AASHE 2008 Conference
Five students, accompanied by Professor Jennifer Everett, Sustainability Administrator Carol Steele, and Facilities Manager Rob Harper attended the AASHE conference for a Sustainable Future on Nov 8th through the 11th. The group attended sessions ranging in topics from Sustainability curriculums on campuses, to student programming, sustainable development, and how to implement the ACUPCC. Nearly every discipline was represented as professors are finding innovative ways to connect sustainability with their work in the classroom.
Sessions included:
Energy Markets 101: Everything a Sustainability Officer needs to Know
Art, Humanities and Attitudes
Focusing Again: The National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions
Building University Partnerships
Carbon and Climate Issues
Zero Waste Programs on Campus: How low can we go?
The group came away with the feeling that DePauw is certainly not lagging in the innovation and creativity of the programs we are implementing on campus. Though other school have deeper roots in the sustainability movement, our campus has, in a very short time, developed programs that rival others in their breadth and student, staff, and faculty investment.
The conference also had four amazing keynotes speakers Lester Brown, Van Jones, Peter Senge, and Vandana Shiva.
Lester Brown’s speech was perfect for the opening- he gave a recap of where we are right now with the climate science, reminded us of how quickly things need to turn around and how higher education must be a leader in this movement. His talk was entitled “Mobilizing to Save Civilization: The Challenge to Higher Education” and it focused on the fact that it is indeed civilization that is at stake here and we shouldn’t move forward with any less urgency then that fact calls for.
Van Jones was the voice of hope at the conference. He spoke about how we are situated within a perfect political moment. We can either “fall or fly” depending on what we do next. He believes we can succeed in rescuing our economy with green jobs. His talk was entitled “Strengthening the Fabric of our community by Championing Green Economic Development”.
(I got his autograph!)
Peter Senge, in his talk “Working together for a Future that has a Future” explained how important the role of children is in society, especially now, when we cannot think of the future as an abstract concept, we must look at our children and realize that they are the ones that are going to suffer most from the effects of climate change. He says that a society that stops listening to their children is in trouble, and that one mark of a golden age in when the children are viewed as the most important members of society. He also pointed out that most of us live with a bad philosophy that goes something like this: “If you don’t like it, throw it out” and this applies to more than just “stuff”. It applies to friends and spouses too.
Finally, Vandana Shiva focused on how Universities can lead in creating sustainable and healthy food systems. She points out that a lot of the food we eat is barely food at all and it is making us sick. Aside from hurting the planet, it is hurting us. It is full of chemicals and completely distanced from the natural process. We have a truly backwards philosophy in thinking that we can feed the entire world with corn grown in the Midwest.
