New AASHE Resource: Conference Materials Database
AASHE has made available all of the conference posters, panels and presentations from AASHE 2011 in Pittsburgh and AASHE 2010 in Denver in one searchable database. Conference materials can be searched by conference year, category, organization, session type and keyword. Blog posts, photos and videos can also be found on the AASHE conference website. Stay tuned for details about AASHE 2012, slated for Oct. 14-17 in Los Angeles.
New and Improved AASHE Campus Sustainability Officers Web Page
AASHE has released a new and improved web page, Resources for Campus Sustainability Officers, featuring professional development opportunities, example job descriptions, sustainability staffing surveys and other resources to help build the profession and facilitate the work of sustainability officers.
New SEED Sustainable Ag, Transportation Resources
The American Association of Community College's (AACC) Sustainability Education and Economic Development (SEED) Initiative has debuted two new resources to help educators develop and enhance green job training programs and courses. The Sustainable Ag., Food & Land sector includes organizations and resources that integrate environmental, social and economic factors into land use, food preparation and land specific practices. The Transportation & Fuels sector covers the area of electric and hybrid vehicle development and maintenance, natural gas, fuel cells, battery storage and renewable fuel sources including ethanol, biodiesel, algae and methane.
New AASHE Blog: Higher Education's Future - Not Failing the 3R's
"As I look at the future of higher education I see three things institutions must do better to survive (not just succeed but survive)," writes AASHE Executive Director Paul Rowland in this new blog. Incorporating Relevance, Responsibility and Relationships, Rowland describes the "3R" framework that he sees as essential to the future of higher education.
New AASHE Blog: Kicking off COP 17 in Durban, South Africa
For those who can't make it to Durban, South Africa this year for the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this AASHE blog is following the action as 194 parties convene to discuss global solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adopt resolutions to strategically address climate change. The blog includes resources from Climate Action Network International and SustainUS, among others.
New AASHE Guest Blog: The 4 C's to Recycling Success
A new AASHE guest blog by the University of Michigan’s Alison Richardson, who works in the university's Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling, summarizes key take-aways and findings from the office’s compilation of recycling best practices among top recycling buildings on campus. These best practices were condensed into a guide to help lower-performing buildings boost their recycling rates.
New Book: Ecologically Sustainable Reforms in Curriculum
Eco-Justice Press has released a new book by C. A. Bowers, "Educational Reforms for the 21st Century: How to Introduce Ecologically Sustainable Reforms in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies." The book introduces pedagogical strategies for addressing the linguistic colonization of the present by the past; the teacher’s role as a cultural mediator between the cultural commons and consumer-dependent experiences; and how computers contribute to the enclosure of the cultural commons.
Updated NWF Campus Sustainability Database
The National Wildlife Federation has added 100 new case studies to its campus sustainability case study database, which now includes more than 600 studies from higher education campuses across the U.S. Highlighted efforts include energy efficiency improvements, alternative transportation systems and green jobs training programs. The database is searchable by topic, year and school, and includes information on project goals, successes, challenges, funding strategies and project leaders.
Academic Impressions: Proactive Deferred Maintenance Strategies
As higher education institutions are caught between a growing deferred maintenance backlog and increasing needs for capital expansion as they compete for students, faculty and research dollars, it is critical to develop a sustainable model for funding facilities replacement and renewal, says this recent Academic Impressions article. The article provides examples of proactive approaches to deferred maintenance including an initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that uses energy and water savings from efficiency projects to fund maintenance efforts.
New AASHE Blog: Staying Aligned with STARS
This new blog post from AASHE's STARS team outlines the features of the free, monthly STARS Update. From STARS website and reporting tool updates to news from the STARS Steering Committee, the e-newsletter keeps the higher education community up-to-date on the latest STARS information.
Department of Ed Sustainability Education Summit Report
The U.S. Department of Education has released a Proceedings Report that provides an overview of its September 2010 "Sustainability Education Summit: Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy." Including industry, academic and government representatives' comments from the summit’s four panel sessions, the report recommends ways to advance sustainability education throughout the country.
