Thanks to John Kester for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

A Service Learning Course that Engages a Student Workforce to Help Implement Stanford's Sustainability Programs

Jiffy Vermylen, representing Sustainable Stanford, kicked off the afternoon session describing an interactive class at the university entitled, Greening Buildings and Behavior (Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Systems 109). This course exemplifies the collaboration of academic and institutional efforts for sustainability.

The climate action plan of Stanford points out a significant wedge for achieving goals of carbon neutrality is through behavioral change. In this engaging service learning class, Cardinal students conduct audits as part of practitioner labs visiting buildings around campus assessing environmental impacts and producing actionable recommendations. Incorporated into the physical audits is observation of behavior, which ties into the climate action plan?s acknowledgment of socially-driven change.

Students interact with both operational staff and academic professors to encounter a range of topics regarding sustainability at Stanford. With such strong interests in the course, internships for the office of sustainability are competitive drawing on much of the work in the Greening Buildings and Behavior class to contend for the positions. The ability of Sustainable Stanford increases with these students? efforts.

Once the classroom?s knowledge is translated to action in the school?s building retrofits, students connect their impact to empowerment. Interns driving this action follow up their year-long appointments to train the next year?s cohort. The cycle continues as more people gain experience, and more tangible results are gained for sustainability at Stanford.

Reports and updates can be found at Sustainable Stanford?s website (http://ssu.stanford.edu/) and Jiffy Vermylen encourages contacting her with any further questions (jiffy.vermylen@stanford.edu).

John Kester
PhD Student, Environmental Dynamics
University of Arkansas
573-286-4482

Thanks to Benjamin Newton for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

The Power of Community Colleges to Create the Green Economy: Leadership- A Key to
Success
Session B Partnerships, Sustainable Jobs 11:00-12:00
Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN)
Jerry Weber President College of Lake County

Presented by:
Julie Elzanti Executive Director IGEN
Robert Hilgenbrink Treasurer and Financial Advisor IGEN

First Speaker: Allessandra Cairo Manager Communications IGEN

I. What is IGEN?
Almost half of all undergraduate students are now studying at community
colleges.

President led consortium of all 48 Illinois Community Colleges

Provides a platform for collaboration among all colleges to identify,
establish, share best practices and promote sustainability projects and
initiatives

Financial support from Illinois Governor’s office, Illinois Dept. of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and United States Dept. of
Education, Energy, and Labor.

Vision: to position the Illinois community college system as a global
leader in transforming education and economy for a sustainable future

Second Speaker: Alessandra Cairo

II. History and Success of IGEN

i. Funding History Timeline
2008-2009 develop community college sustainability center (10
colleges)

November 2009 12 college sustainability centers

July 2011 20 College sustainability centers

3 months ago received 19 million in funding

Third Speaker- Robert Hilgenbrink

Bottom up approach from students and faculty
Administrative master planning of the network
ii. Presidents Steering Committee
iii. Network Success
Leadership and collaboration across all community colleges and
communities in the network is the key to IGEN success

Virtual and physical centers
- Database developed to enter in all activities in the
Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN)
Green Jobs training programs
200 community members participate in College of Lake County
Community Partners for Sustainability

Many buildings LEED certified or any new development at campuses.

III. Future of IGEN- Alessandra Cairo
12 sustainability centers will expand to 20 centers

4 green economy centers

1. Community Colleges drive green economy
2. Lake County- Green County event
   Lake County discussions of Greening of Lake County
   Green Business Website for networking
   Weatherization program for upper and middle class homes

Chicago example- Julie Elzanti
The Plant
90% of the materials are recycled in the building
Waste to energy process of tilapia fish farm, brewery, and other sustainable
food companies such as 321 in Chicago at The Plant, which grows fresh herbs
in modular units

Enables colleges to partner with community
Community gardens- Local Food Economies- Food Hubs 95% food dollars
sent out of state, even though Illinois is a huge agricultural state

SEED funding
Green Career Pathways consortium
Energy Efficiency Equipment Bulk Purchasing
Energy Efficiency and training program
Task Force and Work Groups

Best Practice Packages- local foods, equipment loan programs to contractors,
electric vehicles

Collaboration among community colleges in IGEN is KEY to success

Website
IGEN members only section
www.igencc.org

IGEN Network news
www.igencc.org/Network-News

IGEN Communication preferences- email communication system from all
colleges across Illinois

IV. Report Database System
Activity reports and sustainability initiatives- can submit as you go within a
date range with all colleges
Can see what other colleges across state have submitted
Upload marketing materials
Invoices- fiscal agent SWIC, summary reports can be pulled up

V. Career Pathways Consortium
Dept. of Labor TAACCCT Grant

IGEN one of 32 grantees nationwide
- architecture and construction
- STEM
- Manufacturing

NTER System- Open source platform, Build 3D simulations, Performance based
testing,

-serves instructors
provides full range of instructional tools
-serves learners

-serves institutions

SEED- Sustainability Education and Economic Development

Question and Answer

1st question: How did you secure funding for IGEN?

Congressional Aides helped get funding Congressman and Senators to help get
earmarks (which are now more difficult to get)- locating a funding stream in a
political system through donations.

Younger generation lobbyists in Washington, D.C. helped in proposing ideas to
their state and federal representatives.

2nd question: How is the funding divided up between the community colleges in the
network?

Projects that are in the pipeline in the database will get initial consideration,
but overall collaborative administrative committee determines where funds are
allocated.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development has a major role
particularly in the area of Green jobs creation

Thanks to Katherine Fink for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Campus Sustainability Programs as a Tool for Building Student Leadership
David Whitman
Room 413
11:30-12:00

• Green values
• Grassroots democracy
• Decentralized

• Equality

• Sustainable Living Communities

• Inspirations
• Sustainable Carolina
  • Office of Sustainability
  • Learning Center for Sustainable futures
  • Green Quad
• Project teams
  • three campaigns
  • participants
    students
    grads
    faculty
• education team
• curriculum
• eco reps
  • restructured this year
  • was under hall government
  • program was dependent on one person
  • appointed
  • now a team
• green quad
• transformation team
  • planning
  • leadership
• traditional team
  • food
  • built environment
  • transportation
• Responsibility
  • set goals
  • train and mobilize others
  • recruit
  • STARS
  • previous years standards
• Labor Credits
  • required amount of hours
  • putting environmental club leaders in green teams

Thanks to Rachna Sharma for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Different Session – Hoping to get inputs from participants for Rio+20
Presented by Paul Rowland, Executive Director, AASHE
AASHE 2011

· US pays relatively less attention to UN Processes

· We have not taken up the opportunities available to us/responsibilities as a world citizen

· Original Rio meeting was focused on sustainability in education – outcome – Agenda 21

· Outside US, Agenda 21 is used for benchmarking / grant funding – paid attention to – not so much in states

· Chapter 36 – Talks about education, not much on higher education (~ 2 sentences on tertiary education)

· What do we expect to come out from Rio+20 – June 4 -7 coming year?

