During the month of August, recent high school graduates across North America are completing final preparations for college and university life. New students face countless decisions, such as what to pack, what to buy, whether to bring a car, and how much to budget for the upcoming months. For all students, these important decisions will have a significant impact on the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability. The August STARS blog focuses on credits within STARS that relate to two important considerations for the upcoming academic year: limiting move-in waste and developing an understanding of student transportation options.

PAE Tier Two Credit 42: Move-in Waste
A significant amount of waste can be generated during residence hall move-in at the beginning of the academic year. For PAE Tier Two Credit 42: Move-in Waste, institutions with residence halls can earn .25 points for having programs in place that reduce move-in waste. 73% of STARS-Rated institutions currently have such a program.

OP 15: Student Commute Modal Split
Students preparing for college and university life make important decisions regarding transportation, including researching alternative transportation options and deciding whether to bring a vehicle to campus. Using alternative modes of transportation helps reduce local air pollution and GHG emissions, while walking and biking offer health benefits as well. OP 15: Student Commute Modal Split uses a common measure to recognize institutions where students use preferable modes of transportation to travel.

• At four-year STARS-rated institutions (which tend to be residential), 57% of students primarily use alternative forms of transportation for getting to and from campus.
• At two-year institutions (which tend to include more commuter students), 13% of students primarily use alternative forms of transportation.

Below is a breakdown of forms of transportation for four-year and two-year institutions:

OP Tier Two Transportation Credits
The table below outlines six transportation initiatives found in Tier 2 Transportation credits, separated by institution type:

The STARS team would love to hear readers’ feedback on sustainable choices for students in the upcoming academic year. Please send your ideas to stars@aashe.org.

Shady Grove Community Day  and it’s September 22^nd.   

Our theme is sustainability this year and we have lots of great events happening that anyone from 5-75 would enjoy. Mike Tidwell will be here, as well as Bethesda Green and other local “green” businesses, non-profits, and government agencies. 

CoFED, the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive, supports over 40 student teams in regions across North America. CoFED serves as a network and training program that empowers students to create ethically-sourced, cooperatively-run food enterprises on college campuses. AASHE recently spoke with founder and Co-Director Yoni Landau and Danny Spitzberg, Lead Trainer and Co-Director. Continue reading to learn more about CoFED initiatives, challenges, and where they see the future of student organizing for sustainable food.

If you are interested in participating in the AASHE Interview Series, email Niles Barnes at niles@aashe.org.

What are CoFED’s main areas of focus within the food systems sustainability movement, and how does CoFED fit into the larger, global movement toward a low-carbon, more sustainable future?

Yoni: CoFED is primarily a network of student leaders and peer-facilitated trainings. We help sustainability-minded students gain the skills they need to create their values in the world after they graduate. And, CoFED helps them develop a delicious platform to bring their peers into the movement. Student teams supported by CoFED are creating community-oriented, ethically-sourced food ventures. This has real potential for positive impact. Consumption is a big part of the story, but production is a bigger part of a story rarely told - meat production alone is said to account for as much as 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If we are going to address climate change and environmental damage, we need to address this major polluter through education and alternatives.

Danny: For institutions of higher education, their impact goes beyond direct economic value or research and knowledge. Before a student comes into college, they may have never made real decisions for themselves - this is a time where identities, values, and habits coalesce and ideally, with career paths that align with those values. If we are serious about mitigating climate change, we need agricultural reform on a large scale. We must build a diverse, thriving and resilient movement that can both demand and create change in our food system - as cooperative organizers, leaders, and entrepreneurs.

Where do you see CoFED in the next five years in terms of programs and impact?

Danny: In five years, we will have thriving member storefronts on roughly 40 campuses and we will have trained several thousand student leaders. Any university that wants to empower their students with this model should have the ability to do so. We’ll get there by evolving our resources so that models can pay competitive rent, provide positive, valuable educational experiences, and by helping our regional networks of students thrive with support from mentors and CoFED alumni alike - those are some of our more immediate plans.

Yoni: also, students empowered by CoFED will be running people for office in several states, and others will be creating student-worker hybrid cooperative foodservice operations on campuses across the continent. OK, I might have made that one up....or did I...?

What are the main challenges for CoFED?

Danny: Student turnover is our greatest asset and most motivating liability. We see ourselves as a network of cooperative leaders and cooperative entrepreneurs, and getting involved means building your group and replacing yourself in the process! We’re fairly clear about what we mean by those terms - the function of cooperative leadership is to empower more leaders, and the aim of cooperative entrepreneurship is to pursue opportunities for collective gain through directly democratic means. So, most of our programming - our organizing, our coaching, the events we run - focuses on seeding and growing healthy institutional memory and an eager network to support it on campus and between schools, too. They take deep interest in their different projects and become friends and peer-mentors.

