As seen in the July 2008 issue of STUDENT emPOWERment BY TOM ROBINSON 20 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 0807Robinson.indd 20 July 2008 www.greentreegazette.com © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:55:11 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of Students smile when they make a difference. T oday’s students want to change the world for the better. Many of them want lives of impact. Some are already making a difference while they are students. Their success is often determined by what faculty faculty and administrators contribute—or don’t. In this article you’ll meet Judy Walton, the acting director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. Judy is helping colleges integrate sustainability on campus. You’ll also meet three students with impressive accomplishments. Maryland’s Joanna Calabrese is the politician. Kentucky’s Matt Harmin is the Zen philosopher. Cornell’s Carlos Rymer is the student organizer. The drive for activism The growth of the sustainability movement is attributable to the energy and determination of students, says author and activist David Bornstein. What makes those students tick? What are they accomplishing? What do they need to be successful now and after graduation? Junior Matt Harmin is a Japanese studies major at the University of Kentucky (UK). He was drawn to sustainability through the work of Masanobu Fukuoka, author of One Straw Revolution. The 94-year-old Fukuoka has practiced “natural farming,” which is small in scale, organic and requires no weeding, pesticide, tilling or fertilizer. Yet it produces yields equivalent to modern agricultural practices. “It formed my concept of sustainability as a philosophy, as a performable activity, and what it means to wrestle with issues over the course of one’s life,” Harmin says. In addition to high profile efforts like energy management and recycling, Harmin is involved with other activities like Wildcat Wheels Library, which provides free bicycle use to UK students, The interviews begin on the following page. Joanna Calabrese, Matt Harmin, Carlos Rymer, Judy Walton www.greentreegazette.com 0807Robinson.indd 21 July 2008 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 21 © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:55:35 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Joanna Calabrese Sophomore, environmental science and policy EXPERTISE Co-founded Clean Energy for UMD. Student representative on the school’s Climate Action Workgroup. Intern at Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, U.S. Congress. Fellow of the Breakthrough Institute. Describe the benefits of interning on Capitol Hill. I work for the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. I get to apply what I’ve learned in school. I’ve gained insight into the political process—why it takes so long to implement a policy, why there’s so much bureaucracy—and how successful people navigate. I’ve learned about professional research, where to go for credible information, who to talk to . . . and I am developing a network. Exactly what do you do for the House Select Committee? This committee doesn’t have legislative jurisdiction. It develops strategy and recommendations. I mostly do research and media projects. In preparation for hearings that involved the top oil company CEOs, I wrote a history of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation, did compensation analysis on executive pay, fact-checked company profits and dug for the percentage they spent on developing renewable fuels versus their PR. Is activism on campus and in government executed the same way? The obstacles to policy change are the same: miscommunication and competing interests, for example. The right people with authority must be identified and accessed. Knowledge of previous successes and established precedents is crucial to help those in authority feel more comfortable about change and compromise. Has becoming a Breakthrough Institute Fellow affected your thinking? So many social movements are based on scare tactics: If you don’t stop global warming, the Chesapeake Bay will flood and your children will die. The Breakthrough Institute has a more inspiring approach, particularly for my generation. We want to take a broader approach based on a new political order, human aspiration and innovation to create prosperity. We will frame the issues differently. What was PowerShift and its focus? Along with others, I persuaded our university president to host PowerShift last year. So 5,000 U.S. students met on the University of Maryland campus for workshops and more than a hundred speakers and panelists from government agencies to scientists to student leaders. The last day of the conference was a training day for lobbying. Then 3,000 students called on their Congressmen for action on climate change and other environmental issues. What are your plans for the future? I am only a sophomore. While I value my classes, they are so big that I can’t find an individual experience. I don’t connect the way I do in my other activities outside the classroom. I don’t know exactly what I want to do after graduation, but it will most likely be in government or special interest or an NGO. I might teach with Teach For America for a few years first. I am more of a doer than a thinker. faculty and staff. Who needs hydrogenpowered buses? Even within the big topic of energy management, not every sustainable program is a cookie-cutter exercise. Desert colleges can set up solar arrays while plains colleges can harness wind energy. 