Starting in July 2007, community partners came together to create a consortium dedicated to addressing issues of sustainability across our entire community.  The consortium, aptly named Sustain Winona, includes some of Winona’s largest public and private institutions—specifically Winona State University, the City of Winona, the County of Winona, Winona Area Public Schools, Minnesota State College—Southeast Technical, Cotter High School, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.  The consortium seeks to define broad ways of implementing both the Mayors’ Climate Commitment (signed by Mayor Jerry Miller) and the American College and University President Climate Commitment (signed by WSU president, Judith Ramaley).

Sustain Winona defined its mission as follows: “The environmental and economic consequences of climate change compel us, as Winona’s largest public and private institutions to commit to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the promotion of low-carbon technologies and pollution-prevention strategies. Recognizing the linkages between climate change, energy security, environmental health, and robust economic growth, we are partnering as Sustain Winona to share experiences, fund new solutions, and educate our communities on the need for aggressive action to address climate change.”

While sustainability by its very nature requires collaboration, each of the member institutions has made an independent commitment to promote environmental sustainability. Highlights of activities completed during 2007-2008 include:

• Conducted an Energy Summit entitled “Green Buildings and Green Communities” (February 2008).
• Selected ISO 14001 as the Standard by which we will develop our Energy Management System (EMS). Sustain Winona partners have completed three in-depth workshops on ISO 14001, which were facilitated by Purdue University’s Clean Manufacturing Technology Institute. The overall aim of the internationally recognized program is to support substantive environmental protection and prevention of pollution and reduction of GHG in balance with socio-economic needs.
• Completed a half-day workshop on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), hosted by Xcel Energy.

For more information on Sustain Winona, visit www.sustainwinona.org