Arizona State University
Charles Redman
Director, School of Sustainability
EXPERTISE Author or editor of 14 books. Director or co-director of $40 million in federal research grants. Redman chaired the anthropology department and the Center for Environmental Studies before becoming the director of ASU’s School of Sustainability.
Is sustainability a movement?
Everywhere I turn it’s being received positively and people are thinking in their own ways about it. It’s not a fad. It’s a transformation, an exciting one. It does away with the old clashes like environmental v. economic. That’s liberating for young people and people in the establishment.
Is there resistance on campus?
We have students who want to do it and faculty who are interested. The concept resonates with faculty who feel it personally, but don’t know how to work on it intellectually and scientifically. What makes the difference here is someone at the top who’s saying we must do it. Experimentation and academic entrepreneurship is favored and rewarded here.
Is sustainability the solution to the liberal arts v. career-oriented degree conundrum?
It’s one of the solutions. What’s nice about sustainability is the thought that you need to be broad, but it also gives you the impetus to have tools. There is a vision out there of innovation, of economic success, of conservation of resources, of social equity. They all need real tools and solutions. I can’t imagine a better undergraduate preparation for a business degree or a law degree. It’s a world view, not just an academic field.
What sets Arizona State University apart from other green schools?
Lots of people are embracing green building design as practiced by forward-thinking architects or green engineering in terms of renewable energy and smart materials. We are taking those issues to the next level of integration. Look at the whole bio-fuels controversy, for example. Ethanol seemed like a good idea, but it’s being rethought because of food security in many countries.
Who are the students in the inaugural class at the School of Sustainability?
We have engineering students, business school MBA candidates, a journalist, a variety of physical science people and some who majored in policy. We want to help them think through problems, so we don’t have unexpected train wrecks ahead.
Do employers want a grad with a sustainability degree?
We are getting results with some Fortune 1000 executives. They want people who can think sustainability through in areas like supply chain, marketing and new product development. I believe it will create a strata of careers for students who want practical paths that are upscale from their green campuses and downscale from abstractions like global climate change.
Is student enthusiasm sufficient to change the world?No question students are way ahead of us in thinking about this. The mission is to take that bottom-up enthusiasm—which frankly is limited in impact—and develop ways to transform it into effective action. Students are kicking hard, but it’s hard to turn a battleship just by kicking your feet. People in the wheelhouse are turning, too. We don’t want one person who is going to write a book about it. We want 10 million people who are going to change the way they do business.
David Bornstein