A new article in Inside Higher Ed profiles a growing trend: hosting a themed "year of sustainability" on campus. The story notes, "with multiple campuses, including Davidson College, New Mexico State, Villanova University and University of Denver having just finished up their years, the results have been varied, and some question whether the concept is more than a gimmick."

The schools featured took different approaches, including everything from reducing food waste and increasing recycling to creating new graduate programs or minors that focus on sustainability.

The story goes on to quote NWF's director of campus and community leadership, Julian Keniry, who says, "Sustainability is something that needs to be the purpose of education across operations and disciplines and sustained over time. The idea of focusing on a one year theme doesn't lend itself to a [sustainable approach]. But it might be a way to catalyze thinking that could lead to long term work."

The point almost seems too obvious to make. A "year of sustainability" shouldn't be a discrete event, but rather a kick-off to bolder steps. By definition, sustainability is about the long-term, about making communities and campuses more flexible, more resilient and more useful over time. If treated as a fad, it will fail.

So it's encouraging to see that none of the faculty or staff interviewed for the story thought of their efforts as a one-off. Says Kealy Devoy, Davidson's sustainability fellow, "We haven't achieved 100 percent on most of the goals, but I don't consider that an issue because we're not going to just stop." 

Five minutes before the meeting started, Scott Lupin, Director of the Office of Sustainability at UMD, could already see that more chairs would be needed. The room was packed, and students were quickly dispatched to bring extra chairs for everyone crowded up against the wall.

Clean Energy UMD, a student club for climate neutrality in place at eight of the eleven University of Maryland campuses, had coordinated this spring semester kick-off meeting which would include a teach-in on climate change policy, the chance to write personal letters to Congress, a brainstorming session, some "climate calisthenics" to get everyone moving (shown above) and that beloved college staple: free pizza.

The purpose of the meeting made itself clear quickly. Speakers urged action on everything from emissions regulation in Maryland (through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act) to signing up for lobby days at PowerShift later this spring and campaigning their own administrators for more energy-efficient buildings on campus. Matt Dernoga, an active student member of UMD Clean Energy, said, "What was laughable two years ago is about to become a reality."

Eban Goodstein, speaking in the broadcast, drew a laugh from the crowd when he said, “Thirty years from now, you won’t remember the paper you didn’t write. But you’ll remember the role you played in building a sustainable future.”

The students in question were thoughtful and excited by turns. Several noted that the clean energy campaign wasn't purely about lobbying for emissions timetables (the darling of most climate change legislation).

"My vision is windmills on the horizon, and more specifically, I guess, not being at the mercy of gas and energy prices all the time. I don't want to go into a city and see people being disproportionately being affected by dirty air from coal plants and high prices. I see healthier people, a healthier planet, better jobs. It's all connected," said Hanna Poffenbarger. She added that she herself wants a green job when she graduates, and that she's looking at careers in sustainable agriculture.

The University of Maryland's National Teach-In event, which took place Monday night, was one of the first of more than 700 campus gatherings this week, with students uniting under a common cause: finding solutions to the energy and climate crisis that they feel affects their generation more than others. Some schools were even able to set up video conferences with their Senate or House leaders.

Scott Lupin, who opened the meeting by telling the students that they have more power than administrators like himself to push clean energy on campus, believes that these national organizing events are worthwhile, but only the first step.

"To the extent they can, students should also take courses or find internships to get real-world experience. They really need to learn to work through existing political channels on campus. More important than demonstrating is to get on committees, join advocacy groups and effect change at their school," said Lupin. "This is a great time to be working in this field."

In case you haven't heard, Al Gore addressed students across the country tonight in a live webcast from the Energy Action Coalition and the PowerVote campaign, asking young people to continue the work they're doing to change the way we think about and use energy, and make climate issues the driver of their vote in this election.

It's a short broadcast (less than 30 minutes), but one worth watching, especially if you haven't heard Gore weave together the economic, energy, and climate crisis.

Watch the Gore-Cast

Bikes on campus are nothing new, particularly to cash-strapped students. But when a university invests in bike rental programs, increased riding and parking infrastructure, and the physical and environmental health of its campus, it's much bigger news.

USA Today's profile covers several colleges, including Ripon College in Wisconsin, Auburn University in Alabama, and SUNY-Albany, that are launching programs designed to get students and staff out of their cars. Projects include bike-loans, bike maintenance shops on campus, biking and walking paths, and freshman pledges to leave the car behind in exchange for a free bike from the university.

Image credit: Eckerd College

San Jose State University, in a bid to get students more involved in learning about and dealing with climate change, is piloting a new course which will force groups of students to work collaboratively on environmental issues. Starting this fall, seven faculty members from different departments will lead teams of six students each, with a prize of $1,000-2,000 for the winning group.

The proposals that students come up with, which are supposed to be far-reaching and global in their scope, will be presented to Silicon Valley professionals at the end of the semester for feedback and real-world input. With topics ranging from pollution in developing countries to energy-efficiency, we're excited to see how this course shapes up and the ideas that students address.

