In March, Tusk & Quill published a piece by Britt Olson detailing the sustainability efforts at UNC’s Charlotte campus. The piece covered how the sustainability department, led by Dr. Mike Lizotte, is structured and the various challenges it faces.

Through her piece, Britt, an adjunct professor in the English department at UNC Charlotte, sought to understand how sustainability work actually unfolds within a large public university. Some unexpected insights emerged.

The biggest challenges weren’t really funding or ideological disagreement, but less obvious constraints: compressed project timelines, bureaucratic friction, and the realities of operating within a state institution.

Following the publication of that piece, we sat down with Dr. Lizotte to dive deeper into the subject. Dr. Lizotte, who has spent years leading and advising sustainability initiatives on campus, brings a practitioner’s perspective to the conversation—one shaped by the day-to-day demands of translating sustainability goals into actionable policies across a sprawling university system.

In this discussion, we explore the real mechanics of sustainability work. For anyone interested in pursuing sustainability work professionally, or simply curious about how institutional transformation actually happens, this conversation offers a grounded insider’s perspective.