How do you track progress and success throughout the organization, and how is CoFED doing by those measures?

Yoni: Back in the Fall of 2010, we projected it would take most teams at least 2 years of organizing to open a storefront - after nearly two years of doing this work, we’re happy to say that we’re hitting that target with folks in New Mexico opening a storefront (and being asked to expand!) and 5 start-up teams that have raised over $150,000. We’ll likely see a few more cafés and grocery operations open in 2013, too.

How do you see the role of student activism in the campus sustainability movement?

Danny: Any significant change needs people pulling the mainstream along and people pushing at the fringes. Students are and should be pushing at the edges - creating the next innovative idea or demanding that we move away from the status quo. Students are also quick to see and feel the connections between sustainability and race, class, and gender issues, as well as the privilege of education and opportunity. Anti-oppression principles and practices are fundamental to our work, as we strive for inclusivity. If we are going to have a “movement” that includes communities that are traditionally marginalized, it’s almost definitely going to be led, in large part, by young people.

How is CoFED working to forge partnerships with other like-minded organizations and individuals?

Yoni: The Real Food Challenge initially incubated our training and has been a big brother to us since the beginning. Thanks, friends!
We have literally dozens of coalition allies, from Slow Money to NASCO to Net Impact, groups we respect deeply and learn from. It’s so important to take the time to meet the other folks in the room, from figuring out what database tools, to using their training resources, to being inspired to work smarter by their successes.
It’s vital to have a broad coalition not because every project needs to be a partnership, but because when something bigger than all of us is ready to happen, like federal policy around climate change or significant food systems reform, having relationships of trust in place makes it possible.

How does CoFED encourage students to effect top-down change from the senior administration of the university or college?

Danny: “Top-down” change happens when a critical mass of people organize to demand it as citizens, not mere consumers. Campus life has more in common with the rest of a students life before and after, except that education is the explicit focus, and idealism may be at an all-time high. CoFED harnesses idealism and pragmatism to show how another world is possible, and actively being created. We want that idealism to continue straight on after higher education.

Has there been a particular “aha” moment for you while working on campus sustainability issues?

Yoni: The first workshop that CoFED ever ran was at the California Student Sustainability Summit (organized by California Student Sustainability Coalition) where we had about 20 students from across the state and we all shared how we’d like to bring sustainability to our campuses. We shared our visions for a community space and food business, plotted out some steps and did skits to share back.
To wrap-up, everyone did a one-word check-out, “How do you feel?”
Ryan, the quiet student from Cal Poly in the corner said “inspiregized!”
Most of youth today wants to create a just and sustainable economy - we need the vision, we need the tools, and we need the support network.
We still use that word to describe our trainings (thanks, Ryan)!

What is your advice for students who are trying to get more involved in the campus sustainable food movement?

Danny: Be curious, and always open your perspective to what others tell you. Also, be realistic and be specific. Many projects start hot, but most burn out and disappear when they become mired in mud, that grueling phase one that students organizing at UCLA refer to as the “do-ocracy,” the lack of group direction and no coordination.

Yoni: Be respectful with administrators. Do not waste their time or their wisdom. Most will want to help you if you aren’t asking too much and present yourself as organized and thoughtful. Be bold. “No” doesn’t usually mean “no”, it means “maybe” - if you address all my concerns and hold me accountable.

Joe Indvik is a consultant and intrapreneur focused on finding cost-effective strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and scale clean energy. As an undergraduate and later independent consultant, he co-led a team to establish a $1 million green revolving fund at Dartmouth College. He is now a consultant in the Climate Change and Sustainability Division at ICF International. He happily does free-of-charge work with students to help them set up GRFs and other sustainability initiatives, so just ask! Stephanie Gardner and Bari Wien, members of the Dartmouth GRF proposal team, contributed to this post. You can contact the author at: joe.indvik@gmail.com. Re-posted with permission from the Sustainable Endowment Institute's Billion Dollar Green Challenge blog.

Students can be a powerful driving force for campus sustainability. However, student initiatives are often plagued by barriers including funding shortages, resistance to institutional change, and the perception that sustainability is an expense rather than an investment.

A green revolving fund (GRF) is a great strategy to overcome these barriers, a case I made in a previous blog. The number of universities with a GRF has quadrupled since 2008, growing to at least 47 by the end of 2011 (and preliminary research shows the number has nearly doubled since). Most exciting of all, 17 of those funds were started by student entrepreneurs! And yet, while the GRF model is compelling, it is not a sure bet—for every success story there are also tales of failed proposals and fizzled ideas. The key is to learn from these efforts if we hope to accelerate growth in student-led GRFs in the next few years.