· Concern – It may leave out tertiary education’s (TE) role in education for sustainable development again.

· How do we move forward on making sure this does not happen?

· What are the deadlines for providing inputs/ ways to provide inputs?

· How can we make sure that there is language in the outcome document that would provide some leverage for tertiary education?

· Rio20 website - www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/ - Interesting information

· Framework for discussing the role of tertiary education in Sustainable Development at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) – At the AASHE website

· Compilation Document – November 1 (Deadline) – Public comments/ UN agencies/ others

· Trying to engage different groups – so that their inputs can reach the compilation document before the deadline in a collective manner – foundation to show that we need to make contributions to EST

· US Position is relatively secure

· If you were a delegate at Rio+20, what would you say about TE?

· How to provide inputs – on AASHE website (www.aashe.org/node/54492)

· 4 sets of questions as sort of a guideline on what to provide input on -

· What are the expectations from the outcome document/ its structure?


· What are the comments if any on existing documents -

· Sustainable development goals

· Revitalizing global partnerships

· What are the views on implementation and how to close the implementation gap? Which relevant actors are envisaged as being involved (Governments, Specific Major Groups, UN Systems)

· What specific cooperation mechanisms envisaged – relevant timeframes?

· Stated focus – Discuss and refine

· Green economy in context of sustainable development and poverty eradication

· Institutional framework for sustainable development

How would it help?
· Declarations and statements – remain just statements

· Institutional framework will help translate them – asking questions on efficiency and effectiveness, millennium development goals, who takes responsibility of what comes next

· Which UN agencies will be expecting to report which institutions on what – Accountability

· Content, focus, ambition and how they are translated to action

· Processes much too long and restrictive – thus hope of providing inputs directly to the compilation document and impress upon the fact that it’s not just individual/ AASHE but multiple international institutions

· US partnerships in this realm? – Not so much

Audience Interaction:

Question – What is the timeline to contribute in TE framework documents?
· Getting into compilation process is important.

· Delegates would then be taking the compiled version of draft documents obtained from during the compilation process

· March – International gathering to discuss before the Rio+20

Question – Is there a relationship between Rio-21 and UNFCCC/ other such UN Groups?
· 3 Major corps

· Texts don’t refer much to this relationship

· Lobbying groups attending – much stronger presence

· Good time to enter global conversation

Question – Are there any secondary resources helpful for people trying to understand UN processes for the first time?
·

Suggestion – Most effective way to ensure comments reach UN/ Summit is to – reach delegates
· Once the US delegates list is announced, send relevant documents to them

Challenges –
· Educators have no official voice in how these things take shape.

· Recognized list of stakeholders – education not a part of this list, YOUTH is

· Address the gap – What is the role of educators in this whole process?

· There is a huge difference between how educators view sustainable development and how the rest of the world views it; the hinge being poverty

· There is no reference to poverty alleviation in any of the AASHE documents

· Why do we only talk about green technology/ green jobs?

· Could include poverty alleviation as a clause in the compilation document.

Suggestion – UN is a huge organization – Many other groups may also be working on similar programs
· Example – Global compact signatories – introduce section in Rio+21 – addresses management education

· UNU – United Nations University – opening the doors of better economic participation – some leverage there.

· Connection to sustainability commitment coming out of UN in next 2 - 3 weeks?

· UN Global Compact Academia Group – Pilot schools to be involved in signatories to this declaration

Suggestion – (From Green Campus Initiative – Korea)
· Since the Focus of Rio+20 is on two different aspects - we should decide on what aspect can we provide some suggestions/ comments

· When discussing about Green Economy – Sustainable Development – education+ technology+ economics, thus educators can contribute comments here too.

· Institutional Framework – We have to change tertiary education fundamentally

· Our university education system is based on industrial age – growth oriented

· We are living in doomsday age – consuming more than what we have now

· Thus our education should be changed fundamentally – sustainability oriented education

How to provide inputs?

www.aashe.org/rio-comments

· Web Form

· Name

· Email

· Country

· Input on UNCSD Compilation Document

Why should we be doing this?

We should be dealing with such UN processes
We have the resources
· to understand these issues

· help others understand these issues

· act on these issues

These outcomes can influence how resources are deployed in countries.
Just waiting to see what happen is not being ‘globally responsible citizen’

Thanks to Russ Pierson for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Studying Sustainability Abroad from A European Perspective

Presented by:
Beth Mercer-Taylor, University of Minnesota
Christopher Bull, Brown University
Anette Birck, Danish Institute for Study Abroad
AASHE2011 / Monday, October 10, 2011 / 1:30 PM / Room 406

Why study abroad?
• Another perspective
• Hands on expeience and real-life case studies

Why choose Europe?
• An option that can supplement or prepare for doing a community service learning project in a developing country
• Environmental policy is one of the most important, far-reaching areas of EU legislation
• Continent-wide goal
• Europe 2020 strategy

Specifics:
• Renewable energy
• Waste management
• District heating
• Corporate Social responsibility
• Legliation and taxation
• Public transport
• Bike culture

==============

Beth

Short-Term Faculty-Led Abroad Studies
Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Context:
• Campus has a population of 80,000, with multiple colleges
• Located in downtown Minneapolis, 10 miles from St Paul
• A comprehensive university

Sustainability Studies Minor:
300 undergrads
3 elective courses
2 core courses
• Sustainable people, planet
• Sustainable communities, capstone project

Elective
3 electives from 4 categories:
• Economics and policy
• Social science and humanities
• Biophysical sciences
• Internship course option

Sustainable communities
Systems approach to addressing community

Aspirations for students
Principles and ethics, interdisciplinary.

Learning outcomes guide study experience

"We have to define ourselves, our own problems and our own way of doing it. Be your own center first." Soren Hermansen, Director of the Energy Academy

"Think local. Act local."

Samso Island, part of Denmark but 2 miles from land. Made transition from fuel oil to wind and solar, net neutral. Community of 5000 people.

Visits to farm that is also a wind farm.

Malmo, Sweden
Green roof, city across bridge from Copenhagen.

==============

Chris

Independent Research Abroad
Christopher Bull, Brown University

International experience builds local sustainability.

You wind up with something tangible, some action.

Right people, right institutions and programs, right ideas to work on, and the right actions.

Right Idea
Extended producer responsibility
"A strategy designed to promote the integration of environmental costs associated with goods throughout their life cycles into the market price of products."

Right People
Connecting a student with an activist and the right professor in the study abroad program.

Institutions and Programs
Brown University:
• Global independent study project
• Brown Environmental Fellows
Danish Insitiute for Study Abroad
• Sustainability in Europe
Clean Water Action (Rhode Island)
• extended producer
• responsibility framework

The student "breathes in" the sustainability culture in Europe and returns to put what they've learned into practice.

