March 27, 2012
History of Sustainability at UAlbany
 Launched in 2006, Task Force created
 Office of Environmental Sustainability and Energy
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Management created in 2008
Focused on furthering efforts of task force, mainly on
operations
Creating a social network throughout campus
Expanding into community outreach
Assessing curriculum and research efforts
Beginning academic initiatives
Results
 Received several grants: hybrid buses, solar panels,
geothermal in new dorm, energy efficiency, GPS on
buses
 Conducted research study on transportation demand
management (grant funded)
 Received awards
 Stakeholder’s Inc, Building Sustainable Communities
Award
 DEC Environmental Excellence Award
 Inclusion on Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Schools
Past progress on academic
endeavors
 Annual forum
 Created a course database
 Created list serv on academic endeavors (THINKGREEN)
 Institutional member of AASHE, www.aashe.org
 Founding member of the Environmental Consortium of
Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities,
www.environmentalconsortium.org/
 FYE courses
 Established LLC on Environmental Sustainability
 Multi-disciplinary working group/SUNY 2020 initiative
Freshman Year Experience (FYE)
 Five freshman year experience (one credit) courses with
a sustainability theme were offered last fall
 Gary Kleppel – The Sustainable Food System
 Mary Ellen Mallia – Choices for a Healthy Planet
 Bob Keesee – Globalization and the Environment
 David Lewis – The Three E’s of Sustainable Development
 Irina Holden – Science Literacy through Sustainability
LLC (Living Learning Community)
 World of Environmental Sustainability
 Focus on Sustainable Food Production
 Located in Tuscarora Hall on Indian Quad
 Lead Faculty – Gary Kleppel
 Supporting Faculty – John Delano, Vince Idone and Rocky
Ferraro
 Students take classes together
 Weekly lunches
 GA assigned to hall to coordinate activities
 Students have pushed forward the local food agenda, pushed
for labeling in the dining hall and are working on a
composting pilot project
Future Steps
 Future direction of sustainability
 UAlbany: Campus sustainability assessment (STARS, an
AASHE program) and planning
 SUNY wide: Creation of Director of Sustainability
position at SUNY central, sustainability council forming
 NYS: Working group on Sustainability in Higher
Education
 SUNY Sustainability initiative
 Seminar series
It’s about more than changing
your light bulbs
 Activism
 Local food
 Energy
 Recycling
 Academics
 Environmental/Economic and Social Frameworks
 Sustainability problems are complex and non-linear
 Sustainable solutions are multidisciplinary and often
require understanding human behavior
SUNY Sustainability Initiative
 Curriculum
 Goal: Every student becomes literate in sustainability
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We already have 400 undergrad and 500 grad courses with sustain content
We need to organize and focus that curricular capacity and make it available to all
of our students
 Goal: Interested students can gain more than basic literacy
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Interdisciplinary minor in sustainability
 Research
 Goal: Develop recognized excellence in GIS
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Bolster and grow GIS infrastructure and expertise
 Goal: Create a research agenda focused on sustainability
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Multidisciplinary
Address complex systems problems
Focus on alternative and sustainable solutions to intellectual problems
 Goal: Become recognized as a center of sustainability research
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Seminar Series – the Sustainability Roundtable (starts March 30th)
International Conference
Journal
 Service/Outreach
 Goal: Transfer research products to the public and private sectors
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Underway through programs at Rockefeller College and elsewhere on campus
Some Resources
 Barth, M. J. Godemann, M. Riekman and U. Stoltenberg. 2007. Developing key
competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal
of Sustainable Development in Higher Education 8:416-430.
 Brundiers, K., A. Wiek and C.L. Redman. 2010. Real-world learning opportunities in
sustainability: From classroom to the real world. International Journal of
Sustainability in Higher Education 11: 308-324.
 Clark, W.C. and N.M. Dickson. 2003. Sustainability science: The emerging research
program. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100:8059-8061.
 Cortese, A.D. 2003. The critical role of higher education in creating a sustainable
future. Planning for Higher Education 31:15-22.
 Hirsch, H.G., D. Bradley, C. Pohl, S. Rist and U. Wiessmann. 2006. Implications of
transdisciplinarity for sustainability research. Ecological Economics 60:119-128
 Kates R.W. and 22 others. 2001. Sustainability science. Science 292:641-642.
Getting involved
 Join THINKGREEN list serv
 If interested in LLC or FYE, contact Linda K
 If interested in the SUNY sustainability initiative,
contact Gary
 Keep track of sustainability programming at website
(www.albany.edu/gogreen), Facebook (UAlbany Green
Scene), read sustainability bulletin and attend events!
 Become knowledgeable about resources from AASHE
(www.aashe.org) and the Consortium
(www.environmentalconsortium.org/)
Questions for you:
 How would you like to be involved?
 What do we currently do that needs improvement?
 What are we not doing?
 Reminder: speaker tonight Richard Heinberg 7 pm Page Hall
Questions for us?
Discussion
 Office of Environmental
 Contact info:
 Dr. Mary Ellen Mallia,
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Director
mmallia@albany.edu
Dr. Gary Kleppel
gkleppel@albany.edu
Dr. Linda Krzykowski
lkrzykowski@albany.edu
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Sustainability
University Hall 212
518-956-8120
www.albany.edu/gogreen
Facebook: Ualbany Green
Scene
Twitter: UAGreenScene