This post presents nine rules for students to live by when designing and pitching a GRF. These ideas are informed by my experience as the co-leader of a student team that successfully established a $1 million GRF at Dartmouth College, as well as my current work on GRFs at ICF International. This list pulls no punches. It is cynical by necessity, optimistic by design, and intended to arm you with the insights you need to get your GRF right.

1. Don’t reinvent the wheel
   A wealth of work has already been done on green revolving funds, so your first task is to learn all that you can. Intelligently using existing materials can shave months off the proposal process and dramatically boost your chances of success. A great place to start is the Resources section of the Billion Dollar Green Challenge site and AASHE's resources on Sustainable Investment and Financing. Also look for SEI’s GRF implementation guide (coming soon).

2. Build your dream team
   A successful proposal starts with the people who power it, so build a dream team who will see it through until the bitter end.

   At Dartmouth, our dream team consisted of a particularly motivated subset of six students in a senior Environmental Studies seminar. We were a diverse cast of characters: The Big Idea Woman who kept things on track and the focus on the big picture; The Quant, who ran financial analyses and built the business case for the fund; The Networker who leveraged her extensive campus connections to get us those coveted meetings with administrators; The Engineer who provided technical perspective on the projects that our fund would actually finance; The Sweet Talker whose silver tongue and crafty presentation skills were our saving grace more than once; and The Environmentalist who made sure that we maintained a true “triple bottom line” mentality.

   I affectionately referred to this squad as the Planeteers—and while we may not have formed a royal blue crime-fighting superhero, we did manage to direct $1 million into meaningful sustainability projects. After our departure, the proposal was fully implemented by a second generation of GRF advocates, including key administrators, facilities staff, professors, and the Sustainability Director and her team. This highlights another important consideration: make sure that you have committed individuals to carry the idea forward once your dream team graduates, and ensure that the principles with which you designed the GRF are observed by the fund managers when it is up and running.

   Dream teams can be built from classes, student groups, Greek houses, friends, or elsewhere. Just remember that the rest of these rules mean nothing if they are not backed by a team that is passionate, capable, diverse, and a little bit crazy—you are, after all, setting out to alter the strategic direction of a major institution.

3. Start small, dream big
   By our senior spring, everyone on Dartmouth’s GRF proposal team had seen more than one good student sustainability proposal permanently shelved. One such proposal put forward a comprehensive plan for achieving carbon neutrality at Dartmouth—including economic analysis, project timelines, and even suggestions for specific renewable energy developers to partner with. The plan was a thing of beauty, and it was personally presented to the College President by the proposal team. While enthusiastic, he didn’t exactly bust open the College coffers.

   We were determined to stand on the shoulders of these giants and build a proposal that would create real change. Our approach was to develop a focused and compelling idea that could be refined by our proposal team and easily digested by risk-averse decision-makers. Our GRF would be fiscally disciplined (only financing projects that would pay back in 10 years or less) and would initially focus on projects that Dartmouth’s Facilities, Operations, and Management Department had already approved. We would start with a $10,000 fund, demonstrate success, and grow it over time.

   This approach did not always win us friends among our fellow sustainability advocates. It required hard, sometimes hostile conversations with well-meaning folks who wanted to try and save the world with one all-inclusive initiative. Our goal was to use the GRF model to build a tightly reasoned business case for sustainability—a case that would appeal to wide range of stakeholders and lead to measureable change.

   Despite the importance of starting small, watch out for opportunities to go big. In one of our early meetings with the Chief Financial Officer, we explained that our proposed GRF would initially only finance projects with strong payback periods. “I appreciate your emphasis on fiscal discipline,” he said. “But I think we can drive more change if we scale back on that a bit.” When the CFO of an Ivy League institution that manages a $3 billion endowment tells you that you’re being too stingy, you know you’ve built a compelling proposal. He continued: “As a matter of fact, I think starting with $10,000 is too small. I think $1 million is a more appropriate size.” We immediately followed up by molding our proposal into a bigger and more ambitious model (see Rule 4: Mold Your Model).

   In a single meeting, our GRF had transitioned from a small, focused concept to an officially endorsed seven-figure powerhouse. Most exciting of all, not only would our GRF stand on the shoulders of previous proposals, but it could actually allow them to come to fruition by providing funding and support. I am convinced that this opportunity to go big arose not in spite of starting small, but precisely because of it.

4. Mold your model
   Perhaps the most powerful attribute of the GRF model is that it can be adapted to the unique challenges, goals, and opportunities of your institution. Your fund should speak to the distinct character of your school. Things to consider: Will you finance only quick-payback projects or those with poorer savings but more social value? How will you inform and engage the broader community? Are there any creative ways you could structure the fund to take advantage of unique opportunities at your school?

