently, the carbon footprint of the global biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is 197 million tCO2-e, making it the 25th-largest carbon-emitting industry in the world, exceeding even the automotive, forestry, paper, and semiconductor industries (Carbon Impact of Biotech & Pharma & Carbon Impact of Biotech & Pharma source #2).7,8 Laboratories consume approximately 5-10x more energy per square foot than typical office spaces,9 and in 2019, the healthcare industry contributed to 4.4% of total global emissions (Carbon Impact of Biotech & Pharma source #3).10 Given the detrimental effects of climate change on human health, reconciling the desire to advance human and animal health through biomedical research with the sobering carbon footprint of the industry is something that cannot be ignored if we are to uphold the mission statement of the CVMBS.

Save money

The adoption of sustainability and environmentally friendly practices has wide acclaim for positively impacting our environment and society. However, an often overlooked aspect of sustainability practices is their economic impact. The cost-saving attribute of sustainable practices should not come as a surprise since the central mantra of sustainability is to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources. However, the less apparent long-term benefits of sustainability on the economy have made it challenging to observe. According to a Global Commission on the Economy and Climate report, a shift towards sustainability would save the planet about twenty-six trillion dollars by the year 2030.11, 12 Such impact should serve as an excellent incentive for several sectors, including the research sector, to imbibe sustainability as one of its foundational principles.Sustainability in research would serve as an avenue to reduce the cost of research, hence increasing the value of research activities. Energy, water, and raw materials are significant resources utilized in research. By prioritizing the infusion of sustainability initiatives into day-to-day research activities, we can reduce how much of these resources we use. The corollary effect of such an effort would be a decrease in waste generation, which would result in the reduced cost of processing waste to become environmentally friendly. In addition to the reduced cost-to-research output ratio, sustainability in research could serve as a sign that researchers care about our environment and society, increasing the public trust in the science community.

Education: experiential education… infuse sustainability in all we do

More than ever, it is up to us who do the research, write the grants, run the experiments, and communicate the importance of our research to champion the practices that will keep sustainability in the forefront of the conversation. Much of the talk of sustainability currently is on the ‘why.’  Why we need to reduce plastic usage, why we need to save water, or why using less hazardous materials in research is important. Concepts like reduce, reuse, and recycle have been taught to us for most of our lives. Where the ‘why’ falls short is how to put these concepts into practice to begin to make a difference.

While CSU as an institution has been recognized for its efforts to reduce its impact on the environment, to reach an even higher level of awareness on an institutional and global scale, education needs to now move to the forefront of the discussion. Education works from the top down, and from the bottom up, as administrators need to understand how to support and disseminate information about green practices to other administrators and their direct reports; students and associates need to understand how to communicate with their teachers, supervisors, and peers about the importance of environmentally conscious practices. CSU has already made strides in providing resources for green education for students, staff, and faculty.  However, more specific guides and resources catered to the day-to-day operations of research in CVMBS, such as this E-book, can further this effort and impact by providing information on ‘how’ what we do each day can begin to make a difference and education to keep those practices running into the future.

Recruitment: people seek this

By prioritizing campus sustainability, CSU could also bolster its applicant pool and student enrollment. In the Princeton Review’s 2022 College Hopes & Worries Survey, 74% of college applicants expressed that a college’s commitment to the environment would contribute to their decision to apply to or attend that school, with over a third of stating that it would contribute “strongly” or “very much”.13 This is increased from 64% of college applicants in 2019,14 indicating that campus sustainability is becoming an increasingly critical consideration for incoming college students.

Disproportionate Impact that Minorities Face

In addition to the financial and global impact that implementing sustainable research practices will have, the effect this has on underrepresented communities is even greater. The social, economic, and health inequities that communities of color and low-income communities experience make it more difficult for these populations to prepare for climate change-based disasters. Moreover, these communities are exposed to higher levels of air 15 and water pollution 16. In the United States, race alone is indicative of an increased risk to these pollutants. By adjusting our research resource consumption as a college, we will serendipitously limit the negative impacts these communities face. In this way, we will improve the impact that CVMBS has on underrepresented communities and bring more justice and equity to the world.

Retention/Wellbeing: feel good about where you work

Adopting sustainable research practices increases CSU’s acclaim as a cutting-edge research institution and helps to bring in top-tier researchers who are also passionate about sustainable research. The My Green Lab® program was started in 2018 to encourage researchers to implement sustainable research practices. Programs like the My Green Lab® Ambassador and Laboratory Certification allow researchers to identify laboratories that practice and prioritize sustainable research. Research is a significant part of our professional careers, but it also intersects with our personal lives. It is important to the mental well-being of scientists to know that their work is not harming the future of the ones they love, and how we feel about our work affects the quality of our work. My Green Lab® certification gives researchers confidence that they can do important work and minimize negative impacts to the planet. Additionally, these mechanisms will help researchers be successful in obtaining funding from sources that require evidence of sustainable lab practices. The Million Advocates for Sustainable Science is a global movement aiming to implement sustainable lab practices in research proposal funding. For these reasons, we encourage CVMBS researchers to participate in available programs like the My Green Lab® Ambassador program and to consider certifying their labs through My Green Lab®.

Authors: Marylee Kapuscinski, Naseer Alnakhli, Eileen Owens, Nurudeen Oketade, Kieran Broder, and Kaitlynn Williams 

References

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