Following a three-semester long search, newly-hired Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Nathan Engstrom began work earlier this month in a position that College administrators hope will provide leadership and structure to the College’s environmental initiatives. 

Assistant Coordinator Meredith Dowling, OC ’06, told the Review, “[Engstrom’s hiring] is a culmination of a long quest towards sustainability in Oberlin.”

According to Dowling, Engstrom’s position and the Office of Environmental Sustainability that he will head were created after several years of student and staff effort.

In  2002, Oberlin’s Environmental Policy Advisory Committee passed an environmental stewardship plan for the College. In the wake of the plan’s creation, students organized to push for the hiring of a coordinator to be entrusted with carrying out EPAC’s plans.

“A commotion on campus began, and a search committee was formed in fall ’05 to find a sustainability coordinator. The first round occurred last year but was unsuccessful,” Dowling said.

When the search started again last fall, Engstrom was hired. He began work on Feb. 1, just a few months after President Nancy Dye signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which obligates Oberlin to perform a complete inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in one year and to devise a plan of action to become climate neutral within two years.

Engstrom’s office will have a hand in many campus environmental projects, and will work under the auspices of the Committee on Environmental Sustainability. “The committee is working on policy-making, which the Office of Sustainability translates to action,” Dowling said.

The Office of Sustainability will also help to uphold the Oberlin’s commitment to meeting at least a “silver” environmental standard as determined by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system on all College construction projects.

“The realm of college/university sustainability has been getting a lot of national attention and I tuned into it,” Engstrom said.

According to Engstrom, Oberlin’s reputation and “mystique” attracted him to the College, as he had been aware of Oberlin’s Adam Joseph Lewis Center as a benchmark in sustainable campus design. 

Before coming to Oberlin, Engstrom studied and worked extensively with energy efficient building construction. He earned an advanced degree in the field and worked for four years as director of the Wisconsin-based green building program, Green Built Home.

Engstrom said that he strongly believes in the power of the campus to influence the world around it and said that his office will be mindful of this.

“We are creating a national movement on campuses,” Engstrom said. “People look for examples of what works, what’s being done, and campuses can set the precedent. They can have profound impacts on their communities and even globally.”