   As Dartmouth’s CFO highlighted (see Rule 3: Start Small, Dream Big), we began with two ideas that were seemingly at odds. On the one hand, there was a massive opportunity for quick-payback energy-efficiency investments that could only be implemented by Facilities, Operations, and Management. On the other, we had a deep culture of student entrepreneurship and activism in sustainability, and we wanted to ensure student ideas were not overshadowed by large Facilities projects. The solution? We created a first-of-its-kind GRF that leverages clean energy project savings to finance community-led projects. To do this, we adopted a two part-model: a Facilities fund that finances only projects with strong financial paybacks, while directing 10% of the savings from these projects into a smaller Community Fund. This fund then supports educational or cultural projects regardless of whether they can pay back.

   In the end, we scaled back our initial emphasis on fiscal discipline and found ways to make fiscal goals complement, rather than compete with, environmental goals. There are no hard-and-fast rules for how a GRF must be structured, so be on the lookout for opportunities to innovate.

5. Talk to people
   From the very beginning of your proposal until final implementation of the GRF, spend time talking with people. Successful GRFs require buy-in from a diverse set of stakeholders on campus: administrators, students, faculty, accountants, and particularly facility managers (see Rule 7: Facilities Are Your Friends). When student proposals fail, it is usually because they are out of touch with the political, economic, or logistical realities faced by the institution. The remedy for this is to engage with decision-makers early and often, ask tough questions, and continually adjust your proposal as you learn. Figure out what keeps your audience awake at night and design your proposal to address those practical challenges head-on.

6. Search for buried treasure
   Identifying sources of seed funding for your GRF should be a top priority. Luckily, there are a variety of funding options available to universities and they can be mixed and matched. Be sure that you dig deep into current budgets and spending plans to identify the best funding option(s). You may be able to tap into money that has already been dispensed but is going unused. Seed funding sources may include endowment funds, capital improvement budgets, operating budgets, student “green fees,” alumni donations, savings from projects that have already been financed by other means, and more. See SEI’s Investment Primer for more information.

7. Facilities are your friends
   Facility managers are the gatekeepers of sustainability. Without their expertise, solar panels do not go up and light bulbs do not get screwed in. Make sure you get them on your side early. A couple of tactics:

   Learn the parlance: If you don’t know what the words “HVAC”, “32-watt T-8”, and “high-efficiency boilers” mean, learn quickly. Sustainability really boils down to the built environment; the language of sustainability is ultimately the language of building engineering.

   Figure out what ails them and fix it: In several years of working with facility managers, I have found that they are almost universally overworked, understaffed, and undervalued. Remember that the first priority of any good facility manager is to keep things running; a second priority is to make them do so efficiently. Your task is to understand the particular challenges faced by your facility managers (e.g. staffing shortages, a slow project financing process, lack of funding) and design a GRF that can overcome those challenges.

8. Manage your messaging
   This is the business end of Rule 5: Talk to People. Now that you’ve engaged with key stakeholders, tweak your messaging strategy so that it speaks to them. Pitching to sustainability advocates? Focus on the power of GRFs to reduce greenhouse emissions, conserve resources, and shift administrative attitudes. How about financial managers? Tout the superior return-on-investment of existing GRF’s and the value proposition for your own. And facility managers? Per Rule 7, make sure you emphasize that the financing process will be streamlined and easy.

   At Dartmouth, there were two key arguments that proved instrumental in convincing administrators to back the GRF. First, we ran the numbers. Our team designed an Excel model to forecast the financial and environmental performance of the fund. We worked with Facilities to identify the projects it would actually finance, collected energy price projections from the Energy Information Administration, and calculated key metrics like return on investment, net-present value, and annual carbon mitigation through 2030. It’s one thing to claim that GRFs produce superb financial and environmental savings, but it’s another thing to demonstrate them with data-driven graphs of net savings skyrocketing over time.

   Our second key argument was simple: “Harvard is doing it.” The knowledge that rival institutions (like Harvard, in our case) are pursuing this strategy with great success provokes two emotions in key decision-makers: comfort with the GRF concept and concern that others are already capitalizing on it. In a world of higher education where reputation means everything, never doubt the power of competition to drive real change.

9. Never, never, never give up
   GRFs will likely be a major force in shaping the future of energy-efficiency and renewable energy, and student entrepreneurs can lead the way. As a student, you are uniquely positioned to create systemic change—a nice way of saying that you can get away with things that other groups on campus cannot. Administrators will listen to you and, if nothing else, will be impressed by your panache in proposing a GRF. Use that to your advantage. Inform yourself, stay grounded, and keep your eye on the prize.