===============

Anette

About DIS
Founded in 1959
High quality English programs
Works with 170 US universities
Unique, cutting-edge European based programs
Guides students tovbecome global leaders
Faculty are professionals and experts in their field
Programs include experiential learning
• hands on
• field study

Two sustainability and environment programs:
• Sustainability in Europe
• Science and the environment
Inspire students
Attract interdisciplinary students as well as environmental studies students

Core courses and 3-4 electives.

Denmark: strongly committed to Sustainable development

Experiential learning
• link class theory with outside world
• field studies

Study Tours
3-day tour towestern Denmark, southern Sweden or Northern Germany
6-day tour later to UK, Germany, etc. or to ...
Greenland

Experiential learning also offers time for reflection

Case study:
• Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy
• Hamburg, European Green Capital 2011
• Berlin, Urban Gardening and Ufa Fabrik
• Totnes, Transition Town. Becoming independent of fossil fuels.
• Greenland. Climate change from a historic perspective.

Extracurriculars and campus life:
Interdisciplinary seminars each week
Sustainability task force
DIScover Sustainability Blog: discoversustainability.foursquarespace.com
DIS Living and Learning Community
Host family immersion

Q & A:
• Finances. Denmark can be a little more expensive than some countries. Customization options can save money. Some universities have set up special scholarship programs. U Minn has a goal of 50% of their students studying abroad. $5000 for a 24-day trip. Short-term trips can make it difficult to arrange host families.
• Behavior change. Are there quantifiable indicators that these trips are leading to positive behavior change? There has been no more study, but certainly it is true anecdotally, though it is a complex issue.
• Frustration. Students can be frustrated coming back to the different context in the US. There isn't any formal support system, but it could be implemented at the institutional level.
• Intercultural learning. The UMinn does do some advance intercultural learning.

Presenter: Maxwell Cunningham

William & Mary is a suburban campus in Virginia. About 5,800 undergrads. A public university. Sustainability at W&M is an emerging field. Student Environmental Action Coalition has existed for many years, but committee on sustainability emerged more recently.

Presenter's focus is on improving sustainability in transportion: carpooling, public transit usage, and maybe offsetting. They had never found a offset program that matched their needs in the past.

On a basic level, an offset is compensation for activities that can't be avoided -- to make up for it, we look for a project that is reducing emissions, and we help that project along.

Most offset providers (e.g. Native Energy, Renewable Choice Energy) cater to large scale entities or corporations with large scale carbon reducing projects. W&M does not kind of money needed to make the big $$ donations that these companies generally broker. The broker's are sometimes for-profit companies that don't disclose all information about where the money is going when you pay them for offsets.

For individuals, these brokers may not be entirely suitable partners. W&M decided to launch their own offset program with 100% of the money going to campus project to reduce GHG emissions. Members of W&M community could offset their own activities by contributing to this fund.

For example, a student might offset one metric ton of GHG emissions associated with a round-trip flight to Asia by paying $114 into the fund.

Right now, the program is still in an experimental phase. It was launched last May during exam time. Now they are promoting the program to the wider community.

The audience that they will reach: the "core" who are the students enrolled and faculty and staff who cater directly to those students. Study Abroad department, for example, is a great target. Also, commuters who would be interested in offsetting emissions associated with their travel.

Another group worth marketing to: alumni. People who have also had trouble finding an opportunity that is appropriate to their scale and their needs and provide transparency in use of funds. Conference participants at W&M might also choose to buy these local offsets.

What this program has to offer:

• Putting offsetting on a local level
• Involving people in campus-based sustainability initiative driving toward carbon neutrality
• Education of participants

Additional Information from the Q&A

There is an online calculator for emissions. The website for the program is http://offset.wm.edu. There you can find a list of activities that an individual might be interested in offsetting. The online calculator will help users determine how much to donate.

The website interface was designed internally at W&M.

In response to concerns about additionality, W&M chooses projects to fund with this program that would not be implemented otherwise. There is no 3rd party verifying the offsets, however.

The program right now is open to any contributor, inside or outside the university. An audience member suggested that there needs to be attention paid to who is claiming which offsets to avoid double-dip accounting.

Specific projects that have been proposed for implementation through this fund: Replacing HVAC systems in old buildings. These are projects that were not slated to be completed otherwise, but have significant energy savings associated with them.

Marketing: They are struggling with that right now. Including flyers in the study abroad packet. May send out info to conference attendees.

Carbon emissions are estimated using Terrapass method. Carbon reductions on projects were estimated by the campus energy manager. Planning on charging about $114 per metric ton.

Offsets are not currently registered through any third party.

W&M has not yet considered a revolving loan fund to finance the projects in question. But this offset program may have its own merits beyond financing the projects.

Thanks to Russ Pierson for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Studying Sustainability Abroad from A European Perspective

Presented by:
Beth Mercer-Taylor, University of Minnesota
Christopher Bull, Brown University
Anette Birck, Danish Institute for Study Abroad
AASHE2011 / Monday, October 10, 2011 / 1:30 PM / Room 406

Why study abroad?
• Another perspective
• Hands on expeience and real-life case studies

Why choose Europe?
• An option that can supplement or prepare for doing a community service learning project in a developing country
• Environmental policy is one of the most important, far-reaching areas of EU legislation
• Continent-wide goal
• Europe 2020 strategy

Specifics:
• Renewable energy
• Waste management
• District heating
• Corporate Social responsibility
• Legliation and taxation
• Public transport
• Bike culture

==============

Beth

Short-Term Faculty-Led Abroad Studies
Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Context:
• Campus has a population of 80,000, with multiple colleges
• Located in downtown Minneapolis, 10 miles from St Paul
• A comprehensive university

Sustainability Studies Minor:
300 undergrads
3 elective courses
2 core courses
• Sustainable people, planet
• Sustainable communities, capstone project

Elective
3 electives from 4 categories:
• Economics and policy
• Social science and humanities
• Biophysical sciences
• Internship course option

Sustainable communities
Systems approach to addressing community

Aspirations for students
Principles and ethics, interdisciplinary.

Learning outcomes guide study experience

"We have to define ourselves, our own problems and our own way of doing it. Be your own center first." Soren Hermansen, Director of the Energy Academy

"Think local. Act local."

Samso Island, part of Denmark but 2 miles from land. Made transition from fuel oil to wind and solar, net neutral. Community of 5000 people.

Visits to farm that is also a wind farm.

Malmo, Sweden
Green roof, city across bridge from Copenhagen.

==============

Chris

Independent Research Abroad
Christopher Bull, Brown University

International experience builds local sustainability.

You wind up with something tangible, some action.

Right people, right institutions and programs, right ideas to work on, and the right actions.

Right Idea
Extended producer responsibility
"A strategy designed to promote the integration of environmental costs associated with goods throughout their life cycles into the market price of products."

Right People
Connecting a student with an activist and the right professor in the study abroad program.

Institutions and Programs
Brown University:
• Global independent study project
• Brown Environmental Fellows
Danish Insitiute for Study Abroad
• Sustainability in Europe
Clean Water Action (Rhode Island)
• extended producer
• responsibility framework

The student "breathes in" the sustainability culture in Europe and returns to put what they've learned into practice.

