New methods of sustainability may soon develop at the University of Iowa.

Four students and the staff of the UI Office of Sustainability attended the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Minneapolis earlier this week. The conference held expos and sessions for universities from around the country to collaborate on ways to make college campuses more environmentally responsible.

“The purpose of [the conference] is to forward sustainability and education on and off campus, both in facilities as well as curriculum,” outreach intern Andrew Hirst said. “As the Office of Sustainability, we got the opportunity to go, but also it was really interesting for my career in environmental policy and planning.”

Each of the four students attended different sessions, focusing on their individual interest areas, but three came back with similar fundamental strategies.

“One of the largest things we brought back was collaboration among other students, faculty, and institutions, even in private sectors,” communications intern Grant Gregory said. “That was a big thing for me.”

One of the things Gregory focused on was the conference’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System. The system ranks universities on their sustainability performance. Gregory is working on a report for the UI, applying to advance the university from a gold rating to a platinum rating.

UI student Tara Slade said she chose to go to the conference because of her interest in food justice.

“There were quite a few sessions about growing local food, how to organize campus for local food efforts, and also focusing on the technical aspect: how to distribute, how to have an effect in communities, and providing access to local fresh food,” she said.

Slade said she realized at the conference it would take a large change in society to become completely environmentally responsible.

“Really what I left with was that it’s a system problem,” she said. “In order to work toward environmental sustainability, we have to address and restructure the system in which we exist, which is a patriarchal, violent, aggressive system. That doesn’t coincide with the idea of environmental sustainability.”

Slade said one of the best ways for the UI campus to become more sustainable is different groups and organizations on campus connecting with one another.