   Most of all, do not settle. Resist the urge to write your ideas down in a report and call it a day. Two decades of continuous schooling often convinces us that a well-written research paper is the measure of success. But with a GRF, your measure of success is cold, hard cash invested in meaningful clean energy and sustainability projects—more akin to starting a business than publishing a thesis.

   Write a proposal, not a report. And back it up with an organized, informed, and unrelenting campaign to turn that proposal into reality.

This week, AASHE is proud to release its second STARS Quarterly Review (SQR): Innovations in Campus Sustainability. The summer 2012 edition focuses entirely on the Innovation (IN) category, an area within STARS that recognizes innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. Entries within the IN section may include new and ground-breaking practices in higher education that are not covered by other STARS credits or that exceed the highest criterion of a current STARS credit. July’s STARS blog not only provides highlights from the SQR, but brings attention to interesting innovative practices by institutions that were not featured in the latest issue.

Innovations in Campus Sustainability explores critical linkages between education, innovation and sustainability; highlighting the unique solutions within higher education that positively impact current and future generations. With 11 institutions highlighted, readers will learn about:

• Interactive, web-based energy management systems
• A community garden with a global reach
• Positive impacts of campus innovations, including cost and resource savings
• A large-scale community revitalization effort
• Unique approaches to sustainable housing construction

The difficulty of putting together a publication that highlights sustainability innovations in higher education is the fact that there are so many innovative practices taking place, and it is impossible to highlight every single institution. For this reason, the July blog includes brief descriptions for ten additional innovation highlights with links to each STARS IN credit.

Interesting Innovative Practices among STARS-Rated Institutions:

• Student group funds and installs the largest operational wind turbine installation in North Carolina - Appalachian State University (STARS Gold, May 2012, IN #1)
• Global Climate Change Africa Mosaic features field research in Durban, South Africa - Dickinson College (STARS Gold, April 2012, IN #1)
• Sustainable Prisons Project raises awareness for science, saves tax dollars, and promotes conservation of natural resources – The Evergreen State College (STARS Silver, July 2011, IN #1)
• Research on glandless cotton seed to create sustainable feed, food, and fuels - New Mexico State University (STARS Bronze, Sept. 2011, IN #2)
• Construction of a green learning campus and charter school that will offer dual enrollment for students – Rio Salado College (STARS Silver, Aug. 2011, IN #4)
• Frugal Innovation program addresses the need for products and services to improve livelihoods in under-served communities world-wide – Santa Clara University (STARS Silver, Jan. 2011, IN #1)
• What is a tree worth? A comprehensive study to quantify the value of trees in the university community. – The University of Arizona (STARS Gold, Feb. 2012, IN #4)
• Employee suggestion program with financial incentives proportional to the amount of money saved. – University of Ottawa (STARS Silver, Aug. 2011, IN #4)
• SustainaUnity promotes collaboration among diverse and disparate sustainability groups across the university community. – University of Virginia (STARS Silver, Feb. 2012, IN #4)
• Commercial scale dry anaerobic biodigester generates renewable energy and heat. – University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (STARS Gold, Feb. 4, 2012, IN #1)

By submitting innovation topics through STARS, institutions are encouraged to share their stories on the actions they are taking to promote positive change. Whether an institution is large or small, well-funded or under-resourced, in an arid climate or in a cold climate, each is uniquely positioned to bring about both incremental and revolutionary change.

We hope that readers will help shape future SQR releases by providing ideas on future topics or follow-up stories. Please send your ideas to stars@aashe.org or provide your comments below.

Last night I received the following update from Kim Smith who has been at the Rio+20 events this past week:

Each day at Rio+20 brings volumes of new information about the state of our planet, the actions of civil society, and the conflicts between the governments. It is hard to reconcile my feelings between the contrasts of meeting so many amazing people who give me hope for the future and learning about the growing devastation of ecosystems and wondering, truly, if we will be able to respond fast enough. Not only do our governments have to lead a coherent and collaborative effort to create systems that facilitate major changes quickly, but our media must give accurate and solution-based information in order to educate, empower, and engage our citizens in actions to make a difference. There really is no other option and there is no time to wait. It is unfortunate that the US, Canada, Russia, and Venezuela are obstructing much of the progress.

I truly believe that higher education must be a leader in these efforts but we will not be effective unless we have a systems-based approach where our political, economic and social institutions work closely in collaboration with education across all ages and in much more applied and practical ways. The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, launched by UNESCO and led by UN Asst Secretary Elizabeth Thompson, is a start, as it raises the recognition of higher education’s contributions to sustainable development efforts.