===============

Anette

About DIS
Founded in 1959
High quality English programs
Works with 170 US universities
Unique, cutting-edge European based programs
Guides students tovbecome global leaders
Faculty are professionals and experts in their field
Programs include experiential learning
• hands on
• field study

Two sustainability and environment programs:
• Sustainability in Europe
• Science and the environment
Inspire students
Attract interdisciplinary students as well as environmental studies students

Core courses and 3-4 electives.

Denmark: strongly committed to Sustainable development

Experiential learning
• link class theory with outside world
• field studies

Study Tours
3-day tour towestern Denmark, southern Sweden or Northern Germany
6-day tour later to UK, Germany, etc. or to ...
Greenland

Experiential learning also offers time for reflection

Case study:
• Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy
• Hamburg, European Green Capital 2011
• Berlin, Urban Gardening and Ufa Fabrik
• Totnes, Transition Town. Becoming independent of fossil fuels.
• Greenland. Climate change from a historic perspective.

Extracurriculars and campus life:
Interdisciplinary seminars each week
Sustainability task force
DIScover Sustainability Blog: discoversustainability.foursquarespace.com
DIS Living and Learning Community
Host family immersion

Q & A:
• Finances. Denmark can be a little more expensive than some countries. Customization options can save money. Some universities have set up special scholarship programs. U Minn has a goal of 50% of their students studying abroad. $5000 for a 24-day trip. Short-term trips can make it difficult to arrange host families.
• Behavior change. Are there quantifiable indicators that these trips are leading to positive behavior change? There has been no more study, but certainly it is true anecdotally, though it is a complex issue.
• Frustration. Students can be frustrated coming back to the different context in the US. There isn't any formal support system, but it could be implemented at the institutional level.
• Intercultural learning. The UMinn does do some advance intercultural learning.

Thanks to Russ Pierson for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

The Power of Community Colleges to Create the Green Economy: Leadership: A Key to Success

AASHE 2011, Monday, October 10, 2011 / Room 406 / 11:00 AM

Moderator: Julie Elzanati, Illinois Green Economy Network
Presenter: Jerry Weber, College of Lake County;
Session Organizer: Allessandra Cairo, Illinois Green Economy Network;
Presenter: Robert Hilgenbrink, Southwestern Illinois College/IGEN

Summary:
This panel presentation addresses building successful partnerships across broad sectors including higher education, government, business, non-profits and communities. The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) is an innovative partnership between the state's 48 community colleges, businesses and local communities serving as a national model for sustainability and green workforce development in the United States. IGEN was formed in 2008 as a leadership initiative of the college presidents and the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB). IGEN began implementing substantial collaborative programs throughout the state. These programs focus on greening college campuses, greening curriculum, greening communities and green workforce development. Today, the Network provides funding for 22 sustainability professionals who are employed at various community colleges across the state. The outreach, scope and magnitude for substantial change is tremendous. The Network, through these collaborations and partnerships is able to focus on the critical problems we can solve together, but cannot solve alone. If you are interested in a conversation that places the higher education sector within this broader context of successful partnerships in the emerging green economy, this panel presentation is for you.

Introduction

Julie Elzanati:
The power of community colleges to create the green economy with a focus on leadership.

Almost half of all undergrad students in US are at community colleges. Community colleges are nimble and empowered.

What is IGEN?

Illinois Green Economy Network
Presidents were gathered speaking about sustainability initiatives, AASHE, etc. Community colleges already collaborating across the State, but a sustainability network had not yet been formed.
• president-led consortium of 48 community colleges
• platform for collaboration
• financial support from state agencies, US Departments of Education, Energy and Labor

Started in 2008 with four college sustainability centers and a $490,000 Illinois DCEO start-up grant. Significant growth in funding history. Now over 20 centers. Just received $19,366,375 from US Department of Labor (TAACCCT)

==========

Jerry Weber
History and success of IGEN

Vision: to position the Illinois Community College system as a global leader
* Green careers
* Curriculum
* Communities
* Campuses

Accomplishments:
* Hired admin team
* Funding for college professionals
* Funded personnel
* Awarded seed funding
* Created financial officers committee

Walking the talk: a working network
* campus demonstrations
* curriculum development
* etc

Sustainability coordinators focus work on their campus
Admin agent to IGEN, etc.

STARS, ACUPCC, AASHE, state initiatives

Green jobs programs- included in curricula

Community partners: over 200 community partners with multiple peer-to-peer exchanges addressing many audiences:
* Students
* Community
* Sustainability
* Master plan

Robert Hilgenbrink
Talked about IGEN Leaders

Focus on Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC)
Located near St. Louis

More leadership from the top, got board involved, developed leadership team now owned by students and faculty. Master planning was a board initiative, insured LEED certification for all projects.

Allessandra Cairo
Talked about Future of IGEN

FY 12 initiatives
Include expansion of sustainability centers, green economy centers, best practice packages, Green Career Pathway consortium, purchasing, task force and work groups, energy efficiency training and education, website.

Online communications:
• IGEN Members Only section. Private area for discussions.
• IGEN's Network News. Highlights initiatives and events, organization building section.
• IGEN communication Preferences. Helps streamline communications to the right personnel.

Report Database System
Place to report on activities and programs taking place on each campus as a result of IGEN program dollars. Can be submitted a bite at a time, compare with peers, do custom reporting. All grants, documentation can be tracked in this system.

==========

Robert Hilgenbrink
Talked about Green Career Pathways Consortium

$19.37 million awarded
Dvelop comprehensive program in
Architecture and construction science
STEM
Etc.

Major feature: use of Department of Energy NTER System
* serves instructors
* serves Learners
* Open source platform
* Supports traditional, advanced training models
* Includes authoring tools, performance-based testing

Delivery via online and hybrid, public domain
Adult transition service centers
Embed general education components to enable accelerated completion
Entrepreneurial resources

SEED: Sustainability Education and Economic Development
• 400 community colleges

Check out IGEN website.
Check out SEED website

==========

Q & A

• Funding distribution: Base funding provides for centers state-wide. Other funding varies.
• Use of lobbyist: went to Senate and key House offices, all congressional aides--who tend to be younger college grads. They immediately understood the value. Every congressman signed on to support the initiative. This was based on earmarks, a source now dried up.
• Funding approach: propose something that helps your funding partner.
• Structure of Community College system in Illinois: no State Chancellor, more autonomy to each district. Made it challenging to get every president to sign on initially.
• Founders: the was a team of presidents who initiated IGEN, the were also early grants that focused on collaboration which helped.
• Difference between Sustainability Center, Green Economy Center: sustainability centers are housed on each campus, green economy centers focus on partnerships and driving the development of the green economy within the state
• Food Hubs: focusing on legislation that is preventing the growth of local food sales. Also adds element of training, gardening, etc.
• Interstate cooperation: IGEN would be happy to coordinate interstate cooperation in developing web tools, etc.