'iCreate Sustainability' Educators Website
Supported by the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, this new iCreate Sustainability community website brings together practitioners in business, nonprofits and government with educators to collaborate on education for a sustainable future. Discussions include core competencies, career pathways and national trends.
Report: Higher Ed's Role in Adapting to a Changing Climate
Supported by Second Nature and Clean Air-Cool Planet, this new report evaluates how colleges and universities are preparing society for a changing climate through their education, research, operations and community engagement activities. The report was developed by the Higher Education Climate Adaptation Committee, a group of 13 leaders in higher education and experts in climate adaptation convened by the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in March 2011.
New Issue of Int'l Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
The latest issue of Emerald Group Publishing Limited's International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education includes an analysis of higher education institutions as partners in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership. The issue also explores how to communicate the sustainability message in higher education institutions, and different philosophies toward achieving campus sustainability.
AASHE Interview Series: Mission-Based Sustainability
AASHE talks with representatives from the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, Santa Clara University’s Office of Sustainability and the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Sustainability about the ideas and goals behind the new publication, "Sustainability and Catholic Higher Education: A Toolkit for Mission Integration."
New AASHE Blog: Campuses Celebrate First National Food Day
Higher education advocacy played a big role in the inaugural nationwide Food Day, marked by at least 2,000 events in 50 states. Organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the grassroots mobilization encouraged the nation to not only eat healthy food grown in a sustainable and humane way, but to also advocate for smarter food policies. From petitioning for local campus food sources to panels and picnics, this blog highlights the variety of ways that campuses celebrated Food Day.
New AASHE Student Resources & Action Page
AASHE has released a new Resources for Students web page. These resources are designed to empower students to take real and meaningful action on campus in areas including food, waste, climate action, outreach and communications, and many others. Students and alums can learn how to get more involved with sustainability in higher education, gain greater recognition for their sustainability efforts, and connect with other students.
New Issue of Sustainability: The Journal of Record
The latest issue of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.'s Sustainability: The Journal of Record includes a look at the growth of sustainable agriculture programs and a review of the new book, "Fields of Learning: The Student Farm Movement in North America." Part one of a roundtable discussion, "Race, Environment, and Sustainability," explores why it is important for the sustainability movement to look deeply into issues of race.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: U Notre Dame
The eighth installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features the University of Notre Dame's (IN) $2 million green revolving fund. In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Western Michigan U
The latest installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Western Michigan University's green revolving fund. In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
AASHE 2011 Conference Coverage
Volunteer transcriptionists and AASHE staff covered the sessions and keynotes during the AASHE 2011 conference in Pittsburgh. Coverage including a student-organized protest of the Keystone XL pipeline during President Obama's visit to Pittsburgh and videos of Majora Carter's and Dr. Tim White's keynote speeches are available on AASHE's Campus Sustainability Perspectives blog.
Collegiate Football Sustainable Materials Management Toolkit
Supported by AASHE, the College and University Recycling Coalition and Keep America Beautiful, this toolkit provides a guide for institutions of higher education across the country to implement or improve their game day recycling and sustainability efforts. Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a national panel of higher education representatives, the toolkit originated with a comprehensive survey distributed and evaluated in spring 2011 by a team of students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Northwest Earth Inst. Releases Sustainable Food Systems Curricula
The Northwest Earth Institute has releases a new six-session discussion course on sustainable food systems. Available for faculty professional development, classroom curricula and community-based learning, the course focuses on food systems as they interact with human and ecological systems, food politics and the ethics of our food choices.
SEED Green Action Plan Series
Aimed at senior administrators, faculty and staff, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has released its "SEED Green Action Plan Series," a set of guides and actionable steps that higher education institutions can use to prepare a skilled workforce and become change agents in regional efforts to develop a green and sustainable economy. The series is produced by AACC's Sustainability Education and Economic Development (SEED) center, in collaboration with AASHE, Second Nature and the Greenforce Initiative.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Iowa State U
The latest installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Iowa State University's $3 million fund. In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
An Action Plan for Higher Ed Workplace Diversity, Inclusion
The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) has released its Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Position Statement and Action Plan, which delivers a call to action to encourage inclusion and diversity of all types in all sectors of the higher education workplace. The action plan lays out goals to help higher education HR professionals lead workforce diversity and inclusion efforts on campus.
