Advanced Sustainability Techniques Institute-I: Moving from Rhetoric

to Substance Members of the ACPA Sustainability Taskforce:

Kathleen GardnerSusan Mendoza-JonesDr. Jeanne S. Steffes

Program 4 of 5- Sustainability Institute

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Program Overview

This session will provide an advanced

discussion of sustainability; offer and invite participants to share suggestions about how college student educators and their students can make perfunctory and intentional changes for a more sustainable world

Session Learning Outcomes: • Be able to define sustainability and discuss the

emerging trends.

• Be able to expand how sustainability can become visible across the university as a viable goal and benchmark for the campus and not just student affairs.

• Be able educate others about sustainability and how sustainability relates to their lives and their values.

• Discuss and be able to talk about and problem solve front edge issues and strategies to overcome barriers to our collective work on sustainability.

Agenda

I. Introduction and Welcome II. Brief Sustainability OverviewIII. Moving from perfunctory change to

and through intentional focus- Cutting Edge Challenges and Successes

IV. Assessing Change on Campus V. Q&A and Wrap-Up

Sustainable Development Defined:

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needs”

World Commission on Env. and Development. (1987). Our Common Future. England: Oxford

University Press. 

StrongEconomy

Strong SocialSystems

Strong Environments

SustainableSociety

Triple Bottom Line of Sustainability

Education for a Sustainable Society:

“Enables people to develop the knowledge, values and skills to

participate in decisions … that will improve the quality of life now without damaging the planet for the future.”

 

Economic Aspects of Sustainability

Local first Co-ops Living wage Local currency Examining consumption – The Lorax Sustainable development/

sustainable distribution Green jobs

Intentional Conversations

Sustainability and

Social Justice

Social Justice Aspects of Sustainable Development

Environmental Racism Fair Trade Living Wage Domestic Partnerships Corporate

Responsibility Rights of Indigenous

Peoples Gender Equity Water Rights

• Human Rights• Child Labor Issues• Affirmative Action• Multicultural

Competence• Pollution & Farming

Practices• Worker’s Rights• Sweatshop Labor• Slavery

Global Transition:It is all connected!

From Fossil powered Take, make, waste Living off nature’s

capital Market as master Loss of cultural &

biological diversity Independence Materialism as

goal

To Solar powered Cyclical production Living off nature’s

income Market as servant Increased cultural

& biological diversity

Interdependence Human satisfaction

goal

Challenges and Answers to Sustainability

Challenges Already busy Don’t know this stuff Issues are complex and systematic

Answers Use national resources Learn from other institutions Use students (like YOU) and staff

nationally to help you learn, grow, and implement

Integrating Education for Sustainable Development:

Curricula Research

Operations

Community Outreach and Partnerships Student Life

Professional Development

Mission andPlanning Purchasing

OrientationFirst year Book

Key Places:

Mission Strategic Plan Budget Orientation Campus Map and

Signage Building Policies Operations and

Purchasing Policies

Student Life Residential Living Infused throughout

curricula First Year Experience Gen Ed Core Curricula Review Community

Partnerships Workforce

Development

Convening the Conversation/Front Edge Issues

Front edge Issuesa. Creating Alliesb. Making the Case for the next level of changec. Overcoming Barriersd. Examplese. Resources

Shared Successes and Challenges

Sustainability Assessment/Rating...

The conversation is just beginning.

(Next session)

Sustainability Learning Outcomes(ACPA’s Sustainability Taskforce, 2006)

1. Each student will be able to define sustainability. (cognitive complexity, knowledge acquisition)

2. Each student will be able to explain how sustainability relates to their lives and their values, and how their actions impact issues of sustainability. (cognitive complexity; knowledge acquisition, integration and application; intra and interpersonal competence; practical competence)

Sustainability Learning Outcomes (ACPA’s Sustainability Taskforce, 2006)

3. Each student will be able to utilize their knowledge of sustainability to change their daily habits and consumer mentality. (knowledge integration and application, humanitarianism, civic engagement, practice competence)

4. Each student will be able to explain how environmental, social and economic systems are interrelated. (knowledge acquisition, integration, intra and inter personal competence, practical competence, persistence and academic achievement)

Sustainability Learning Outcomes(ACPA’s Sustainability Taskforce, 2006)

5. Each student will learn change agent skills.(cognitive complexity; knowledge acquisition; integration and application; intra and inter personal competence; humanitarianism; civic engagement; practical competence; persistence and academic achievement)

6. Each student will learn how to apply concepts of sustainability to their campus and community. (knowledge acquisition, integration, intra and inter personal competence, humanitarianism, civic engagement, practical competence, persistence and academic achievement)

Sustainability Learning Outcomes (ACPA’s Sustainability Taskforce, 2006)

7. Each student will demonstrate a commitment to sustainability by actively applying their knowledge of sustainability to their lives, professions, and societies.

(cognitive complexity; knowledge acquisition, integration and application; intra and inter personal competence; humanitarianism; civic engagement; practical competence; persistence and academic achievement)

AASHE - Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS)

Designed to:

1 Provide a guide for advancing sustainability in all sectors of higher education.

2. Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions by establishing a common standard of measurement for sustainability in higher education.

3. Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.

4. Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.

5. Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.

STARS Rating Program Overview

Categories Education & Research

OperationsAdministration & Finance

Elements of STARS Checklist of indicators (similar to LEED) Thresholds of achievement Guidance and resources Comprehensive – all campus sectors Transparency (public reporting and access) Outside certification optional Rating good for 3 years Pilot phase begins in 2008; version 1.0 in

2009

Other Assessment Tools

2. ACPA Sustainability Taskforce and Student Voice Instrument – higher education tool (pilot to start this fall)

3. College Sustainability Report Card -(limitations- 100 top endowments) www.greenreportcard.org/

Question & Answers and

Wrap-Up

If we accompany them well, they may grace us all by

becoming citizen leaders …who can both belong and distinguish themselves.

Sharon D. Parks, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, p. 36

AcknowledgementsDr. Debra Rowe

dgrowe@oaklandcc.eduPresident U.S. Partnership for Education for

Sustainable Development; Co-chair Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium;

Dr. Anthony Cortese, President Second Nature; ACPA Presidential Taskforce on Sustainability;

Keith Edwards and Kathleen KerrUSA Today Collegiate Readership Program

Kathleen Gardner

kagardn@suie.edu

Susan Mendoza-Jonesmendozsu@gvsu.edu

Dr. Jeanne S. Steffesjssteffes@gmail.com

http://www.myacpa.org/task-force/sustainability/

Questions, Comments and Thoughts?