Thanks to Russ Pierson for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

An Interdisciplinary Sustainability Coordinator Associate of Applied Science Degree at Lane Community College
Margaret Robertson, ASLA, Lane Community College
Claudia Owen, PhD, Lane Community College
AASHE 2011 Monday, October 10, 2011 / 2:50 PM / Room 411

Summary:
The Sustainability Coordinator Associate of Applied Science is an interdisciplinary degree developed through a collaborative process. It is the first program of its kind in the nation. Unlike other, discipline-specific degrees, this degree draws its interconnected content from across the curriculum. A set of professional outcomes was developed by team members, who then interviewed faculty and reviewed syllabi to find established courses which met these outcomes. 99 percent of the outcomes were met by existing courses; a 1-credit seminar by Lane's Sustainability Coordinator will meet the remaining one percent. This program provides leading-edge training for sustainability professionals while incurring no additional cost to the College.

This presentation will address how the degree was developed including the market survey of employers, development of outcomes, mapping outcomes to existing courses, and successes and challenges as the first cohort graduates.

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Sustainability Cooordinator degree
• Developed outcomes
• Matched course
• Full 2-year degree
• One course
• Cost: $0

Outcomes=Knowledge, skills and abilities

Skills for Sustainability Coordinators:
• Broad knowledge
• Systems thinking
• Critical thinking skills
• People skills

Step 1: Develop outcomes.
The most important thing you can do is get the outcomes right.

Sustainability as the discipline:
• New field, still emerging
• Interdisciplinary

How to develop a new degree?
No single, authoritative...
• Professional society
• Journal
• Body of knowledge

Sources:
• Job descriptions. But limited to what exists now.
• Surveys. But limited to what respondents already know.
Regional market surveys
ISSP practitioners survey
AASHE
• Literature
Books, articles, soewcific topics
Look for text from Margaret Robertson in 2012, Sustainability: Theory and Practice, outline available now.
• Other programs
You are welcome to use Lane's outcomes
• Advisory committees
• Collaboration: an approach modeled on natural systems.
Symbiosis: a fundamental process
Cooperation generates much of life on earth

Claudia

Info available, posted at AASHE and at lanecc.edu

Science outcomes:
Science foundation = how sustainable systems work
Tripe bottom line: environment, economics, equity all connected

Other Outcomes:
• Nuts and bolts skills for leaders
• Management
• Data analysis
• Measurements for indicator reports
• Leaders as change agents. Important!

World ahead will not be like it is now.

Margaret:

Summary of Outcomes
• science foundation
• tech skills
• managing orgs
• skills for change agents

Step 2: Map existing courses to outcomes
Researching existing courses:
• Catalog descriptions
• Review syllabi
• Interview instructors
• Data from sustainability infusion or environmental literacy program, if one exists.

Step 3: Identify gaps
At LCC, the gap was one percent, a one-credit course

Step 4: Create courses to fill gaps
• In house experts
• Community experts

Step 5: Align with your institution's graduation requirements

Claudia

We still need:
• Introductory course
• Capstone course

Challenges:

Collaboration
• Messy
• Field still forming
Tools for matching courses to outcomes
Developing new courses
• In-house experts
• Community experts

Working now on watershed science program
Hope to included more formal survey of instructors

Margaret

Building a cohort
• Big issue for interdisciplinary program

Q&A:
• Number of credits: approximately 90 in a quarter system
• How did you sell this to the administration, related to jobs? A market survey.
• Number of people in program: 20, not counting new students fall term
• This is the type of degree where a person can create their own job.
• Minors, customization: that is something we would work to improve.
• Oregon requirements: able to match sustainability-focused courses to the State requirements.
• LCC was able to match requirements of existing classes on file to insure sustainability infusion.
• There have been different models for creating these kinds of degrees, from minors to a Sustainability designation, etc.

Contact info:
• Claudia Owen, 541-463-4052 / owenc@lanecc.edu
• Margaret Robertson, 541-463-3143 / robertsonm@lanecc.edu
Sustainability Coordinator Degree: www.lanecc.edu/advtech/SUST/index.htm

The following is a transcript of Dr. Tim White's keynote from the 2011 AASHE Conference.

Good morning. It is indeed an honor to be asked to address this group of panelists, participants, and leaders in higher education on an issue of such tremendous importance – not just to those of us gathered in this room, but to society as a whole.

I will focus, today, on the roles of higher education in addressing the issue of sustainability.

I seek to cover four main points:

1. The Definition: The complexity of sustainability and all that it encompasses. Its full meaning has many dimensions, layers, impacts.

2. Two Myths and a Fact: What do we mean when we talk about quality of life? And how do we think about it? This gets to our values, both personal and societal.

3. The Issue: Why is this issue so urgent? What trends of population, consumption, technology, and the priorities make sustainability so challenging to address?

4. The Solution: How does this all come together? How must we best tackle such a complex, multi-faceted issue? How can we accelerate progress? What role can -- and should -- higher education play, not only in serving as a model for sustainability, but in transforming society?

And I wish to thank Tony Cortese, Cindy Giorgio, Frances Fernandez and John Cook for their generosity of ideas and effort in constructing this address.

Definition

Let’s start with the definition.

Sustainability. [pause]

A word that derives from the Latin “sustinere” (suss-ten-erry).
“Tenere” (ten-erry) means to hold, and “sus” mean up.

Hence, the root word “sustain” means to hold up, to maintain, to endure.

It is no accident that the second chapter of Rachel Carson’s landmark book is titled, “The Obligation to Endure.” We first started using the word “sustainable” in the context of the environment in the 1960s with the publication of Silent Spring and the emergence of a fledgling environmental movement.

Before long, that context broadened to include the economic and social dimension of sustainability, because tensions were already beginning to arise between environmental interests and those who felt this path stymied economic development and growth.

Of course, multiple political perspectives emerged and began to shape, and in some cases pervert, the dialogue around sustainability and public policy.

Soon scholars and humanitarians began talking about the human dimensions of sustainability – the inequity between those with access to resources and those without.

More particularly, they pointed to the poverty afflicting 3.2 billion people today who live without sanitation on less than $2.50 US per day, and the fact that the depletion and redistribution of limited natural resources were exacerbating the problem.

At the same time, sustainability became an intellectual and technological challenge for scientists and engineers:

• Could we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, improve waste management, limit the greenhouse effect?
• How, exactly, could we measure the toll human activities were exacting on our natural environment …the air, water, soils and seas?
• What could we learn from this information?
• What sea-change in policies are required to sustain our quality of life as the population grows and countries develop?

And, in the end, a realization:

• The bottom line in defining sustainability is that it is inextricably intertwined with not only our values, but our actions and behaviors - both personal and societal.

I will explore that issue more in a moment, but first let me discuss how this concept affects our definition of sustainability.

At its simplest, sustainability may be described as sustaining or improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of the Earth.

