Benchmarking of Campus Sustainability Newsletters
Rice University published results from analyzing the design and content of over 30 campus sustainability newsletters, narrowing the list down to 10. Those 10 newsletters were benchmarked based on the frequency, reach, target audience, content, means of distribution, preparation time and measure of performance of sustainability office newsletters.
Second Nature Free Climate Action Planning Software Pilot Program
Second Nature has partnered with Confluenc, Inc. to offer the opportunity to pilot Fovea: CAP. Fovea: CAP is a tool for modeling, planning and visualizing energy and carbon management strategies resulting in an acceleration to solutions. Confluenc is now enrolling 15 institutions in this pilot program. The pilot program will provide an introduction to CAP Basic and 90-day access to the platform. Pilot participation is offered on a first come, first served basis.
Presentations from NECSC Conference: Strengthening Ties for Collective Impact
Some presentations from the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium's (NECSC) campus sustainability 2015 conference at University of Massachusetts Amherst are now available. Presentation topics range from procuring renewable energy to collaborating with the marketing office to food processing to finding green jobs.
New Paper: Reframing the Game: The Transition to a New Sustainable Economy
This free, special issue of Building Sustainable Legacies brings together key voices in business and academia to expound on the role that business in society, responsible education, leadership techniques, and legal reform will have in shaping the new sustainable economy, featuring authors from University of Technology, Sydney; University of Oslo; University of Exeter, U.K.; and Pinchot University.
Marine Debris & Plastic Source Reduction Toolkit for Colleges & Universities
Recently released by Product Stewardship Institute after being piloted at three University of California campuses, the toolkit was designed to be replicable and easily implemented by other colleges and universities around the country. Its goal is to take four specific steps to reduce the amount of plastic waste through source reduction. The four steps are determining the plastic footprint, creating a reduction plan, changing procurement practices, and establishing a source reduction policy.
New Research Paper: Environmental Sustainability in Higher Education
Published in the Environmental Education Research journal, this paper presents one part of a larger study that sought the views of approximately 6 percent of the entire university teaching workforce of Australia. The findings suggest that academics are supportive of education for sustainability (EfS) for all university students. Support, perceived relevance and reported difficulties with EfS are discipline specific; academics would respond positively to EfS framed within their disciplinary world views.
Inside Higher Ed Booklet on Diversity in the Student Body
Inside Higher Ed recently released Diversity in the Student Body, a print-on-demand booklet. Articles focus on demographic and legal issues and the strategies used by different institutions. This print-on-demand booklet is free to download.
Customized Course Books Through Northwest Earth Institute
Northwest Earth Institute now offers customized NWEI course books drawing on existing curriculum. Faculty can pick and choose from different NWEI course book sessions and will assemble a custom course reader for classes. Longer course books spanning broader topic areas is also feasible.
NWEI New Course Book Change Is Our Choice: Creating Climate Solutions
Change Is Our Choice: Creating Climate Solutions is a brand new five-session course book on climate disruption and how to increase resilience and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Presented in an interactive ebook, this new course book integrates video, audio and printed content with action planning ideas. Sessions address the climate of denial, tackling climate disruption from a systems perspective, the local-global movement, and examples of positive changes underway.
2015 Green Transitions Scoreboard Report: Breakdowns Driving Breakthroughs
The new report tracks renewable energy, energy efficiency, green construction, life systems and corporate green research and development, representing broad areas of investment in green technologies. Each sector covers an area of substantial capital investment in technologies that are contributing to the growing green economy.
Impact of Environmental Policy Consistency on Other Sustainable Behaviors
The working paper from the University College London published by Language, Action and Brain Lab evaluates the likelihood of students and staff to engage in pro-environmental behaviors in relation to the school's consistency with its environmental policy statement. These results imply that perceived inconsistencies between environmental policy and actions could be leading university staff and students to engage in fewer pro-environmental behaviors. Interpretation of interactions further suggest that when individual attitudes are not strong, university community members, especially students, reference the university's inconsistency and decide to perform fewer pro-environmental behaviors than they might otherwise. Given increasing global awareness of environmental problems, this interpretation leads to the suggestion that the university should either consider adding caveats to its environmental policy statement or bring its actions in line with that policy (e.g. divest from fossil fuels).
Tradepal App: Increase Student Engagement on Campus
The Tradepal App now allows sustainability coordinators to list all volunteer opportunities, zero-waste challenges, fundraising initiatives in the Events/Activities category in less than 30 seconds and connect directly with students on their smartphones.
