Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change (Urban and Industrial Environments)

Introduction / Peggy F. Barlett And Geoffrey W. Chase -- Part I: Laying The Cornerstones -- Process And Practice: Creating The Sustainable University / Christopher Uhl -- The Green Task Force: Facing The Challenges To Environmental Stewardship At A Small Liberal Arts College / Abigail R. Jahiel And R. Given Harper -- No Longer Waiting For Someone Else To Do It: A Tale Of Reluctant Leadership / Peggy F. Barlett -- Part Ii: Redesigning The Curriculum / Geoffrey W. Chase And Paul Rowland -- Transdisciplinary Shared Learning / Richard B. Norgaard -- Place As The Nexus Of A Sustainable Future : A Course For All Of Us / Laura B. Delind And Terry Link -- Building Political Acceptance For Sustainability : Degree Requirements For All Graduates / Debra Rowe -- Part Iii: Building Buildings, Building Learning Communities -- Can Educational Institutions Learn? The Creation Of The Adam Joseph Lewis Center At Oberlin College / David W. Orr -- The Development Of Stanford University's Guidelines For Sustainable Buildings : A Student Perspective / Audrey B. Chang -- Part Iv: Engaging Communities, Engaging Students -- Maintaining A College-community Ecotourism Project: Faculty Initiative, Institutional Vision, Student Participation, And Community Partnerships / Richard D. Bowden And Eric Pallant -- Teaching For Change : The Leadership In Environmental Education Partnership / Paul Faulstich -- Restoring Natural Landscapes : From Ideals To Action / Allen Franz -- Part V: Building System-wide Commitment -- South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative / Patricia L. Jerman ... [et Al.] -- Challenges Of Greening A Decentralized Campus: Making The Connection To Health / Polly Walker And Robert S. Lawrence -- Sustaining Sustainability : Lessons From Ramapo College / Michael R. Edelstein -- Cultivating A Shared Environmental Vision At Middlebury College / Nans Jenks-jay. Edited By Peggy F. Barlett And Geoffrey W. Chase. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. These personal narratives of greening college campuses offer inspiration, motivation, and practical advice. Written by faculty, staff, administrators, and a student, from varying perspectives and reflecting divergent experiences, these stories also map the growing strength of a national movement toward environmental responsibility on campus. Environmental awareness on college and university campuses began with the celebratory consciousness-raising of Earth Day, 1970. Since then environmental action on campus has been both global (in research and policy formation) and local (in efforts to make specific environmental improvements on campuses). The stories in this book show that achieving environmental sustainability is not a matter of applying the formulas of risk management or engineering technology but part of what the editors call "the messy reality of participatory engagement in cultural transformation." The authors of Sustainability on Campus report from a diverse group of institutions ranging from two-year community colleges to famous research universities. They tell of environmental stewardship on campus, curriculum changes, green building design, working with local communities, and system-wide initiatives. Their chronicles include the early mistakes and successes of the Green Task Force at Illinois Wesleyan, the history of an innovative interdisciplinary graduate curriculum at the University of California at Berkeley, the planning and construction of a green Environmental Studies building at Oberlin College, the joint efforts of local businesses and students at Allegheny College to promote eco-tourism in northwest Pennsylvania, a donor-initiated multi-university consortium in South Carolina, and the implementation of sustainability requirements for all students at Oakland Community College in Detroit. Acknowledgments......Page 11 Introduction......Page 13 I Laying the Cornerstones......Page 39 1 Process and Practice: Creating the Sustainable University......Page 41 2 The Green Task Force: Facing the Challenges to Environmental Stewardship at a Small Liberal Arts College......Page 61 3 No Longer Waiting for Someone Else to Do It: A Tale of Reluctant Leadership......Page 79 II Redesigning the Curriculum......Page 101 4 The Ponderosa Project: Infusing Sustainability in the Curriculum......Page 103 5 Transdisciplinary Shared Learning......Page 119 6 Place as the Nexus of a Sustainable Future: A Course for All of Us......Page 133 7 Building Political Acceptance for Sustainability: Degree Requirements for All Graduates......Page 151 III Building Buildings, Building Learning Communities......Page 169 8 Can Educational Institutions Learn? The Creation of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center at Oberlin College......Page 171 9 The Development of Stanford University’s Guidelines for Sustainable Buildings: A Student Perspective......Page 189 IV Engaging Communities, Engaging Students......Page 207 10 Maintaining a College-Community Ecotourism Project: Faculty Initiative, Institutional Vision, Student Participation, and Community Partnerships......Page 209 11 Teaching for Change: The Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership......Page 227 12 Restoring Natural Landscapes: From Ideals to Action......Page 241 V Building System-wide Commitment......Page 253 13 South Carolina Sustainable Universities Initiative......Page 255 14 Challenges of Greening a Decentralized Campus: Making the Connection to Health......Page 271 15 Sustaining Sustainability: Lessons from Ramapo College......Page 283 16 Cultivating a Shared Environmental Vision at Middlebury College......Page 305 About the Authors......Page 323 Index......Page 331 Stories both practical and inspirational about environmental leadership on campus. These personal narratives of greening college campuses offer inspiration, motivation, and practical advice. Written by faculty, staff, administrators, and a student, from varying perspectives and reflecting divergent experiences, these stories also map the growing strength of a national movement toward environmental responsibility on campus. Environmental awareness on college and university campuses began with the celebratory consciousness-raising of Earth Day, 1970. Since then environmental action on campus has been both global (in research and policy formation) and local (in efforts to make specific environmental improvements on campuses). The stories in this book show that achieving environmental sustainability is not a matter of applying the formulas of risk management or engineering technology but part of what the editors call "the messy reality of participatory engagement in cultural transformation."In Sustainability on Campus campus leaders recount inspiring stories of strategies that moved eighteen colleges and universities toward a more sustainable future. This book is for faculty, students, administrators, staff, and community partners, whether hesitant or committed, knowledgeable or newcomer. Scholars and activists have recognized the crucial role that higher education can play in the sustainability effort, and each chapter in the book is full of ideas about how to get started, revitalize efforts, and overcome roadblocks. Human and at times joyful, these stories illustrate many forms of leadership, in new courses and faculty development, green buildings and administrative policies, student programs, residential life, and collaborations with local communities When I began teaching environmental science at Penn State in 1982, I imagined that the environmental problems that I was teaching about were "out there" in the "real" world and had little to do with the day-to-day operations of my university.