But this definition shortchanges any discussion of our values and behaviors …and the call to action implicit in any true commitment to a sustainable future.

This omission was addressed by the Earth Charter.

Formed in 2000 as the eventual outgrowth of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (i.e., the Brundtland Commission), the Earth Charter refers to, “a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.”

The Charter is built on the understanding that we must have a healthy and sustainable relationship with the earth in order to meet the basic needs of current and future generations.

The Earth Charter challenges us at a very visceral level – what will our legacy be?

This notion captures the full complexity and multiple dimensions of the concept of sustainability…the values we embrace, and the challenge that lies before us:

• Not a simple problem.
• Not a simple solution.
• But it simply must be solved…and universities and colleges will be the engine that does so.

Two Myths and a Fact
So let’s explore the issue of the values connected with sustainability with two myths and a fact.

Myth #1: Increased consumption is equated with success.

From the earliest civilization, 6000 or so years ago, humankind has equated the acquisition of goods as evidence of success. Early on, it was an issue of survival. More food, better shelter meant longer, healthier lives. But as we “evolved,” we wanted more. And more. And more.

Today many consider the most successful among us to be those with the largest homes, the fanciest clothes and furnishings, the most elegant cars, the latest technological gadgets, and the luxury to travel and consume, consume, consume.

This is a personal definition of success, the standard of living to which many aspire.

Looking at recent history through a strictly economic lens, we have been enormously successful by this definition.

Since 1950, the world economy has experienced a 10-fold growth, while personal income grew fourfold, significantly boosting our standard of living.

But is this really progress?

Ecologically, the answer is no. Our existing ecological footprint requires 1.5 Earths to sustain our current worldwide level of consumption. Already our “account” is overdrawn:

• Scientists have estimated we would need 4 to 5 Earths if everyone on the planet lived like the average American – a goal that many other nations are scrambling to attain.

• At some point, the celestial bank will have to foreclose…collapse, as Jared Diamond prophers.

And yet our appetite for growth, consumption, and new technologies is seemingly limitless.

In his 2011 book, World on the Edge, Lester Brown employs a simple but effective metaphor for the resulting degradation of resources and the speed at which this occurs:

• He describes a lily pond with one leaf in it on day 1,
• two leaves on day 2,
• four leaves on day 3, and so on,
• doubling the number of leaves each day. If the lily pond becomes completely full on day 30, on what day is it half full? [pause]
• Day 29.

Leaves in a pond is one thing. They can be seen and counted.

But the unintended consequences of exponential growth – and its corollary exponential decay – may not be noticed in time…unless there are people and agencies, namely colleges and universities, to provide science and rationale thinking to these issues – and then have them influence policy.

Frightening… And so much for Myth #1.

Myth #2: Better widgets = improved quality of life.

This myth is closely linked to myth #1, but it reflects the producer or industry perspective, rather than the individual.

Surely if a business can produce a bigger, flashier, faster widget, business is moving society forward and improving our quality of life, especially if the price is affordable and the producer turns a profit.

Is that not the business plan under which many companies operate? Is that not the premise underlying capitalism?

For example, with the recent passing of Steve Jobs, the eulogies speak convincingly of a better connected and informed life because of his genius.

But as we balance our consideration of such advances, we must consider whether a given company factors into the equation the true cost of producing widget 2.0?

• What fossil fuels were used in its production?
• How much water was consumed in cooling the manufacturing plant?
• What chemicals were released into the air, ground and water during the production process?
• How much fuel is used in the delivery system to get the widget to market? …
• and what are the true costs later-on of removing the product from the market?

Now, sometimes the manufacturer or consumer of a widget may actually be doing a public good, an environmentally responsible thing. Obvious examples:

• the manufacturer may be building a car that is more fuel efficient.
• The consumer may be replacing a 25-year-old refrigerator with one that requires less energy.

When consumption or production is coupled with positive, sustainable goals, it can be a public good.

But I would argue that, even in these instances, we often fail to take into account the full cost of developing, manufacturing, delivering, using and disposing of those widgets – the true life cycle.

In fact, manufacturers seldom factor the environmental costs into the price of the product they sell.

Lester Brown talks about gasoline as an example.

• At the time of his writing, pumping oil, refining it into gasoline, and delivering it to service stations cost roughly $3 per gallon before retail mark-up.
• But the indirect costs such as climate change, oil spills, respiratory illnesses, and our military presence in the Middle East to ensure that the oil keeps flowing, total $12 per gallon.
• A 4-fold increase in cost few consumers would bear but – more importantly – a cost for which no one, anywhere along the line, is held accountable.

To be fair and to be encouraged, the message is permeating some layers of business, government, labor leaders – and they are discovering that green can make very good business sense.

DuPont has saved $3 Billion since 1990 by reducing heat-trapping emissions by 72%.

And Interface, Inc., the world’s largest modular carpet manufacturer and one of the world’s leading companies in economic, social and ecological sustainability, netted $433 million with their zero-tolerance waste program.

The ten growing campuses of the University of California have committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG) and cutting energy costs by $36 million annually, with the goal of reducing our overall energy use

• 25% to 2000 GHG levels by 2014,
• and a 50% reduction by 2020 to reach 1990 GHG levels.
• We have embarked on three broad strategies:

1. ‘deep energy efficiency via e-saving retrofit projects;
2. obtain renewable energy from large-scale, mostly off-site, wholesale sources;
3. Procure biogas on a large scale for UC’s central plants.

So much for Myth #2.

Finally, the Fact: The Earth’s resources = finite.

Now, stop tweeting your colleagues that you just learned something new. Yes, we all understand this at an intellectual level. But our behavior – especially collectively - rarely reflects this understanding.

We continue to produce and consume as though the Earth’s natural resources will last forever. Or that it is somebody else’s problem and that I deserve a “pass” or “get out of jail free” card.

As though the consequences of climate change, habitat destruction, and over-consumption of natural resources can somehow be denied, or at least postponed for someone else to worry about.

In his book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond writes:

• “Perhaps a crux of success or failure is to know which core values to hold onto, and which ones to discard and replace with new values, when times change.”

Jim Collins in his Good to Great books points out that to be great:

• one needs to preserve core values and core purposes,
• but change cultural and operating practices,
• and adjust specific goals and strategies to get from here to there.

While we may have raised our collective consciousness, at least somewhat, in this country, I see little evidence that we are making sufficient change.

• And when times get tough – like now with the lingering economic malaise - it is easy to retreat from a forward leaning view.
• We have not struck a realistic and sustainable balance between quality of life and environmental responsibility.

A 2002 study by Mathis Wackernagel (Math-iss Wack-ur-nay-ghel) of the Global Footprint Network concluded that humanity’s collective demands surpassed the Earth’s regenerative capacity in 1980.

• Less than 20 years later, global demands on the earth’s natural systems exceeded sustainable yields by 35 percent.
• Indeed, we went into ecological overload for 2011 just last week.