AASHE Research in Sustainability Webinar Series
Our urgent sustainability challenges require integrated, cross-disciplinary thinking. By researching sustainability issues and refining theories and concepts, higher education institutions can lead the transition to a sustainable future and continue help the world understand sustainability challenges while developing new technologies, strategies and approaches to address those challenges. Through the Research in Sustainability Webinar Series, AASHE invites you to explore the current models of research in sustainability, the future of engaged sustainability education, and how to institutionalize research in sustainability.
'Sustainability Improves Student Learning' Teaching Resources
The Sustainability Improves Student Learning (SISL) initiative is a select group of academic associations and disciplinary societies working together to increase students' learning in undergraduate courses, and better prepare students for 21st-century questions that relate to real-world challenges such as energy, air and water quality, and climate change. The teaching resources include a beginner's toolkit, classroom activities, and interdisciplinary resources.
Equity Atlas Toolkit
The Coalition for a Livable Future has recently launched the toolkit to support communities across the U.S. in creating their own equity atlases to support research, coalition-building, and policy change. Equity atlases are tools that use high-quality maps and data to show where different demographic groups live, how well they are able to access key resources such as transit, quality education, affordable housing, jobs, food, and parks, and how these patterns affect their health and well-being.
New Issue Sustainable Business Magazine
The new issue features academic and operational focus at McMaster University, quality and innovation at Mohawk College, renewable energy and energy efficiency at University of Texas at Austin, University of Vermont's sustainable entrepreneurship MBA program, and campus sustainability at University of Southern Mississippi.
Case Study: STARS for Sustainability Planning at the Dominican U California
The aim of the approach proposed in this study is to help universities prioritize credits, while using the STARS framework, when pursuing their sustainability goals in the short, medium and long-term. We used the assessment data from Dominican University of California (DUofC), as our case study. Two criteria were developed to classify credits in the STARS framework into six groups from lowest to highest level of difficulty – the number of possible points available and overall priority. Credit-selecting models based on how many points were available per credit, partial or full amount, were also established to produce short, medium and long-term plans. The results show that DUofC can reach the Silver level in three years by working on 25 credits. Dr. Yu-Ti Huang, Postdoctoral Researcher/ Instructor, and Vania Coelho, Associate Professor are major persons who are responsible for this research.
Making Sense of Climate Science Denial
The free, massive open online course examines the science of climate science denial, the most common climate myths, and techniques used to distort climate science. Out of this course, you'll learn how to debunk climate misinformation.
New AASHE Bulletin Website
The Bulletin now features a complementary website. Intended to be a catchall resource that mirrors higher education sustainability, the website is updated on a regular basis with contributions from the higher education sustainability community. The Bulletin website is a go-to resource for all of the latest news and information. Submit items from your campus by visiting http://bulletin.aashe.org/posts/submit/.
2014 Higher Education Sustainability Review
The latest review is a big picture look at the trends captured in the nearly 1,350 stories published in AASHE's weekly newsletter, the AASHE Bulletin, throughout 2014. The review highlights campus sustainability success stories and implementation tips from colleges and universities in Canada, Denmark, Singapore and the U.S. Eleven colleges and universities are highlighted, including two associate colleges. This year's annual analysis of the higher education sustainability movement discovered a significant increase in sustainability planning, campus living learning laboratory initiatives, and regional drought response efforts in 2014.
AASHE 2014 Listening Project Report
The latest Listening Project report is an action and status update that captures plans organized around top Listening Project themes. The focus of this report is on actions already taken and future initiatives. Planned initiatives are highlighted in bold throughout the report to help readers identify what they can expect from AASHE moving forward to address priorities related to Listening Project themes.
The Journal of Sustainable Real Estate
The journal provides current and archived issues of academically reviewed papers on sustainable real estate. The site also includes links, case studies and resources that will prove useful to industry professionals, academics and anyone interested in learning more about sustainability.
New AASHE Bulletin Website
The Bulletin now features a complementary website. Intended to be a catchall resource that mirrors higher education sustainability, the website is updated on a regular basis with contributions from the higher education sustainability community. The Bulletin website is a go-to resource for all of the latest news and information. Submit items from your campus by visiting http://bulletin.aashe.org/posts/submit/.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
The final Sustainability Sit-Downs video is out. This week’s video features Gabriela Boscio, Communications and Education Manager at Second Nature, discussing her organization, the greatest sustainability challenges we are facing, and her hopes for the future. Sustainability Sit-Downs is a new Second Nature video series consisting of 12 short interviews with sustainability professionals in higher education and partner organizations.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series features Wendell Brase, administrative vice chancellor at University of California, Irvine, discussing the true costs of inaction in the face of climate change. Sustainability Sit-Downs is a new Second Nature video series consisting of 12 short interviews with sustainability leaders in higher education and partner organizations.