Tomorrow ASU celebrates the new home of its Global Institute of Sustainability, which was recently renovated with an eye towards purchasing as many recycled and recyclable materials as possible. Recycled milk-jugs and aluminum cans are incorporated into countertops, light and motion-sensor lamps respond to natural light to save energy, and conference room chairs are made from 95% recycled materials.

Six wind turbines, each expected to provide about 1,000 watts, have been installed on the roof and will be turned on as soon as roof renovations are complete. Room has also been left for future solar panels, and the building is currently pursuing LEED certification.

While some of these features are cool, we're more interested in what will be going on in the building: the 30-year-old Global Institute of Sustainability is dedicated to conducting research and education programs supporting ecologically-friendly cities and communities, often using nearby Phoenix as a living laboratory. GIOS has developed curricula for k-12 education as well as graduate and undergraduate degrees, and helps to support ASU's goals of sustainable campus development.

Image: ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability, via ASU News

Recyclemania, a light-hearted, friendly competition between campuses, aims to reduce waste and raise awareness. Over a 10-week period, colleges and universities compete in different contests to see which institution can collect the highest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest total amount of recyclables, the smallest amount of trash, and/or earn the highest recycling rate. There are also categories for individual waste products, such as paper, food products and cans. Four hundred schools participated this year across sixteen divisions, and results have just been announced.

Kalamazoo College of Michigan took first-place honors in both the Grand Champion (highest recycling rate) and Per-Capita categories, with a cumulative recycling rate of 58.93% and 75.22 lbs recycled per person over the length of the challenge. The Gorilla Prize, which awards the highest number of pounds, went to Stanford for recycling 1,231,012 lbs of waste in ten weeks. North Lake College of Irving, Texas, won the Waste Minimization prize for producing a scant 12.53 pounds of unrecycled waste per capita.

To see the rest of the awards, check Recyclemania's site here.  In total, these schools recycled 58.6 million pounds, which not only lessens the load on landfills, but also helps to minimize the impact that industry has on the environment. Many of these products, such as paper and cardboard, which would emit methane if left to degrade in a landfill, also lower carbon emissions when recycled. Congratulations to the schools involved! If you didn't participate this year, click around www.recyclemaniacs.org for ideas and consider competing next year.

Hundreds of colleges and universities, schools and businesses all across the world are hosting the National Wildlife Federation’s second annual broadcast, Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming as part of their series of activities leading up to Earth Day on April 22. The Chill Out competition and awards program continues the National Wildlife Federation’s tradition of recognizing and celebrating innovative solutions to global warming on our nation’s campuses. The inspirational examples illustrate how it is possible to dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels and human impact on the climate to achieve what the science is necessary: a minimum 2% annual reduction in CO2 emissions.

For example, Butte College in Oroville, California expects to be carbon neutral by 2015 without relying on carbon credits by employing solar panels and fuel cells for energy storage; the University of Missouri has grown by 60% but has reduced energy consumption by 19%; students at the University of Montana have taken 1,000 cars off the road every day through green transportation policies; Cascadia Community College and the University of Washington-Bothel are sequestering carbon dioxide and protecting wildlife through extensive habitat restoration; and students at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts capped carbon emissions and trade allowances among the residences.

As noted by moderator, Andrew Lee, a member of the National Wildlife Federation’s Youth Advisory Council and former Campus Ecology Fellow, “we have a moral responsibility to lead, especially in the US, where we have only about 5% of the world’s population, but use almost 25% of the world’s energy resources. Our colleges and universities are among the wealthiest in the world and are recognizing more and more that our higher education institutions bear a profound responsibility to lead.”

Host sites include colleges and universities, high schools, schools and businesses in the US, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Canada, China, India, Iran and Syria. An additional 150 sites or more are anticipated to host the program in the month of April 2008 and beyond. To date, Chill-Out is the only nationwide program with a global reach that specifically showcases solutions to global warming on US campuses.

Media coverage of the 2008 program includes radio, on-line and print news, blogs and websites. See: AOL Money and Finanance, Chronicle of Higher Education, WBEN 930 AM, Citizen Tribune, Green BayPress Gazette (Wisconsin), Charlotte.com, Climate Change Solutions, Stonyfield Farm. The program is sponsored by Stonyfield Farm, Climate Counts, and the Kendeda Fund. Presenting partners include the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA), the Earth Day Network, and the Energy Action Coalition’s Campus Climate Challenge.

Image by Fritz Myer, all rights reserved.

We're less than a week away from the second annual Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming webcast! This FREE webcast will feature colleges from around the country that are leading the fight against global warming. Ask our panelists questions, learn more about what you can do to confront global warming on your campus, and watch student videos.

Chill Out is next Wednesday, April 16 at 7pm Eastern. Sign up today to host this free webcast on your campus!

Are you tackling global warming on campus?  Then you need to Chill Out!

National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming competition is back and its bigger than ever!  Win prizes and get noticed with the nation's only annual global warming solutions contest.