And this fact brings us to where we are today.

The Issue
So the issue boils down to this:

*We are currently living, functioning, manufacturing, prospering in a way that is environmentally unsustainable. *

In the last 200 years, the earth’s population has grown from 1 to 6.7 billion people, a more than 6-fold gain. During this same period, energy consumption has increased 80-fold and economic output has risen 68-fold. And of that burgeoning population, 25 percent consumes 70 to 80 percent of the world’s resources.

Since 1960, the gap between the richest 20 percent of the population and the poorest 20 percent has increased 3 X .

At the same time, developing countries are building their infrastructures and economies – their consumption rapidly increasing – while, in their haste to catch up, they are paying insufficient attention to the impact on the Earth’s resources:

• We can hardly blame just the developing world…indeed developed countries keep developing more, further straining the Earth’s limited capacity.

Again, we call this progress.

• Is it?
• Can it be sustained?
• The answer, I assure you based on science, is clearly no.

In our zeal to be competitive, we have not taken the time to reach agreement on the Earth’s carrying capacity.

• Nor have we identified our collective responsibility to sustain its resources, nor
• adhere to the values that will lead to a prosperous, peaceful, and just global society for the current and future population that will likely reach 8.5 - 9 billion people in 40 years.

I agree with my colleague and friend Tony Cortese that this is arguably the greatest civilizational, moral and intellectual challenge that humanity – and therefore higher education – has ever faced.

• Business as usual will not work,
• and failure is not an option.

Yet there are bright spots.

No one was more influential in promoting that vision of a sustainable future than Kenyan Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, (Wan-gari Mad-aye ) whose plan to speak at this conference was sadly thwarted by her untimely death on Sept. 23, 2011.

She founded the Green Belt Movement, dedicated to replacing Kenya’s decimated forests. Her unique insight was that the lives of people in many developing countries would improve if economic and social progress went hand-in-hand with environmental protection.

She conceived the tree planting movement as a source of employment in rural areas, and a way to give new skills to Kenyan women in terms of power, education, nutrition and much else.

Her movement was not just about planting trees;

• it was about why trees are planted,
• the social side of how tree-planting works,
• the political work that accompanies it,
• and the vision that sees loss of forest as translating into lost prospects for people down the road.

And that brings us full circle, back to Rachel Carson, who concludes the second chapter of Silent Spring – the chapter titled “The Obligation to Endure” – with the words:

“The public must decide whether it wishes to continue on the present road, and it can do so only when in full possession of the facts.”

Solution: The Vital Role of Higher Education
I have discussed:

• The complexity of sustainability
• Two myths rooted in our personal and societal values and their collision with one incontrovertible fact, and
• The myriad issues that we face.

So where do these many challenges – environmental, economic, political, social, intellectual, technological, and cultural – all come together?

• Where can solutions to such multi-faceted issues be developed?
• Where can the public turn to gain “full possession of the facts?”
• Higher education.
• Solutions must be driven by us.
• Our institutions, the people in this room, and our university colleagues around the world.

From community colleges and small private institutions to huge public research universities, we have a unique role in untangling the myths, developing the facts, creating solutions, and providing overall leadership to the many and complicated dimensions of sustainability.

In order to walk the talk, we must study the talk and teach the talk.

The fact that you are here today probably means that you share the sentiment of one of my colleagues, John Cook, who heads up our sustainability efforts at the University of California, Riverside. John says, “If we can’t envision a university being sustainable, how can we expect society to achieve sustainability?”

Actually, there are probably two defined communities that could consider this question. One is colleges and universities. The other is prisons.

In both cases you have a defined population that spends time on campus for a finite period of time (except of course sentences for life) and a village full of a range of energy consuming and waste producing activities.

Prisons have the advantage of being able to force several behavior changes, generally don’t use shared governance, and certainly have more resources…at least in California prisons receive significantly greater percentage of the state’s budget – 11 % to 7% - than higher education.

Despite prisons “enduring” qualities, however, universities have the clear advantage…because we are cauldrons of innovation, experimentation, discovery and learning. And most importantly -- the opportunity to create human capital that will make a positive difference.

So let’s get back to John’s statement – it is richer than it may first appear.

• It implies that a university can be a model for the rest of the world.
• Also inherent in his words is the implication that a university has many of the necessary ingredients – the intellectual and technological resources – to become sustainable.
• But more than that, more than being a model for sustainability, institutions of higher education have as their mission the very elements – teaching, research, engagement and the powerful engine of faculty, students and post-docs – required to be agents of change.

We are in the business of knowledge: its acquisition, development, preservation and transfer.

Our research universities are acknowledged leaders in developing innovative technologies. And, even before the advent of the land grant university system in the U.S., higher education has engaged with its communities, training its sights on some of the most vexing issues facing our society.

Through this array of missions, higher education has the opportunity to provide leadership to the cultural transformation that will be necessary for our globe to be sustainable.

To be successful, our institutions, our students, our faculty, our staff – our very culture – must be imbued with a belief in and commitment to sustainability.

How can higher education do better and do more to take on such an enormous challenge?

First, we can serve as models for sustainable practices. Institutions of higher education are microcosms of society.

Take the University of California, Riverside, for example. With a student and employee population of 27,000, we are roughly the size of the average U.S. town. We have apartments, residence halls, restaurants, stores, utilities, trash pick-up, recycling, mail services, fleet services, our own police department, gardeners, and more.

UC Riverside, like each of your institutions, has put into place many sustainable practices and technologies. Already at UCR, we:

• Recycle 58 % of our waste, and are installing a fully operational transfer station to take this to 75 %.
• Run 100 % of our chilled water air conditioning through a process called thermal energy storage, chilling the water at night when energy is cheaper, and thus saving enough to power the equivalent of 10,000 homes.
• Constructed our latest research building, Health Sciences, of recycled and renewable materials and to a standard that will outperform the stringent California Energy Code by 20 %.
• Our Center for Environmental Research and Technology is perfecting a biofuel transformation system that converts food waste from our dining halls into fuel.

Leadership can start at the top, so I personally have committed to chair the University of California’s Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability. The bully pulpit can have its advantage.

And, despite significant budget challenges in the state of California – and perhaps because of them – I continue to fund UCR’s sustainability program, not only because I believe it is the right thing to do, but because in the long run I believe it will not only conserve precious natural resources but also save our institution money.

At the national level, I now chair the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a group that has shown unprecedented, collective commitment to the goal of climate neutrality. By signaling their commitment to creating a sustainable society, higher education leaders are ensuring that all graduates can align their personal and professional lives with sustainability goals.

In a very real sense, ACUPCC, which in four years has grown from a small group of 12 college and university presidents to 675, is throwing down the gauntlet to other U.S. institutions by committing so publicly to measure, reduce and eventually neutralize campus greenhouse gas emissions, to develop students’ capability to help all of society do the same . . and to publicly report on their progress.

But leadership also emerges from anyone willing to act – it is not only the purview of line-authority.

