Skip to main content

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Community Impact and Engagement
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
Intranet
Report Sexual Misconduct
Home

Main navigation

  • Academics
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Landscape Architecture
    • Doctoral (PhD)
    • Dual-Degree Programs
    • Graduate Certificate Programs
    • Undergraduate Program
    • Courses
    • Online Learning
  • Research + Impact
    • Sustainability Themes
    • PhD Profiles
    • Student Research
    • The Centers, Institutes + Initiatives
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Labs
  • Prospective Students
    • Why Michigan?
    • Application Information
    • International Students
    • Financial Aid + Tuition
    • Visit Campus
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Admitted Students
    • Exploring Graduate School
  • Student Services
    • SEAS and PitE Student Center
    • Career Services
    • Financial Aid
    • Academic Advising
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Development
    • Forms, Handbooks + Policies
    • Quick Links
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
    • Co-Sponsorship Form
    • Submit Event
    • Admissions Webinars
    • Gallery
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • SEAS Values
    • Collective Impact Committee
    • Leadership
    • Demographics
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Administrative Departments + Staff
    • Facilities + Locations
    • Community Impact and Engagement
    • Art & Environment Gallery
    • COVID-19
    • Land Acknowledgement
    • History
    • Email Sign-Up
Search search icon

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Community Impact and Engagement
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
Report Sexual Misconduct
search icon Search

News

Image
Conservation Ecology
  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Prospective Students
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About

Main navigation

  • Academics
  • Research + Impact
  • Prospective Students
  • Student Services
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
    • Stewards Magazine
  • Events
  • About
back to all news

Just released: 2023 edition of Center for Sustainable Systems’ sustainability factsheets

Image
Just released: 2023 edition of Center for Sustainable Systems’ sustainability factsheets
By Alexis Rolling (MS ’24) | 
October 18, 2023

Did you know that between 30% and 40% of food is wasted in the U.S.? Or that nearly 37 million American homes suffer from energy poverty, the inability to meet a household's energy needs? Did you know that switching from incandescent to LED light bulbs saves an average household more than $200 a year?

Facts matter, which is why the Center for Sustainable Systems (CSS) at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) has developed an extensive collection of factsheets covering a breadth of sustainability topics such as energy, water, waste, materials, transportation, environmental justice, and many more. The updated and expanded 2023 edition is now available, with two new factsheets on electric vehicles and hydrogen energy. The 2023 collection includes 32 factsheets made up of over 2,300 facts and 138 graphics compiled from over 1,000 sources. 

Each peer-reviewed factsheet presents data on patterns of use, life cycle impacts, and sustainable solutions. Updated annually by a current SEAS graduate student, the collection is a free resource to inform journalists, policymakers, business professionals, students, teachers and the public. 

The collection began in 2001 with just three factsheets and has been expanding in scope and reach ever since. In 2022, more than half a million people viewed the factsheets. According to Shoshannah Lenski (MS '11), associate director of the Center for Sustainable Systems, “The factsheets are a great recruiting and awareness tool for the CSS and SEAS communities as they provide up-to-date and trustworthy information regarding sustainability challenges and solutions, accessible to audiences worldwide.” 

In addition, CSS has curated a collection of resources for K-12 teachers, with videos, podcasts, games and activities to explore sustainability issues in classrooms and other learning environments. According to research by the Smithsonian Science Education Center, three-quarters of U.S. teachers say they lack instructional materials to help them teach about sustainability. CSS is pleased to provide these resources to help fill that gap, Lenski said.

Please consider donating to the Fund the Facts campaign! Donations will help expand the CSS Sustainability Factsheets by supporting graduate student interns who update the current collection and produce new factsheets annually.

View the complete 2023 factsheet collection here.

seas logo
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Dana Building
440 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-6453
Email us
facebook
twitter
instagram
linkedin
youtube
flickr
planet blue global impact logo

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Intranet
  • Contact Web Team
  • Email Sign-Up

© 2025 The Regents of the University of Michigan | Privacy Policy

Produced by Michigan Creative