More of the issues themselves have been addressed by the non-profits. From struggling ocean ecosystems ("our blue heart") and mountain top removal to the extinction of indigenous cultures and the status of farmers, NGOs are leading the actions at the People's Summit, a huge civil society event coinciding with the Rio Summit. In the last few days, I have been fortunate to hear Vandana Shiva, Marina Silva, a woman from La Via Campesina, Sylvia Earle, Ted Turner, a team from the TARA ocean research project, and Ban Ki-Moon himself. They are all calling for global change.

This culminated yesterday in a huge march, with 1000s of NGO activists, students, and professors protesting in the streets. So intense, with countless signs, costumes, and voices. I feel blessed to have happened upon the education protests in Cinelandia. According to some students from another Brasilian state, the students and professors are really struggling with funding and resources, given World Bank structural loan adjustments. While we all make calls for sustainable education, many people are frustrated that the mission is not backed up with resource support.

I have been on the search for Hillary Clinton, who arrived yesterday. I hope to hand her information on our education efforts, but I cannot promise I will be able to connect with her. All of the world leaders are followed closely by security. They have actually given students and workers several days off in Rio to simply lighten the load on the transportation systems in town. The cavalcades for the delegates are particularly disruptive, with huge police escorts.

Despite all if the traffic, I cannot speak more highly of the kindness and hospitality of the Cariocas (Rio residents). I rarely have no trouble finding a place, as Brasilians will often go out of their way to help you and some even walk you to your destination.

As the heads of state have been meeting in Rio the past two days there appears to be little effort or desire to take on changing the text of the draft outcomes document that was provided by the Brazilian hosts at the beginning of the official conference. That document, that essentially eliminated all of the bracketed text (areas of disagreement), has been criticized as being watered down and a step backwards. The spokesperson for the NGO Major Groups has called the document a failure while others, including US negotiator Todd Sterns have been less critical. Stern said:
We have done some important things institutionally, including significantly strengthening UNEP in the UN system, also establishing a new high-level forum on sustainable development in the UN in New York focusing on a variety of ways to manage our vital natural resources more effectively and efficiently. And I think all of these things will not in any sense by themselves-but we hope push in a direction where sustainable development proceeds and we more and more have the ability, as was first discussed in the 1987 Brundtland Report, to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. And that is a nice kind of summary of what sustainable development is all about.

Despite a number of media, especially in the US, characterizing the conference as an environmental meeting, the draft outcomes document paints a very different picture. The second statement reiterates a major issue of the Brundtland report. It reads: Eradicating poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and is an indispensable requirement for sustainability development. In that regard, we are committed to free humanity from poverty and hunger as a matter of urgency.

After the preliminary introductory comments and confirmations, Section III is entitled, “Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication." After a number of affirmations of existing and new principles, the paragraphs become a list of we recognize, we encourage, we acknowledge, we invite statements.

Section IV of the document, Institutional framework for sustainable development begins with subsection A – Strengthening the three dimensions of sustainable development. It is in section V. Framework for action and follow-up that we find the Thematic areas listed. The include: Poverty eradication; Food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture; Water and sanitation; Energy; Sustainable tourism; Sustainable transport; Sustainable cities and human settlements; Health and population; Oceans and seas; Small island developing States (SIDS); Least developed countries; Landlocked least developed countries; Africa; Regional efforts; Disaster risk reduction; Climate change; Forests; Biodiversity; Desertification; Land degradation and drought; Mountains; Chemicals and waste; Sustainable consumption and production; Mining; Education; and Gender equality and women’s empowerment.

There is more after that about implementation, financing, technology, capacity building, and trade. I think an important point is that the framework for the document provided by the list in IV.A. provides a pretty good idea as to why it may be hard to get agreement to strong language. In some ways it’s soup to nuts and in other ways it seems to be cherry-picking what counts and what is important in sustainable development.

It appears to me that if little changes in the document itself, the real outcomes of Rio+20 will mainly be in the various commitments made by civil society to hold themselves and their governments accountable for much more than is specified in these documents.

Earlier this morning the official opening of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) occurred amid dreams, hopes and disappointment. The watering down of the language to achieve greater levels of agreement has resulted in a many NGOs rejecting the document and declaring the conference a failure. Other have continued to point to the commitments that have been saved, particularly those that reaffirm previous environmental and human right declarations, as a sign of success.

