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NEON GREEN or
Jeremy KingCampus Sustainability Coordinator
Denison University
What shade of green should a college be? A new way to think about
Sustainability
EnvironmentalistsWhat comes to mind?
What do we relate to?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml54UuAoLSo
Oberlin College’s Environmental Center
• LEED Buildings• Energy-Efficient Lighting
Upgrades• Recycling Programs• Trayless Dining• Local Foods Initiatives• Recycled Paper Purchasing • Duplex Printing• Use of “Green” cleaning
supplies• Tree Campus USA• Campus Gardens/Farms
Sustainability on most Campuses
• Low VOC paints• Composting Programs• Renewable Energy• “Green-Vehicle” Parking Spaces• • Reduction of printed materials• RecycleMania• Waste Reduction Programs• Bike Share & Car Share• Water conservation• Eco-Reps Program• Green Office Certification
What’s Happening on Your Campus?
What are the big projects?
Who’s supporting them?
What impact are you having?
Why are we Doing This?
Marketing
Remember… NEON or It saves money and resources
Everyone else is doing it
It is the “right” thing to do
Talloires Declaration
Do we want to be Neon? Like Pomona, Oberlin, Middlebury…..
Do we just want to blend in?
I’M NOT SURE IT MATTERS UNLESS WE RETHINK SUSTAINABILITY
What is Sustainability
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations.
-Brudntland Commission 1987
The capacity to endure and/or remain in balance
In order to build a sustainable society, diverse groups will need to be able to come together and work collaboratively to address sustainability challenges. People of color and low-income communities tend to suffer disproportionate exposure to environmental problems. This environmental injustice happens as a result of unequal and segregated communities. To achieve environmental and social justice, society must work to address discrimination and promote equality. The historical legacy and persistence of discrimination based on racial, gender, religious, and other differences makes a proactive approach to promoting a culture of inclusiveness an important component of creating an equitable society. Higher education opens doors to opportunities that can help create a more equitable world.
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education - AASHE
Normal Problem: can be addressed with familiar tools and strategies because it does not call into question fundamental assumptions (e.g. DDT)
Game Changer: questions fundamental assumptions, institutions, and cultural values (worldview), and so requires very different tools and strategies
Sustainability is NOT a normal problem, it is a game changer
A Hard Truth“Almost everything being done in thename of sustainable developmentaddresses and attempts to reduceunsustainability. But reducingunsustainability, although critical, doesnot and will not create sustainability”
--John R. Ehrenfeld, Sustainability by Design
Some Problems
Deliberate worldview change is
1) Unprecedented
2) Not widely desired
3) Fraught with paradoxes
Less Unsustainable
Green Roof at a Ford Plant in Michigan
Our students and our society as a whole recognize these curves
Keeling CurveLess than 5% of our students recognize this curve
CIRP DATA
Anecdotal Evidence: Students in the FYS Class Energy and the Environment admitted that they didn’t know what petroleum was used for
Cooperative Institutional Research Program – Higher Educational Research Institute
How in Tune are Your Students?
Do your students connect with your sustainability efforts?
What projects and activities resonate well with them?
Do they relate well with outdoor sustainability themes?
What are some of those outdoor initiatives?
Because sustainability is a fundamentally different kind of challenge, it requires a very
different strategy with a different objective. Our aim is not to win the old game, but rather, to help catalyze a new game and culture. To get off track!
While progress in institutionalizing sustainability is satisfying, these “little successes” risk distracting attention from the primary conundrum: Reducing unsustainability will never create sustainability.
- Dr. Paul Morgan – West Chester University
Where to?
A creative leap?
What better place to begin to address the complex issues surrounding sustainability than on college campuses?
NEON or Camo ?
At Denison we are trying to find a different path
Shifting the FocusTree Campus USA
Native Plants
Building partnerships with the local community to promote and protect trees
Campus Arboretum
Local CO2 Offset Program goes directly to our trees
Campus Community Garden
The Denison Homestead – Alternative living community
Developing Sustainable Agriculture programs and experiences
Denison in the early days 1880s - 1890s
Building a Treescape
Losing our trees
A New Legacy of Trees
Campus Arboretum
http://www.denison.edu/sustainability/denison_university_arboretum.html
Strategic Native Plantings
Memorial Trees
Educational Resource
Environmental Attributes
CO2 Offsets
Comprehensive Inventory to track our trees
The Arboretum is creating a buzz both on and off campus
Community Garden
The Denison Homestead
• Sustainable Sites Initiative• Finding friends in unfamiliar places• Connect with teaching faculty• Alumni love preserving the college “look”• Strategic planning that allows for
multipurpose use of spaces and places
How to Move Sustainability Outside – Reconnecting with the Natural World
By Joel Pett, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Cartoonists and Writers Syndicate, for USA TODAY
Jeremy King Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Denison University
