At the AASHE Sustainability ConferenceNOVEMBER 9-11 / RALEIGH, NC
The city of Chapel Hill and UNC run a fare-free bus system that jumped in ridership. We could not attain the ridership to justify it if UNC didn’t limit parking on campus.
Kevin Foy
Mayor, Chapel Hill, NC
What if Moody’s gave better bond ratings for schools with green buildings because their carbon liability is lower?
Jim Elder
Director, Campaign for Environmental Literacy
If aliens invaded and were shooting lasers at us nobody would say we don’t have enough money, or ‘why do I have to work with that person with a funny-sounding name?’ This climate threat is that real.
Harvey Ruvin
Clerk of the Courts
Miami-Dade County
We are supposed to be a model for society, not a mirror.
Rich Tenneson
Director of Facilities Services
Luther College
Socially Responsible Investing is not an asset class in itself. It is an approach to understanding all investments.
Craig Metrick
Mercer Investments
Using carbon offset credits is not like buying indulgences. Many suburban institutions will never be able to negate their emissions from commuting. They have no option.
Tony Cortese
Second Nature
There are three nation-changing initiatives for us to make happen. Put a price on carbon – charge the polluters; don't pay them. Retrofit America by weatherfitting buildings. Leaky windows make for chilly people and a hot planet. Repower America by connecting the population centers to a clean power grid -- the way we connected them to the interstate highway system and the internet.
Van Jones
Attorney and activist
The Global Sustainability graduation requirement can be met with a 3-hour course or by smaller modules, service learning or study abroad.
Jim Zaffiro
Professor
Central College
Stop giving students dumb assignments that make them jump through hoops to get good grades. Prepare them to be change agents instead.
Debra Rowe
President, U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
Students are not activists at our school. When we asked them “What can you do in one semester to make the world a better place?” it was a challenging assignment.
Amy Patricks
Professor
Western Illinois University
The sustainability committee manages the relationship between the faculty and operations. The coordinator manages the projects themselves.
Kim McNamara
Shelton Campus Director
Olympic College
Within five square miles, Pittsburgh has 10 universities. Education and knowledge creation is the largest industry in the area - 51,000 jobs . The higher ed climate coalition can really be a catalyst for change in Pittsburgh.
David Deal
evolve environmental architecture
Students will teach somewhere. Even if they work for a NGO or in the public sector, they will face the public and have the opportunity to educate.
Susan Ledlow
Curriculum Specialist, School of Sustainability
Arizona State University
I designed an agriculture system shaped in a wheel. It was modeled on something I had seen at Crystal Waters permaculture village in Australia to collect irrigation water in a central cistern. One of the locals took me into the jungle in Mexico and showed me the ruins of a Mayan system that looked just like it.
Stan Galicki
Millsaps College
Center for Research and Sustainable Living in Yucatan
Bamboo is a sustainable material that is naturally hazard-resistant. After a 5.6 magnitude quake in India, we visited several bamboo structures with little or no damage, unlike heavily damaged masonry and brick structures.
Bhavna Sharma
Graduate student
University of Pittsburgh
There are 52 ecovillages in the U.S. There was no recipe; their failures are as important as their successes. They offer themselves as living laboratories; and we as academics should accept the unique opportunities for research and learning.
Joshua Lockyer
Doctoral Candidate
University of Georgia
Georgia Tech achieved a 23 percent water reduction with a master plan that includes 500,000 gallons of storage captured from rainwater and HVAC condensate.
Marcia Kinstler
Head of campus stewardship
Georgia Tech
65 percent of fresh water is used as irrigation and 50 percent of that is wasted. We saved $42,000 and 14 million gallons of potable city water by capturing storm water runoff in a pond system.
Tom Flood
Superintendent of Landscaping and Grounds
Elon University
You only learn in school half of what you need to know as an engineer. You also need experience in community development. In Honduras, we are developing water treatment plants designed by students, constructed with 100 percent local labor and a 90/10 cost sharing.
Nicole Mason
Student
University of Vermont
IAmong people who are all white, stable and wealthy, the discussion is all about polar bears. What about where we live, work and play? Sustainability lives at the intersection of race, class and gender.
Colin Bennett
Graduate student assistant, Office of Sustainability
George Mason University
The gardens and the appearance of the campus can be used in marketing to indicate how well students are cared for.
Tom Flood
Superintendent of Landscaping and Grounds
Elon University
The keynote speakers talk about behavioral change. The session speakers provide the skills and case studies to actually do what the keynoters said.
Unidentified student
Our president and his spouse are very active supporters of sustainability. We also want to teach our students about responsible citizenship.
Chuck McClaugherty
Professor of Ecology
Mount Union College
We use 1.2 gallons of water per student per day. Our carbon dioxide inventory is 4.1 metric tons per student.
Beau Mitchell
Sustainability Coordinator
College of Menominee Nation
We teach one process of sustainability measurement for local, regional, statewide and nationwide usage.
Rumi Shammin
Assistant Professor
Oberlin College
Our students are not our clients. They're assets. Engaging them as talented individuals makes all the sense in the world to me.
Michael Kelrick
Professor
Truman State University
Hypothetical classroom projects last a semester and have value. But a real-life project involving a nearby community engages students much more. The Learning Barge is one such.
Phoebe Crisman
Associate Professor of Architecture
University of Virginia School of Architecture
There are 80 million buildings in the U.S., and collectively they consume 70 percent of our energy.
Amanda Acheson
Sustainable Building Program Manager
Northern Arizona University
If you can't create new projects in your community, you might be able to find existing sustainability projects already underway -- and just plug in students.
Jacob Bintliff
Undergraduate Senior
University of Texas, Austin
What we've called 'green' and 'conservation' for years, we now are calling sustainability. Also, we now have our eyes on a triple bottom line: financial, social, environmental.
Linda Petee
Facilities Management Administrator
Delta College
Transition to a sustainable campus is a chaotic process -- an organic process.
Dina El-Mogazi
Sustainability Coordinator
Bucknell University
High initial costs make sustainability projects difficult to finance, despite the long-term cost savings that may result. It's an excellent application for a revolving loan fund. About fifteen campuses already have one.
Lea Lupkin
Undergraduate Senior
Roanoke College
Topophilia is a term used to describe a strong emotional attachment to a place.
Glenn Hvenegaard
Professor
University of Alberta
Many students display a shocking lack of awareness of environmental problems. It can be very useful in the classroom to assign them to discover one on their own. Then, as they progress, they can think of some possible approaches to solutions.
Milene Morfei
Professor
Wells College
Proponents of 'sustainability across the curriculum' have adopted the idea of a hidden curriculum to infuse sustainability into many academic disciplines.
Virginia Matzek
Ecologist
California State University, Sacramento