With respect to the efforts of the higher education sustainability associations, here is a quote from Leanne Denby, President of the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (who were the lead in the Aiming Higher side event): The side event went well, and we pulled a decent crowd despite the lateness of the evening. There appeared to be general consensus from the delegates that tertiary education does play a critical role in realising sustainable development, but needs to be supported with the active participation of business, government and youth. In particular, tertiary education needed to stop teaching 'unsustainability', and ensure the research it undertook went towards finding solutions to ongoing environmental and social issues. I just received the following comment from Harriet Sjerps Jones who serves on the Board of Directors of our UK partner, Environmental Association of Colleges and Universities (EAUC): In the released final outcome document draft, 229-235 sections are allocated to education and "higher educational institutions" are mentioned in section 235. I am sure that our concerted efforts definitely affected the final draft.

For those of you who would like to see where the discussions started today, the final draft can be found at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/19/rio-20-future-we-want-... .
Below is the excerpt that Harriet referenced:

Education

229. We reaffirm our commitments to the right to education and in this regard, we commit to strengthen international cooperation to achieve universal access to primary education, particularly for developing countries. We further reaffirm that full access to quality education at all levels is an essential condition for achieving sustainable development, poverty eradication, gender equality and women's empowerment as well as human development, for the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals, as well as for the full participation of both women and men, in particular young people. In this regard, we stress the need for ensuring equal access to education for persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, local communities, ethnic minorities and people living in rural areas.
230. We recognize that the younger generations are the custodians of the future, as well as the need for better quality and access to education beyond the primary level. We therefore resolve to improve the capacity of our education systems to prepare people to pursue sustainable development, including through enhanced teacher training, the development of curricula around sustainability, the development of training programmes that prepare students for careers in fields related to sustainability, and more effective use of information and communication technologies to enhance learning outcomes. We call for enhanced cooperation among schools, communities and authorities in efforts to promote access to quality education at all levels.
231. We encourage Member States to promote Sustainable Development awareness among youth, inter alia, by promoting programmes for non-formal education in accordance with the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
232. We emphasize the importance of greater international cooperation to improve access to education including through building and strengthening education infrastructure, increasing investment in education particularly investment to improve the quality of education for all in developing countries. We encourage international educational exchanges and partnerships, including the creation of fellowships and scholarships to help achieve global education goals.
233. We resolve to promote Education for Sustainable Development and to integrate sustainable development more actively into education beyond the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).
234. We strongly encourage educational institutions to consider adopting good practises in sustainability management on their campuses and in their communities with the active participation of inter alia students, teachers, and local partners, and teaching sustainable development as an integrated component across disciplines.
235. We underscore the importance of supporting educational institutions, especially higher educational institutions in developing countries, to carry out research and innovation for sustainable development, including in the field of education, to develop quality and innovative programmes, including entrepreneurship and business skills training, professional, technical, vocational training and lifelong learning, geared to bridging skills gaps for advancing national sustainable development objectives.

News junkies will be pleased to see that there is a wealth of international coverage and some stories are starting to emerge here in the US and Canada. If you want a running commentary see the blog at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/jun/20/rio-20-earth-summit-live-blog.

As the negotiations continue at both Rio+20 and the G-20 Summit I'm seeing reports of both hope and fear. The hope seems to be coming from the non-government and business sectors and the fear from the government diplomats and delegates. At Rio there is little progress other than watering down the provisions of the outcomes document so that there will be greater agreement. I've been following the international press's take on Rio and last night I noticed that there was typically a new story being posted from around the world every 15 minutes. Unfortunately many of the stories confirm my fears that the Rio+20 is turning into a backtracking on key issues that were addressed 20 years ago and the US is leading the backtracking. Nonetheless there is hope that the various discussions here will lead to commitments to do more to advance sustainable development.

Yesterday was the higher education sustainability associations' side event. Below is Kim Smith's report from the presentation:

"Do you remember the lovely young girl who blew all of the delegates away in 1992? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY Well, Severn Suzuki is all grown up and is still doing amazing work. I didn't actually realize it was her when she was speaking on a panel about climate change today until everyone started taking pictures of her at the end. She is still as articulate, as ever, but poignantly stated that she is ashamed of her country, Canada. At least I got a chance to give her my card with AASHE's website on it and a flyer for our presentation.

She didn't come to our higher education presentation but plenty of others did. Over 60 people came to our session, even though it was from 7:30 to 9:00. http://www.uncsd2012.org/index.phppage=view&nr=1224&type=230&menu=38 We were able to share many examples of all of the good work being done by colleges all over the world. Alas, some rather dry presentations put a damper on the enthusiasm in the room, but the Higher Education Treaty appeared to be received well and many people asked some deep questions about the role of the UN, how to change values, how to address equity issues, government support, and the role of developing countries.