Blog: AASHE Mourns the Passing of Wangari Maathai
In this AASHE blog, Executive Director Paul Rowland pays tribute to Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, 71, who died September 25 in her home country of Kenya. Dr. Maathai, who was scheduled to give the opening keynote at the AASHE 2011 conference, had been hospitalized for ovarian cancer in the preceding weeks.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Harvard U
The latest installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Harvard University's (MA) $12 million fund. In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
AASHE Interview Series: Antioch U New England Green Guru Program
The latest installment of the AASHE Interview Series profiles Antioch University New England's Green Guru program, an initiative to make office spaces at the university more sustainable, with a recent achievement of 100 percent participation by university employees. AASHE talks to Assistant to the President for Sustainability & Social Justice Abigail Abrash Walton and Green Guru Rachel Brett about the success of the program.
Bard Center's National Climate Seminars
Professors are encouraged to assign Bard Center for Environmental Policy's (NY) fall 2011 National Climate Seminar series to students. Participants listen in real-time to climate and clean energy specialists talk about the science, policy, law and economics of climate change and discuss solutions. In the upcoming September 21 seminar, Grist's David Roberts will address global warming, politics and the media.
New AASHE Blog for Students: Create the Green Economy You Want
A new blog from AASHE outlines the ways that students can take part in creating a green economy by getting involved in how their institution buys products and services. Tips include reaching out to campus procurement professionals, and contacting vendors of sustainable products and services to help make the business case for bringing their product or service to campus.
New AASHE 'General Campus Sustainability' Discussion Forum
AASHE has debuted a new general discussion forum, General Campus Sustainability and AASHE-related Discussions. This space will foster broad, wide-ranging and philosophical discussions surrounding campus sustainability, as well as questions or discussions about AASHE including its goals, vision and programs. This catch-all forum is also a place for topics or questions that don't quite fit in any of the other forum categories. Kicking off the new forum is a question about the role sustainability might play in public reports and rankings of "a useful education."
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Boston U
The latest installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Boston University (MA). In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Weber State U
The latest installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Weber State University (UT). In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
Sustainability and Catholic Higher Education Toolkit
In partnership with AASHE, eight national Catholic organizations have published the new "Sustainability and Catholic Higher Education: A Toolkit for Mission Integration." The toolkit is designed for Catholic colleges and universities to strengthen Catholic mission and publicly commit themselves to mission-based sustainability by becoming a Catholic Climate Covenant Partner.
AASHE Interview Series: SCUP Director of Media Relations
This installment of the AASHE Interview Series features Terry Calhoun, director of media relations, social media and publications for the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). Calhoun shares ways that SCUP is promoting sustainability and which areas have the biggest room for growth in the campus sustainability field.
Inside Higher Ed 'Academic Minute': Green Jobs
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (NY) David Hess discusses green jobs and the best methods for creating them in this Inside Higher Ed "Academic Minute." In addition to the green service sector jobs resulting from demand side policies, manufacturing jobs are a "small but crucial portion of green jobs," says Hess. "They are central to connecting universities and inventors with applications." In an effort to create an integrated green economy, says Hess, "researchers are increasingly studying how governments can integrate their environmental policies with economic development and research policies."
Net Impact Releases Guide to Green MBA Options
In response to an increasing number of students looking for careers that make a positive impact on society and the planet, Net Impact has released "Business as UNusual," a free 2011 guide to graduate business programs with social and environmental themed curriculum. More than 100 different MBA programs are profiled on their green curriculum, student activities and career services.
SEI Green Revolving Fund Case Study Series: Stanford U
The second installment of the Sustainable Endowments Institute's new series, Green Revolving Funds in Action: Case Studies of 10 Colleges, features Stanford University (CA). In partnership with AASHE and other organizations, the series takes a look at how innovative green revolving funds save energy and "grow money" at higher education institutions.
