A Sustainable Xavier : The Rising Popularity Of The Green Movement

Sustainability degrees are springing up in a number of fields – engineering, social sciences and the humanities – to cater to the growing number of professions which crave sustainability at its core.

Oberlin college is ranked as the 4th greenest college in America by popularmechanics.com, and it makes sense. It incorporates sustainability into its curriculum, but it also uses brand new technologies, such as solar panels and electric cars. Campuses that are more sustainable seem to have two main characteristics. The first is they are often in more rural settings, and usually use this setting to their advantage, by having big farms and creating nature reserves. The second is that they invest in more environmentally friendly technology before other colleges. Most colleges in the United States are attempting to become more sustainable, but many are taking the wrong approach to doing so. For example, USC is making efforts towards becoming more sustainable, and while some of these efforts are valid, many merely appear to be so that USC market itself as more sustainable. Colleges that put an emphasis on using new, more sustainable technologies tend to be more sustainable than those that simply try to spread the ideas of sustainability. While creating an environmentally conscious student body is important, it may not be achievable everywhere.

Much of what allows the most sustainable campuses to have their title cannot be applied to many other campuses. Many of these colleges use a variety of techniques to maintain their sustainability, the most common of which is to have a farm on campus. They take advantage of the fact that they have a massive campus, with open land that is cheaper for them to have, and set up a farm on it. They may also use technologies that work in more places, but still not everywhere such as a rainwater collector. While from the onset these may appear like great solutions, they may only be possible in these rural locations, which most colleges don 't have the luxury of accessing. This gives these colleges an enormous advantage, because they don 't have to worry as much about investing in other technologies. They already have these which can help them immensely. If they 're already saving energy thanks to their solar water heater, they don 't need to invest as much in solar panels, because they don 't need the extra energy. Other colleges may not have the location or environment to be able to implement these practices which makes it hard for them to be able to achieve the same level of sustainability.

Therefore, information in this article is still useful today. This article is also not yet 10 years old or older; it still has recent and useful information on how some universities are participating in environmental sustainability. Like how it shows that it is some universities policies that are showing more of a drive toward integrating environmental sustainability into universities “rather than that [of] state, national, or international [policies]” (Ralph and Stubbs

In an effort to help become the world’s first fully sustainable college campus we will be making some changes to campus to accommodate this decision. To help reach our goal of becoming the first fully sustainable college we will now be: using energy efficient light bulbs, turning off computers completely when not in use, using designated trash cans for papers, plastics and other recyclables, plant more trees around campus, and change sink faucets into 1 minute automatic faucets. All of these efforts will hopefully make a great change in trying to become ecofriendly to help save the earth.

In the article “Creating A "Green Bubble" On Campus: A Model For Programming In A Green Living-Learning Community,” David Whiteman, a faculty of the University of South Carolina, informs how the Green Quad, a learning community at the University of South Carolina, applies sustainability. The Green Quad program started to educates student a notion of sustainability, to encourages them to make an action, and to makes connections between students, faculty, staff, and members of the larger community. The program began in the fall of 2004 with a small student group that is interested in the environmental issues to create core constituencies. Later, the group became “the Green Learning Community” in which members get opportunities for extra programs

One of our greatest achievements comes at the time of graduating college, obtaining college degrees has brought progress to our society. However, too often this "progress" has resulted in a lack of extensive knowledge surrounding our communities, environment, and planet. Educating college students on general education, their degrees, and ultimately their life choices and direction has aided society in more ways than people can imagine. Unfortunately, some colleges if not most fail to explain and illustrate how we as students can help maintain a positive environment. The environment is clearly important to all us and many fail to influence nor recognize this, there are however some people who have made effective positive impacts on the world; these are the people that have to teach others how to do the same. Educational institutions especially colleges should make environmental sustainability an important priority in their facilities development and educational programs.

In ENVS class we do not learn just about the environment, but also about our health as a society in ensuring that no people or areas of life suffer as a result of, and also about examining the longer-term effects of the human activities and asking questions about how it improved and to ensure the quality of life for this and future generations. Teaching students about sustainability have been very important. It develops the knowledge, values, and worldviews required to make certain that there's enough for everyone, forever. It's different to other learning areas as it focuses on protecting natural environments and creating an ecologically and socially just world through informed action. Sustainability curriculum in CU Denver develops the capabilities, skills, and knowledge for

The ethical perspectives of whether to teach children and students about environmental sustainability needs to be explored. Argument can be made that because of the environmental problems faced by the world today it is not fair to be placing the burden of repairing and managing this problem upon them. McFarlane and Ogazon state “challenges to sustainability education are both natural and socially-imposed because of our nature as individuals. On a collective or societal level, we are hampered by political economy and governmental policies and actions. On an individual level, we feel helpless when we think about the possibility of taking on problems at the global level” (2011,

There is no question that our resources on earth such as water, electricity and plastic are limited. As humans, we have begun to realize that we cannot consume these resources at a high rate because if we do our future generations will be left with nothing. A large part of cutting down on resource consumption is practicing sustainability on college campuses. Colleges and Universities around the country are currently attempting to become more “green” or environmentally sustainable. Nazareth College has already begun to take steps towards sustainability with new L.E.D lights and recycling bins around campus, but the college can definitely take more strides towards becoming a more green campus. Nazareth College could improve on becoming a more sustainable campus by creating an atmosphere where students are more involved, limiting resource use in dorms, academic buildings and the dining hall, and by giving students and faculty more incentive to act in ways that are environment friendly.

Overall, sustainability of the program offers promising results. After reviewing the evaluations passed out during the last class, all participants said they would keep continuing coming to future classes, if they were offered. Also, many of the participants said, they had others whom

On Labor Day, my best friend and I went to visit her other best friend, who is currently a freshman at Swarthmore. She gave us a two hour tour the campus, which initiated my admiration for the college. The Swarthmore environment is auspicious ecologically, academically, and socially. The campus shares my desire to promote green living and gives a massive amount of thought to environmental sustainability. From the arboretum to the amphitheater, to the timed thirty-minute lights in between the shelves of McCabe, I appreciate how Swarthmore provides the greenest ways to go about the college experience.

If campuses over forty-two years old are not considered a “green campus,” then what does that make Hughson High School at one hundred and four years old? For the three years that we have been at Hughson High School, we have witnessed resources from the school’s cafeteria being wasted and pollution increasing daily. Hughson High School has the opportunity to become a sustainable campus by having the dining services and school farm promote more sustainable food, yet resources are squandered and the expenses are rising.

Sustainability should be prioritised in order for students to “become socially responsible and show respect for the environment” (Early Years Learning Framework, 2009). As educators we should be leading by example through effective sustainability practices. The Early Years

Sustainable development interconnects with the economic growth, nature conservation and the concept of equality for all. Environmental education is a complex and dynamic field, and so, a difficult one to assess. But given the urgency of the topic, its evaluation and better understanding may provide us with the tools necessary to pursue sustainability. My primary motivation for the research resides in the importance of sustainability as a vital practice for the future. The best way to do this is through the spreading of knowledge and improvement of education and learning and find what can be done to enhance it.