A rather maddening experience for all involved was the last-minute shuffling of the Side Event locations. Given the unresolved negotiations, the delegates basically commandeered the pavilion in which we were supposed to present and the poor Summit organizers had to rearrange all of the rooms. This required some scrambling on our part and has created a lot of frustrated people, but, again, 60 people found us and shared in our commitment to supporting higher education in sustainable development.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I am particularly looking forward to attending the launch of the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative and then going to Vandana Shiva's talk called "Women Leading the Way: Mobiliizing for an Equitable, Resilient and Thriving Future" http://www.uncsd2012.org/index.php?page=view&type=1000&nr=614&menu=126

We will continue to cross our fingers that some big decisions will be made in Rio to create a clear global vision for a sustainable future."

A handout was provided to delegates attending the side event and will continue to be distributed throughout the conference.

The international sustainability scene is getting increasingly complex. Not only is UNCSD aka Rio+20, the world’s biggest meeting on sustainability, taking place this week but the agenda for the G-20 Economic Summit (today and tomorrow) includes discussions about “promoting sustainable development with a focus on infrastructure, energy efficiency, green growth and financing the fight against climate change.”

I think it is an incredibly good sign that the G-20 is bringing international monetary policy together with sustainable development. From what I am reading in the international press, the disconnect between macroeconomics, the green economy, and the elimination of poverty seems to be a major problem in getting agreement among the diplomats at Rio+20. Last Friday, the final Preparatory Committee Meeting resulted in agreement on less than 40% of the outcomes document. The UN passed the document to the Brazil government who as host is charged with further development in bringing the document to the conference. Brazil now has presented a longer but more focused document for discussion that more clearly represents the positions of the countries in the developing world. According to some sources, the US, Canada, and European Union have been blocking many measures in the original zero draft document on the basis of economic issues (free trade, intellectual property rights, responsibility for payments). There are concerns that a final outcomes document will fail to confirm the original principles of the Earth Summit and will fail to provide Sustainable Development Goals to replace or supplement the Millennium Development Goals,, let alone provide funding to make anything happen.

On a more optimistic note, several events in Rio indicate that progress will be made despite the failure of diplomats to come to agreement. There have been a number of commitments and healthy discussion coming from the Corporate Sustainability Forum, particularly on public reporting of sustainability efforts. Microsoft has committed to net zero carbon emissions. Another announcement was the signing of the Natural Capital Declaration by 37 major financial institutions that commit them to work towards integrating natural capital considerations into their products and services.

Today, as the side events continue, a consortium of higher education sustainability associations will be presenting the side event Aiming Higher, Unlocking Tertiary Education's Potential to Accelerate Sustainable Development and the Transition to a Fair and Green Economy. Dr. Kim Smith of Portland Community College will represent AASHE at that meeting. Last night I received the following update in an email from Kim.

"It has already been an incredible two days. The Earth Summit is a conference to beat all conferences. Every issue related to sustainability and the green economy is being discussed, with fascinating and thought-provoking presentations in the RioCentro Pavilions given by experts all over the world. One talk yesterday on glaciers was particularly fascinating, as was an amazing talk on sustainability and the education system in India. An Indian girl came up with a new slogan: "Increase your handprint! Decrease your footprint!" They are all talking about how to turn all of these words into actions.

There also are amazing exhibits at Athlete's Park (to be used for the Olympics in 2016), like a World Expo. I took many pictures there today and learned a great deal about different countries' sustainability efforts.

I also am having lively conversations with people from all over the world, and am pleased to report that many people have been very supportive of higher education. I have definitely been networking and have given away all 100 of the flyers for our presentation. It was particularly good to meet some youth from the EU Student Forum the first day, as we have been supporting each other's efforts. It was wild to have them engage in a debate about the economic state of Europe. Truly, I cannot make this up: a German, English/Greek, and Belgian walk into a bar.... drink caipirinhas and totally duke it out over capitalism, socialism, taxes, subsidies, health care, the elderly, the stratification of 27 countries, German wages, and what to do with Greece. I was in awe! They are doubtful that the EU will be able to agree upon the treaty. I was able to give them quite a lot of problematic examples from the United States as well. Alas, each day, the UN picks a delegation that does the least to support the Summit and sustainability efforts. They call them the "fossil" of the day. The first day it was the United States (very embarrassing). The second was Canada. It is not too easy to represent North America when everyone thinks that we are a bunch of idiots....

It is incredible how contentious it is and how cynical some of the bureaucrats are as to whether we actually will be able to turn all of the words into actions and solve the problem in time... Of course, it doesn't help that so many in the US don't even believe that there is a problem. The number of people all over the world who believe we are in crisis are staggering compared to the US. Our media truly does such a disservice in educating the public about crucial issues and providing good information on the solutions."