I wasn't able to make any posts recently, as I was at a workshop in Washington, D.C. But I am back now, so more frequent posting will be in order!
I received an e-mail from Carl Roderick with a link to a report from Dr. Meg Holden and Kristin McIlhenney from the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University:
Online Education in Sustainability Assessment be. The 48 page report (pdf) is available here.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
SMU Campus Sustainability
I previously mentioned that SMU does have a sustainability web site. I asked Shelley Price-Finn, of Facilities Management, if there were documents or reports that Faculty could have access to and possibly make use of in the classroom.
She indicated that on the site there are now two videos that are interesting affirmations of what we are doing sustainability-related on campus. There is also the strategy document - in a classroom setting that would be an interesting document to analyse. Under the FAQ section there are a number of things on Waste management.
In September 2009, 1029 parking permits were sold to members of the university community. Click here and you will see where the commuters travel from. It's interesting to see how many people who live so close to campus still require a car to travel in to campus.
Also under the SMU consumption stats, there is some information that a class may find useful to review and find project topics related to campus sustainability.
There is also a "Report on Sustainability" that Shelley sent to me: I would be happy to send this to those who are interested. Thanks for these suggestions, Shelley! There are certainly many ways that SMU faculty can use the campus as a classroom.
She indicated that on the site there are now two videos that are interesting affirmations of what we are doing sustainability-related on campus. There is also the strategy document - in a classroom setting that would be an interesting document to analyse. Under the FAQ section there are a number of things on Waste management.
In September 2009, 1029 parking permits were sold to members of the university community. Click here and you will see where the commuters travel from. It's interesting to see how many people who live so close to campus still require a car to travel in to campus.
Also under the SMU consumption stats, there is some information that a class may find useful to review and find project topics related to campus sustainability.
There is also a "Report on Sustainability" that Shelley sent to me: I would be happy to send this to those who are interested. Thanks for these suggestions, Shelley! There are certainly many ways that SMU faculty can use the campus as a classroom.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sustainability Conferences
There are so many great conferences related to the very broad theme of sustainability. I sometimes receive e-mails informing me of really interesting conferences, only to find out that they are happening within a few weeks, and usually on the other side of the world. Of course there are the issues of all those emissions required to travel to these distant places, but there are increasingly options for web casting, especially for sustainability-themed events. That will likely be a blog post unto its' own. In the meantime, I thought I would share some sites and conferences that I have come across.
The American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
"Campus Initiatives to Catalyze a Just and Sustainable World", October 10-12, 2010, hosted in Denver, Colorado
Conference goals include:
• Highlighting possibilities for creating leadership and funding for sustainable curriculum.
• Providing attendees with tools for planning and measuring campus sustainability efforts.
• Demonstrating the move from ideas to implementation in sustainability commitments.
• Placing emphasis on transforming the campus through cross-sector collaborative efforts in order to establish economic sustainability.
• Connecting the role of local higher education sustainability initiatives as it relates to social justice and the global campus.
From Ramesh:
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
June Sustainability Conference
Date: June 14 — 16, 2010
Also in Denver, Colorado
This site provides "conference alerts" on specific themes (sustainable development in this case)
Let me know if you have any web site that you like to use to track up-coming conference of related interest.
The American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
"Campus Initiatives to Catalyze a Just and Sustainable World", October 10-12, 2010, hosted in Denver, Colorado
Conference goals include:
• Highlighting possibilities for creating leadership and funding for sustainable curriculum.
• Providing attendees with tools for planning and measuring campus sustainability efforts.
• Demonstrating the move from ideas to implementation in sustainability commitments.
• Placing emphasis on transforming the campus through cross-sector collaborative efforts in order to establish economic sustainability.
• Connecting the role of local higher education sustainability initiatives as it relates to social justice and the global campus.