22 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 0807Robinson.indd 22 July 2008 Kentucky is a coal state, with a capital C for carbon. While coal-fired electric power generation is a dreadful chimera for many environmentalists, UK deep mines a lowsulfur coal from a local mine in Perry County and forgoes expensive and energyconsuming hauling. It also provides good- paying jobs in a state where unemployment is high. Harmin does not see himself so much as an activist, as he does a citizen. He believes the skills, tactics, goals and expertise usually attributed to activists need to be those of fully realized citizens, not just a www.greentreegazette.com © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:55:51 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY Matt Harmin Senior, Japanese studies EXPERTISE ASSHE intern. Student representative on the University of Kentucky Sustainability Advisory Committee. Sustainable Agriculture apprentice. Radio DJ at WRFL 88.1 FM. Do you consider yourself an activist? Activist is not a word I use to describe myself. In my opinion, the skills, tactics, goals and issue expertise usually attributed to activists need to become associated with the word citizen. Sustainability is a realm in which all fully realized citizens—not just a few fanatics—operate in a well-functioning democracy. What is sustainability to you? For some, sustainability is often a response to climate change, or declining fossil fuel reserves, or other environmental damage. For me, sustainability is its own motivating force. Rather than an outcome, it is a process that we, as citizens, use to improve the performance of ourselves, our cities and our institutions. Sustainability is an organizing principle that will help us reorganize our business and social institutions with cost effective changes that improve not only environmental performance, but generate beneficial social outcomes in the community. What advice do you have for well-meaning students? Capitalize on existing campus culture, tradition and precedents. Understand the constraints and limitations that sustainability-minded university staff members must work under. Make connections with other student campus organizations. Do not be bashful about having a meeting with anyone in any strata of the campus hierarchy. Students are often surprised at who would love to talk with a crew of students with big plans or new information. How can faculty and staff help? They can empower students to communicate ideas to staff and administrators. And encourage the confluence of scholarly and professional pursuits, with the campus as a lab for applied learning. What should the learning outcomes be? Participation in a change process provides experience in project management, collaborative team building and problem-solving. Many organizations want graduates with that kind of experience. Does Kentucky walk the walk? We have to deal with our own region’s sustainability contradictions and conundrums. Unlike the desert areas that have opportunities for solar or the Midwest with its wind, we burn coal and natural gas to power our campus. What I didn’t know until recently is that our university uses only deep-mined coal from a particular mine in Perry County. Deep mining is dangerous, but it employs several times more Kentuckians, and yields coal with lower sulfur content than coal derived from mountain-top removal. 24 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 0807Robinson.indd 24 U of Kentucky students are busy with agricultural pursuits t6NIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY GREENTHUMB is the largest student run environmental club in Kentucky. It sponsors Earth Day and river gorge cleanup events. It protests mountain top removal coal mining, and coordinates events with other organizations like Amnesty International and the Sierra Club. t4645"*/"#-&"(3*$6-563&"113&/5*$&4)*14 enable students to work side by side with farm managers. t$0..6/*5:4611035&%"(3*$6-563& is an extension service supporting a variety of direct farm marketing practices which began in Massachusetts in the 1980s and is growing in parts of the U.S. now. It emphasizes the sale of shares or subscriptions to locally produced fruit and vegetables before the crops are planted and provides weekly deliveries by farmers to members/subscribers throughout the season. July 2008 © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:56:10 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 2008 GRADUATE, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Carlos Rymer Master’s candidate, public administration in environmental science and policy, Columbia University EXPERTISE Former leader of Cornell Sustainability Hub and KyotoNOW! student organizations. Co-leader of New Jersey Climate March. New York Student Sustainability Coalition founder. Partner in a sustainable energy non-profit organization in the Dominican Republic. Describe KyotoNOW! Founded in 2001, the group launched the national youth climate movement by sitting in the President’s office and demanding that Cornell commit to meeting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol. Cornell thus became the first institution in the United States to do so —and Cornell has met those goals. KyotoNOW! also ran a campus-wide campaign that convinced the administration to go beyond Kyoto and commit to the Presidents Climate Commitment. What is the Sustainability Hub at Cornell? The Sustainability Hub is the largest sustainability organization on campus. It is dedicated to 1) raising awareness; 2) engaging students in projects and campaigns; 3) connecting the work of various campus social and environmental organizations. Projects range from biodiesel production to local community work to sustainable investing. Awareness programs include sustainability presentations in residence halls, a tap water campaign and sustainability boards. How do students progress from emotional to effective? Once students feel they can create change, they are ready to work to make a particular project or campaign a reality. As they make progress, the have a greater incentive to work harder. In my experience, it seems that leaders are pretty good at getting new, excited members up-to-speed. But sometimes there are other barriers. Are students the adversaries of administration and faculty? Not in