March 27, 2012

History of Sustainability at UAlbany Launched in 2006, Task Force created Office of Environmental Sustainability and Energy 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, Founding member of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities, 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 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 Interdisciplinary minor in sustainability Research Goal: Develop recognized excellence in GIS Bolster and grow GIS infrastructure and expertise Goal: Create a research agenda focused on sustainability Multidisciplinary Address complex systems problems Focus on alternative and sustainable solutions to intellectual problems Goal: Become recognized as a center of sustainability research Seminar Series – the Sustainability Roundtable (starts March 30 th ) International Conference Journal Service/Outreach Goal: Transfer research products to the public and private sectors Underway through programs at Rockefeller College and elsewhere on campus

Some Resources Barth, M. J. Godemann, M. Riekman and U. Stoltenberg Developing key competencies for sustainable development in higher education. International Journal of Sustainable Development in Higher Education 8: Brundiers, K., A. Wiek and C.L. Redman Real-world learning opportunities in sustainability: From classroom to the real world. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 11: Clark, W.C. and N.M. Dickson Sustainability science: The emerging research program. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100: Cortese, A.D The critical role of higher education in creating a sustainable future. Planning for Higher Education 31: Hirsch, H.G., D. Bradley, C. Pohl, S. Rist and U. Wiessmann Implications of transdisciplinarity for sustainability research. Ecological Economics 60: Kates R.W. and 22 others Sustainability science. Science 292:

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 ( Facebook (UAlbany Green Scene), read sustainability bulletin and attend events! Become knowledgeable about resources from AASHE ( and the Consortium (

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 Contact info: Dr. Mary Ellen Mallia, Director Dr. Gary Kleppel Dr. Linda Krzykowski Office of Environmental Sustainability University Hall Facebook: Ualbany Green Scene Twitter: UAGreenScene