U Michigan Releases Progress Report
University of Michigan students, faculty and staff are addressing sustainability challenges on campus and around the world. The report highlights the impact of recent student engagement, research and campus operations projects.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series features Jacqueline Johnson, chancellor of University of Minnesota, Morris and former AASHE board chair, discussing sustainability challenges for higher education, specifically facilities, and higher education's role in shaping the course of the country and world. Sustainability Sit-Downs is a new Second Nature video series consisting of 12 short interviews with sustainability leaders in higher education and partner organizations.
EAUC Annual Report 2014
Released by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), the new report is framed around the its 2013-15 overarching strategies comprising member value, member impact, member innovation, member voice, and member transparency. The EAUC is a nonprofit member-based charity supporting sustainability in tertiary education across the U.K. AASHE members have shared access to EAUC resources.
Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education Report
The report, developed as part of a three-year project entitled University Educators for Sustainable Development (UE4SD), funded by the European Commission and led by the University of Gloucestershire (U.K.), captures recent efforts to support the development of education for sustainable development (ESD) competences of university educators. The aim is to draw on best practices, new initiatives, and usable tools for professional development in ESD for university educators.
Environmental Education Research Journal
The special issue of the journal focuses on environmental education in a neoliberal climate. The issue covers topics relating to ecotourism, urban environmental education, and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
New Issue Sustainable Business Magazine
The latest issue, featuring a forward from AASHE's Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser, highlights how environmental considerations have shaped infrastructure at University of Pennsylvania and University of Oregon, and Niagara College's efforts to use its campus as a laboratory.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series features Wim Wiewel, President of Portland State University, discussing town-and-gown partnerships and higher education’s sustainability leadership role. Sustainability Sit-Downs is a new Second Nature video series consisting of 12 short interviews with sustainability leaders in higher education and partner organizations.
Reclaiming Broken Places: Introduction to Civic Ecology Course
The free massive open online course, Reclaiming Broken Places: Introduction to Civic Ecology, offered by Cornell University, explores why and how people come together to care for nature and cultivate community in places marked by disaster, war, poverty and environmental degradation.
EnvironmentalScience.Org Environmental Science Schools
The website environmentalscience.org sorted, in order of the highest percentage of total students graduating with an environmental science degree, 50 environmental schools in the U.S. based on information, statistics and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
myActions 2014 Student Actions Awards
One hundred schools were recognized in the 2014 student-led program that supports student engagement through an array of existing programs, classes, events and student organizations focused on sustainability, compassion and well being.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series features Richard Cook, president emeritus of Allegheny College and Second Nature board chair. He discusses trans-disciplinary sustainability education and our effects as humans on the environment. Sustainability Sit-Downs is a new Second Nature video series consisting of 12 short interviews with sustainability leaders in higher education and partner organizations.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series recently featured Rebecca Edler from College of Menominee Nation, who spoke about the unviersity's long history of sustainability and her hopes for our collective future. The Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series, consisting of 12 interviews, features sustainability leaders from higher education, and non-profit and private sector organizations.
AASHE Member Discount: 20% Off The MIT Press Environmental Titles
The MIT Press is pleased to offer a 20% book discount exclusively to AASHE members on its entire list of environment and sustainability studies titles, including Mitchell Thomashow's recently published book, The Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus. To redeem this discount, click on the title link for the discount code to use at checkout when purchasing books through the MIT Press website. Please note that this code can be applied to single or multiple purchases, and is valid for use on the MIT Press website only.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video
Second Nature's Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series recently hosted M. Lee Pelton, president of Emerson College, who shared the college's sustainability trajectory and take on higher education’s role with regards to sustainability. The Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series, consisting of 12 interviews, features sustainability leaders from higher education, and non-profit and private sector organizations.
Farm to Institution New England Case Studies
Farm to Institution New England (FINE) has recently published a series of case studies about colleges in New England that have made progress on local food procurement on their campus.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Videos
The series recently hosted Tim Carter, president of Second Nature, and Katharine Jacobs, director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions and former assistant director in the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. The series, which consists of 12 interviews, features sustainability leaders from higher education, and non-profit and private sector organizations that work closely with colleges and universities as they discuss higher education’s role in creating a sustainable society.
New Issue Sustainable Business Magazine
The latest issue, featuring a forward from AASHE's new Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser, spotlights campus sustainability from Princeton University, Santa Clara University and Trent University.
New Release: Second Nature Sustainability Sit-Downs Video [Video]
Second Nature's newest Sustainability Sit-Downs Video series features Elizabeth Kiss, president at Agnes Scott College. Kiss discusses the challenges of location as it relates to energy prices, the importance of the university as a living laboratory, and being part of the solution to a more sustainable planet. The series, which consists of 12 interviews, features sustainability leaders from higher education, and non-profit and private sector organizations that work closely with colleges and universities.