the case of the Presidents Commitment. We started a petition campaign with coverage in the student newspaper looking for support. We called or visited faculty offices and 90 faculty members joined the 5,000 students who signed. In another situation involving Cornell’s use of Cayuga Lake to cool campus buildings, students assured townspeople that the administration was monitoring the environmental situation responsibly. Is there life after student activism? There are plenty of jobs related to sustainable development. These range from sustainability manager positions at colleges and businesses to jobs in renewable energy, waste management, non-profits, government, foundations and even investment firms. One key area of growth is sustainable business. Numerous colleges and universities are offering or planning to offer MBAs in Sustainable Business. Is there any money in doing good things? I was offered jobs before graduation without applying or being interviewed. My sophomore friend is interning with a wind manufacturing company in Boston where he expects to continue working full time after graduation. Starting pay is around $50,000 to $60,000 for jobs in renewable energy. Policy work pays about $50,000. NGOs and non-profits will be lower. Another friend with a master’s in environmental toxicology works for Greenpeace in Denmark for $40,000. few fanatics. And he defines sustainability not as an outcome, but as a process or organizing principle. Organizing students Carlos Rymer just graduated from Cornell with a degree in sustainable development 26 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 0807Robinson.indd 26 July 2008 and has enrolled in Columbia University’s Master’s of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. At Cornell he was active in KyotoNOW! which applied carbon-reduction principles to the micro-environment in Ithaca, New York. He organized the Sustainability Hub, a collaboration among all the student environmental groups on campus. Campus sustainability is a priority at Cornell University. Rymer organized a New York State Climate Summit and co-founded the New York Student Sustainability Coalition. He www.greentreegazette.com © 20086/23/2008 The Greentree Gazette 5:56:24 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of Student EmPOWERment was a co-leader of the New Jersey Climate March that resulted in the Global Warming Response Act legislation that commits the state to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050. Rymer realizes that the continued success of these programs depends on other students becoming leaders and learning to work with campus administrators for change. He offers a plan: How student leaders nurture effective student organizations Step 1. Recruit. Step 2. Get students excited. Step 3. Plan specific campaigns and projects. Step 4. Mentor and advise. Step 5. Monitor progress weekly. Step 6. Provide constructive feedback. Step 7. Identify and align with empathetic faculty and administrators. Step 8. Present compelling arguments and allude to other campus precedents. Michael Crow and others drafted and signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Since then 550 presidents have since signed the agreement that calls for reduction of the campus carbon footprint and infusion of sustainability into curricula. According to Walton, sustainability programs on campus differ greatly, as do their managers. At some campuses, the effort may be headed up by a graduate student. At others, it may be the job of a vice chancellor or dean. AASHE is working on a classification system for campus sustainability, with guidelines by which institutions may measure themselves and qualify for recognition of accomplishment.TheSustainabilityTracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) is a voluntary, self-reported framework for gauging relative progress toward sustainability for colleges and universities. STARS is guided by representatives from academe, higher education associations, related nonprofit organizations, businesses and government agencies. As a freshman, she co-founded Clean Energy for UMD to stimulate climate activism on her campus. Clean Energy for UMD recognized student interest in funding green initiatives. They helped win a statewide commitment to make all Maryland System schools carbon neutral and persuaded the campus president to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment. Calabrese serves as a student representative on the school’s Climate Action Workgroup. She has been a legislator in the Student Government Association, writing policies in support of environmentally responsible campus affairs and registering new voters. She helped organize Recyclemania 2008, a Green Groups Roundtable and PowerShift 2007. Calabrese has been interning this past semester on Capitol Hill for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. She’s a sophomore. She’ll visit Berkeley this summer to join with people who want to counter the oneproblem-at-a-time social movements of the 60s and 70s, still in use today, with a more holistic approach. “Instead of isolated issues that have to be controlled, we want to take a broader approach based on a new political Playing well with others Organizing sustainable campus Joanna Calabrese is a sophomore at communities Sustainability on campus is a natural. A coll- the University of Maryland majoring ege campus is often a tailor-made blend of in environmental science and policy. motivation, intellectual capital, research and interdisciplinary cross pollination. A campus is Campus sustainability models often a microcosm of larger and t"RIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY “Global Institute for Sustainability.” High-level commitment, less manageable communities. catalyzed from above with primarily an education and research focus, rather than campus Environmental and social operations. movements are not new to t6/*7&34*5:0'#3*5*4)$0-6.