New Book: 'University Reform in an Era of Global Warming'
Eco-Justice Press' "University Reform in an Era of Global Warming," a new book by Chet Bowers, addresses a number of issues ranging from language, cultural commons, academic freedom, patterns of cultural reproduction and the need for administrative leadership that addresses the cultural roots of the ecological crisis. Bowers argues that replacing inefficient campus infrastructures is easy compared to the challenges of engaging faculty in discussions of how the content of their courses continue to reinforce the deep cultural assumptions that give conceptual direction to the individualistic/consumer-dependent lifestyle that that is now widely recognized as unsustainable.
New Issue of Sustainability: The Journal of Record
The latest issue of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.'s Sustainability: The Journal of Record includes a look at how universities and the private sector are coming together to replace outmoded industry and manufacturing with sustainable business. The article examines the Oberlin College's Oberlin Project, which aims to turn the town of Oberlin, Ohio into a model for such an effort. Also included in the issue is a look at the results of the 2011 Gibbs and Soell Sense & Sustainability survey, which suggest a skepticism about corporate commitment to sustainability and a need for the proper alignment of internal structure, processes and communications.
AASHE Interview Series: Humboldt State U's Steven Hackett
AASHE has posted a new interview with Dr. Steven Hackett, interim associate dean of professional studies and chair of the School of Business at Humboldt State University. Dr. Hackett has served as principal investigator, project director, lead author or senior supervising economist on numerous scholarly works, technical reports, policy studies and regional economic development plans. Hackett talks to AASHE about his current leadership in incorporating sustainability across the core curriculum of the university's School of Business.
USGBC Paid-from-Savings Guide to Green Existing Buildings
For a limited time, community colleges and minority serving institutions may request a free copy of "The Paid-from-Savings Guide to Green Existing Buildings." Produced by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and founding sponsor United Technologies Corporation, the guide is normally valued at $50. The guide is designed to help building facilities managers and energy service companies leverage utility cost savings to fund comprehensive green building retrofits. In addition, the resource provides detailed information on how to aggregate green improvement measures to optimize project economics and achieve LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance certification. To request a copy, please email greencampus@usgbc.org.
AASHE Releases Annual Campus Sustainability Review
AASHE has released its "2010 Campus Sustainability Review." Revealing new ways of thinking about and incorporating sustainability into campus operations, planning and curriculum, the publication takes a look at the higher education sustainability movement through AASHE Bulletin statistics, stories focused on notable practices and interviews with campus sustainability champions including Oberlin College’s Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics David Orr. The inaugural Campus Sustainability Review format is a move away from past AASHE Digests. AASHE's Bulletin Interactive Archive, which debuted in October 2010, does most of the work of the Digests, eliminating the need for a comprehensive list of stories each year. The publication is available to AASHE members in PDF format and is also available as an e-book to members and non-members.
New and Improved AASHE Member Directory
AASHE has debuted a new and improved Member Directory. Institutions, businesses and other members are now consolidated into one dynamic searchable listing. Visitors can now search by location, keyword and type of organization, as well as see which organizations are STARS participants or ACUPCC signatories.
New Issue: Journal of Ag, Food Systems, Community Development
"Using a Supply Chain Analysis To Assess the Sustainability of Farm-to-Institution Programs" is among the papers in the latest issue of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD). The study focuses on how to foster farm-to-institution programs by exploring barriers, opportunities and potential solutions from different perspectives in the supply chain. JAFSCD is an online, international, peer-reviewed publication focused on the practice and applied research interests of agriculture and food systems development professionals.
EAUC Launches New and Improved Online Sustainability Tool
The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) has debuted a new improved version of its online sustainability tool, SORTED. The site now has a fully filtered search and structure aligned with its Future Framework themes including Leadership, Learning, Organizational Capacity and Partnerships. Searches can also be streamlined by type of institution. Twenty-five new case studies have been added to the online resource as well as specific carbon reduction resources to further help institutions to incorporate sustainability initiatives.