From Ramesh:
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
June Sustainability Conference
Date: June 14 — 16, 2010
Also in Denver, Colorado
This site provides "conference alerts" on specific themes (sustainable development in this case)
Let me know if you have any web site that you like to use to track up-coming conference of related interest.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sustainable SMU Part II
It came to my attention today that SMU has a sustainability web site: I've added the link to this blog as well. There are many items of interest on the site. If you have additional suggestions for content, feel free to pass them along via this blog or to me to pass on to the Sustainability Task Force.
I also wanted to inform you of a few historical milestones that occurred at Saint Mary's University, courtesy of Anne Marie Dalton. The course Ecology and Religion was first taught in 1976 by Emero Stiegman who is now Professor Emeritus in Religious Studies at SMU. Research indicates that this was the first course in Canada entitled Ecology and Religion. Since there is no way to be 100% sure, Dr. Dalton wrote in the article for Academic Matters that it was definitely one of the first, if not the first. Apparently it was difficult to get a course like this at the time, so some universities cloaked the topic under names like Contemporary Issues in Religion. In any case it was definitely very early for such courses and took a couple of years prior to 1976 before it was given the go-ahead for the calendar. Out of that course, the students started the Environmental Society. Dr. Dalton is unsure if this was the first such society at a university in Canada (perhaps doubtful given that the 60s had a large student movement for the environment). However, again it was quite early on. So we can certainly say that Saint Mary’s was engaged in the environmental movement early on. Dr. Dalton is following up with Dr. Stiegman for clarification and more details on the history of the Ecology and religion course.
If you are interested in this subject, there is a Forum on Religion and Ecology that has a lot of information and other links that are interdisciplinary(not just religion).
I also wanted to inform you of a few historical milestones that occurred at Saint Mary's University, courtesy of Anne Marie Dalton. The course Ecology and Religion was first taught in 1976 by Emero Stiegman who is now Professor Emeritus in Religious Studies at SMU. Research indicates that this was the first course in Canada entitled Ecology and Religion. Since there is no way to be 100% sure, Dr. Dalton wrote in the article for Academic Matters that it was definitely one of the first, if not the first. Apparently it was difficult to get a course like this at the time, so some universities cloaked the topic under names like Contemporary Issues in Religion. In any case it was definitely very early for such courses and took a couple of years prior to 1976 before it was given the go-ahead for the calendar. Out of that course, the students started the Environmental Society. Dr. Dalton is unsure if this was the first such society at a university in Canada (perhaps doubtful given that the 60s had a large student movement for the environment). However, again it was quite early on. So we can certainly say that Saint Mary’s was engaged in the environmental movement early on. Dr. Dalton is following up with Dr. Stiegman for clarification and more details on the history of the Ecology and religion course.
If you are interested in this subject, there is a Forum on Religion and Ecology that has a lot of information and other links that are interdisciplinary(not just religion).
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sustainable SMU
In achieving its mission, the Saint Mary’s community is guided by core values of academic integrity, the pursuit of knowledge, responsiveness to community needs, openness to change, concerns for a just and civil society, commitment to environmental sustainability, and fiscal responsibility.
The university’s academic plan, Engaging the Vision: Academic Plan 2008– 2011, articulates a number of priorities for the university that include environmental responsibility and sustainability issues. For example, to build on a tradition of community involvement, foster a culture of civic engagement and ensure that social responsibility is recognized as a hallmark of Saint Mary’s University, a key objective is to engage students, faculty and staff in promoting environmental responsibility on campus and beyond. Similarly, to build on existing areas of strength and to continuously improve, the plan calls for the exploration into innovative approaches to curriculum, and to highlight and develop the ways in which our curriculum supports our vision to be “the University of choice for aspiring citizens of the world.”
As individuals, are we supporting this vision?
The university’s academic plan, Engaging the Vision: Academic Plan 2008– 2011, articulates a number of priorities for the university that include environmental responsibility and sustainability issues. For example, to build on a tradition of community involvement, foster a culture of civic engagement and ensure that social responsibility is recognized as a hallmark of Saint Mary’s University, a key objective is to engage students, faculty and staff in promoting environmental responsibility on campus and beyond. Similarly, to build on existing areas of strength and to continuously improve, the plan calls for the exploration into innovative approaches to curriculum, and to highlight and develop the ways in which our curriculum supports our vision to be “the University of choice for aspiring citizens of the world.”