#*" “Sustainability Office.” Innovative programs and a great college campuses, but they were website. This campus excels at funding from the savings produced by its initiatives. often operated asynchronously. UBC gives a new twist to the term “sustainability coordinator,” who can be a staff or To galvanize people and defaculty member in any of 300 departments who commits to advancing UBC’s sustainable partments, deans and faculty development goals. members in 11 western states as t6/*7&34*5:0'/&8)".14)*3& “University Office of Sustainability.” Unusual because it is well as Alaska, Hawaii and two endowed. Canadian provinces formed the t45"/'03%6/*7&34*5: “Department of Sustainability and Energy Management.” Interesting, Education for Sustainability because it’s a high-level department rather than an office. Western Network. Judy Walton t.*%%-?:$0--&(& “Office of Environmental Affairs.” Overseen by a Dean of Environmental became its first director. EFS Affairs, an innovative position. West expanded in 2006 to a t)"37"3%6/*7&34*5:“Harvard Green Campus Initiative.” Contract out sustainability national organization, the Assocconsulting services to the rest of the campus. Has a “green” revolving loan fund. iation for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher CampusERC.org is a library for use by college and university environmental officers on Education, or AASHE. At the organization’s environmental issues, best practices, case studies, and regulations provided by the National inaugural conference Arizona Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). State University president www.greentreegazette.com 0807Robinson.indd 27 July 2008 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 27 © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:56:34 PM As seen in the July 2008 issue of ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION Judy Walton Acting director EXPERTISE Founding member and executive director of Education for Sustainability Western Network. First executive director of AASHE. Long-standing interest in sustainability, reflected in both her academic work at Humboldt State University and her green building consultancy work in Washington. Ph.D. geography from Syracuse. M.A. geography, San Diego State University. B.A. political science, UC San Diego. What is AASHE’s biggest success so far? The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), with 550 signatories to date, is transforming many campuses as they conduct their greenhouse gas inventories, implement tangible and immediate actions and begin developing long-term climate action plans. ACUPCC began at AASHE’s inaugural 2006 conference and now AASHE is one of three coordinating organizations behind the drive. Largely due to wonderful leadership from campus presidents and chancellors, we’ve seen tremendous growth in campus sustainability initiatives at all levels. What are your top priorities? AASHE supports the signatory institutions as they implement the commitment, report progress and develop climate action plans. More than two hundred experts from virtually every area of higher education were involved in the creation of another initiative, STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System), which has 90 participating campuses in its pilot phase. STARS is a transparent and self-administered assessment tool—from scoring to documentation. We expect to launch STARS 1.0 in 2009 and hope it will become a clearinghouse of information about sustainability efforts. AASHE’s third priority is to upgrade our web content with interactive capabilities, searchable databases and forums and blogs. What skills do campus sustainability officers need? Interestingly, their job descriptions seem to emphasize technical knowledge. However, many sustainability practitioners say that social organizing, marketing and communications skills are the most necessary for this type of work. In essence it’s about being a change agent, because sustainability asks us to look at the world through a new lens. Several practitioners emphasize the need to be a “polyglot” or jack of all trades, to have the capacity to make critical connections and think outside the box. How does a campus start a sustainability office? There are many excellent models of sustainability offices, and no prescribed way to go about it. Regardless of how the office is configured, success is dependent on adequate funding and the commitment of the campus administrative leadership, with support from students, faculty and staff. order, human aspiration and innovation to create prosperity,” she explains. How can you help? From the mouths of relative babes come cogent lessons. Make formal instruction better and more relevant for Millennials. Bright, motivated students are easily bored, even when they are hungry to learn. Joanna Calabrese: “While I value my classes, they are so big that I can’t find an individual experience. I don’t connect the way I do in 28 THE GREENTREE GAZETTE 0807Robinson.indd 28 July 2008 my other activities out of the classroom. I am more of a doer than a thinker.” Prepare students for lives of impact. Carlos Rymer: “Careers range from sustainability manager positions at colleges and businesses to jobs in renewable energy, waste management, non-profits, government, foundations and even investment firms. One key area of growth is sustainable business, with many institutions offering or planning to offer MBAs in Sustainable Business.” Take advantage of the learning laboratory that is your campus. Matt Harmin: “The professors and students involved in the Sustainable Agriculture Program at UK show us how to learn by doing, while worthwhile research is done on campus as well.” Look for more coverage of green, sustainability and social entrepreneurship topics in future issues of this magazine and on GreentreeGazette.com. www.greentreegazette.com © 2008 The Greentree Gazette 6/23/2008 5:56:49 PM
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