10 Campus Sustainability News Stories

The National Association of Scholars has been investigating the “sustainability” movement and its implications for higher education. While we have nothing against thrift, resourcefulness, and environmental stewardship, we have discovered that “sustainability” encompasses broad political and economic ideology. This ideology has gone viral and is being handed down to the next generation on campuses everywhere. 

Here are ten recent news stories on sustainability in higher education: 

1. ‘Green’ Ideals Taking Root at Colleges, Houston Chronicle
   Texas A&M architecture dean: “Sustainability needs to be a core value, embedded in what you do in normal practice.”
   
   
2. The Sustainability Generation Comes of Age, Huffington Post
   Steven Cohen: “There is no question that the planet's atmosphere is getting warmer and that the impact of nearly seven billion people and their fuels is real and substantial.”
   
   
3. New Report Shows Higher Education Sector Could be Model for Governments on Climate, Second Nature
   By meeting their obligations under the AmericanCollege and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), colleges and universities are transforming into sustainability centers. Society should take its cue from academia, says Second Nature.
   
   
4. University Considers New Sustainability Requirement, Vermont Cynic
   “The Student Government Association senate passed a resolution supporting the creation of a six-credit Sustainability Education Requirement,” to be incorporated into existing requirements at the University of Vermont.
   
   
5. New Sustainability Degree Aimed at Professionals, MotherNatureNetwork
   ColumbiaUniversity’s Earth Institute and School of Continuing Education are sponsoring a degree for New York business professionals who want to become sustainability experts.
   
   
6. Sustainability Gets Political, Columbia Daily Tribune
   The University of Missouri recently hosted a “Show-Me Sustainability” conference in which students were encouraged to sign the “Define Our Decade” campaign petition, asking Congress to vote for “clean energy.”
    
7. Students Design New Course on Sustainability, Daily Pennsylvanian
   Undergraduate interns design Sustainability 101, a sustainability community service course to be offered next fall.
    
8. Students’ Perspective on Building Knowledge for Sustainability, The Sustainability Review
   Students in Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability are poised to become “agents of change” while studying sustainability.
   See also: Student Journal Seeking to Make Sustainability Simple, State Press
   Backed by President Michael Crow, ArizonaStateUniversity graduate students have created a student journal called The Sustainability Review.

9. University of Arkansas to Develop Sustainability Curriculum, ArkansasBusiness.com
   The University is developing an undergraduate minor and a certificate program in sustainability because “it’s simply the right thing to do at this time.”
   
   
10. U.S. Colleges Sign Up to Support Earth Hour, GreenStudentU
    “More than a dozen leading colleges and universities across the U.S. are turning out and signing on in support of Earth Hour. Earth Hour is a global World Wildlife Fund initiative in which millions of people around the world will cast a vote in favor of action on climate change by turning off their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm local time.”