As individuals, are we supporting this vision?
Friday, May 14, 2010
So many resources, so little time!
I don't know about you, but I sometimes find the amount of information that is available on the internet, in the library and all around me a little overwhelming. That is why I love it when a friend or colleague recommends a resource to me: something I pull from the volumes of information around me. A number of you have sent e-mails with content, ideas and suggestions of books and articles. I will be posting them all in due course. I hope that as we enter into the "slower" summer season, you may have some time to reflect, to read and to get reinvigorated again. You may find me on one of the many beautiful beaches of Nova Scotia in July, with one of the following texts in my hand (hey, life is short, I like to multi-task!). What books and resources would you recommend? Where are the places you like to spend time in the summer months?
Ramesh was kind enough to take the time to send some suggested books:
Ramesh was kind enough to take the time to send some suggested books:
- Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practices across Higher Education
- Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability: Problematics, Promise, and Practice
- Using Statistics to Understand the Environment
And Anne Marie suggested this one:
I have asked the CAID if they have any of these books, and will let you know the response. The SMU library does not hold the first two but has the third one.
Ramesh also suggested that if you google "sustainability and curriculum" and select the videos option, there are quite a few useful videos. I had done this myself prior to the Workshop this past week, but we didn't have time to watch any. Here are a few that might be of interest:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
The Kanawha Environmental Education Project from Nora Rye on Vimeo.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
First Post-Workshop Blog Post
Thanks again to everyone who came to the first Sustainability Across the Curriculum Workshop. I hope you found it to be an engaging and useful event. I really enjoyed meeting with such a fantastic and interesting group of faculty. I was surprised to see that Steve Proctor (the fellow taking photos of us while we were walking about with David Richardson on the "tree tour") was able to get today's workshop into This Week at SMU. If you haven't already seen it, check it out!
There were many occasions during the course of the day when I found myself saying "I'll have to post this on the blog". I think I probably have enough content to sustain this thing daily for at least a month! But that is great, and I would welcome more content to flow my way so please send me anything that is relevant to the blog and I would be happy to post it.
I thought I would give you a bit more information about David Orr, who I mentioned in my presentation today. You can learn a bit about him from his web site; I would encourage you to take a quick look at his site: he certainly is an inspirational individual. I mentioned his book "Earth in Mind" today and Anne Marie Dalton brought by a copy of his newest book, "Down to the Wire". I've discovered that the SMU library does not hold either of these, so I will get them both ordered through Geography right away.
And, you may want to take a minute to check out some of the links from the blog: some will be more useful and relevant to you than others. I find the environmental news links a great way to quickly stay on top of the leading environmental issues of the day.
There were many occasions during the course of the day when I found myself saying "I'll have to post this on the blog". I think I probably have enough content to sustain this thing daily for at least a month! But that is great, and I would welcome more content to flow my way so please send me anything that is relevant to the blog and I would be happy to post it.I thought I would give you a bit more information about David Orr, who I mentioned in my presentation today. You can learn a bit about him from his web site; I would encourage you to take a quick look at his site: he certainly is an inspirational individual. I mentioned his book "Earth in Mind" today and Anne Marie Dalton brought by a copy of his newest book, "Down to the Wire". I've discovered that the SMU library does not hold either of these, so I will get them both ordered through Geography right away.
And, you may want to take a minute to check out some of the links from the blog: some will be more useful and relevant to you than others. I find the environmental news links a great way to quickly stay on top of the leading environmental issues of the day.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sustainability Across the Curriculum
I am looking forward to seeing those registered for the Sustainability Across the Curriculum workshop to be held on Wednesday, May 12 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm in Atrium 212. I trust that we will create a new network of sustainable faculty practitioners!
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