Because higher education provides the intellect and initiative to move this country forward, it is important that we set the standard for society to aspire to and train the intellectual community and the workforce to preserve this planet for future generations …and do battle with the causes of climate change.

Thus, it is the responsibility of faculty, staff, and students to provide leadership as well…in addition to our alumni who infiltrate all walks of society.

Given the increasingly international nature of higher education, and the large number of collaborative projects that we undertake across national borders, this unprecedented effort may hold the greatest chance for success.

And the spirit of collaboration that exists among member institutions of the ACUPCC speeds our ability to develop new knowledge and adopt new strategies in our communities.

It is precisely because leadership comes at all levels that at UC Riverside, our students have also taken the initiative by:

• Creating a community garden where students grow their own food and donate the rest to local charities.
• Launched a campaign educating students to use filtered tap water rather than bottled.
• And, in a true showing of commitment, voting to tax themselves $2.50 per quarter to finance such measures as installation of solar panels.
• One particularly enterprising group of engineering students has won an EPA grant to develop low-cost solar dryers for low-income families that could cut power usage up to 16 %.
  • A local builder has committed to installing the dryer in his zero-energy housing development.

These are just a few examples of what universities can accomplish.

You, as members of AASHE are in the wheelhouse and are doing this and so much more.

I applaud you for these efforts and encourage you to continue exerting such leadership and modeling sustainable behavior for other communities, states, and nations.

But to truly integrate sustainability into our culture and values, we must do more.

Let’s talk about one core of our mission: teaching and learning. It is encouraging that so many fields of study have emerged that focus on environmental issues.

• In chemistry, engineering, law, public policy, agriculture, biology, and of course environmental sciences, both undergraduate and graduate students can choose areas of focus that will advance the sustainability agenda.
• But what of other disciplines?
• Sustainability is not just for environmental sciences majors any more.
• Are our business majors examining health, social and environmental costs when they look at business plans?
• Are our psychology and sociology majors looking at human behavior in terms of sustainability and why we make the choices we do – and more importantly how we can change behaviors?
• Can philosophy majors examine the values that underpin the decisions we make about sustainability?
• Are we asking our English and creative writing majors to read and write essays on the human rights, social justice, and the environment?
• In music, dance, and other performing arts, are students taught to develop interpretive pieces that convey the sustainability message?

Sustainability can and must be infused across the curriculum.

One can make the case that the sustainability of a healthy, just, democratic and ecologically secure society should be the goal of our education.

• And, in so doing, we can ensure that all professionals, regardless of their major, have the knowledge and skills – and hopefully the values – to align their personal and professional lives with the principles of sustainability.
• Let me opine that helping to make this educational transformation occur is the most important ongoing focus of AASHE because of the breadth, understanding and commitment of its membership.
• I am delighted, and encouraged, that AASHE has committed to work on this effort on behalf of the ACUPCC network of presidents and chancellors.

At many of our universities, we have the opportunity to do still more by giving students the opportunity to participate in hands-on research, thus enhancing their educational experience while at the same time advancing our knowledge and, often, developing new strategies for sustainability.

UCR Students also have been instrumental in getting grants to support work on alternative energy.

• Engineering undergraduates won two Demonstration of Energy Efficient Developments (DEED) awards.
• One group is using steam hydro-gasification to convert campus food and landfill waste into synthetic diesel fuel. This team is now working with the local utility company on how to implement this method on a wide scale.
• The second group is helping design fuel cell electricity generation for us in remote, off-grid areas.

At research universities, faculty in a multitude of disciplines are exploring and developing new approaches, from sustainable suburban development to alternative fuels to programs aimed at alleviating poverty through green jobs.

I believe that University leadership has a responsibility to invest strategically in the most promising of these efforts, providing seed money that can help leverage federal or foundation grants.

Last, and far from least, institutions of higher education can partner with their communities to engage in sustainable practices:

• Decades ago, UC Riverside broke ground by partnering with the County of Riverside, California, to develop the nation’s first regional habitat conservation plan.
• Today the partnership continues, with UCR scientists conducting monitoring, sensing, and modeling studies throughout the county.
• These studies provide research opportunities for our faculty and students, but also provide valuable guidance to the county when it makes decisions about transportation, land use planning, and development.

Many other examples exist as to how higher education can engage with its communities. We can work with businesses, government, K-12 education, the arts, healthcare, civic organizations, and other groups to contribute to an environment of shared learning and creation of knowledge aimed at addressing societal issues.

This is also an opportunity to provide meaningful engagement experiences for our students. For faculty, our goal of engagement provides opportunities to translate their research and creative activity into beneficial outreach or service programs…or spin off new and sustainable companies.

Everyone wins – our students, our faculty, our communities and, most importantly, our planet Earth…and of course the people not yet here yet.

Which of course raises that nagging legacy question for all of us and each of us that I raised earlier…*what will our legacy be
*
Call to Action

In the past society has summoned the will to do the seemingly impossible:

• defeat totalitarianism;
• put a man on the moon,
• increase the number of people that can be fed,
• eradicate disease and diminish others,
• and the list goes on

Higher education was and is at the center of all of this.

So now is our time. Again.

We must step up and create a low carbon, low waste, socially just and sustainable economy on a vast scale.

Let me close by asking you to think deeply of the difference we can make if each of our institutions and our sister institutions throughout the world make and act on this commitment:

• Collectively our network can have a global reach – a reach that can make all the difference for our vulnerable planet.
• Imagine the impact – and the political capital – if all colleges and universities in the world joined the “ACUPCC 670” (and counting) US colleges and universities which have publically committed to research and education for, and practice of, sustainability and climate neutrality.

Clearly you are committed, or else you would not be attending this conference, but now we need to all redouble our efforts, not only to influence our own institutions, but to encourage our communities and our sister institutions around the world to engage in these efforts as well.

In Collapse, Jared Diamond identifies five factors that contribute to societal collapse: climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of essential trading partners, environmental problems, and society’s response to environmental issues. The first four may or may not prove significant in a society’s demise, Diamond states, but the fifth – our response…our behavior – always does.

In this sense, society can choose whether it succeeds or fails.

And that decision can start with us.

• As leaders in higher education, we can make a difference.
• We can be the catalyst that begins to realign personal and societal values, that develops new technologies and strategies to advance sustainable practices, and that inspires and engages our global community in choosing success.

We are all leaders. Let higher education show the way to a new, sustainable world.

To quote just about everybody--- “If not us, who? If not now, when?”

Let me finish with an observation of the late Christopher Reeve.

• I understand this to be said as he worked personally to regain the ability to walk after his catastrophic cord injury.
• He spoke about this from a personal therapy perspective, as well as promoting research, education and policy in stem cells and other promising areas of regenerative medicine.
• Please think deeply about his words that I paraphrase: “At first many of our dreams and goals seem impossible. With continued work and effort they then become improbable. And then, when we summon the will, they become inevitable”.