 |
| Sustainability
- Living intelligently and comfortably within the means of the
earth to ensure comfortable lives for future generations |
CAMPUS NEWS
Green Campuses are mainstream
|
|
|
 We’re
pleased with our sustainability accomplishments
here at Auburn, but we aren’t the only
campus making strides, and the whole country
is starting to learn about it! A
recent story in the nationally distributed USA
Today Weekend magazine spotlighted "green"
projects at universities across the nation.
The write-up highlighted projects such as all-organic
dining plans in cafeterias, food-waste composting,
green building projects, and biodiesel buses.
Efforts like these are now the norm in higher
academics, and we’re happy to have your
help bringing more projects like these to Auburn.
|
|
|
Auburn Faculty Bring Sustainability to More
Courses |
|
|
At
the end of last spring semester, after
grades were turned in, students seen
off for the summer, a time when most
of the campus was taking the well-earned
annual deep breath, a handful of faculty
from around the university met at Camp
ASCCA’s new environmental center
on Lake Martin to take part in the first
Sustainability in the Curriculum Workshop.
Thirteen faculty members plus the four
organizers represented the Colleges
of Business, Liberal Arts, Science and
Math, Engineering, Nursing, and Forestry.
The workshop was supported by the Provost’s
Office and the Biggio Center.
The
workshop was based on two highly successful,
nationally recognized projects: the
Piedmont
Project at Emory University that
is now its 6th year, and the Ponderosa
Project at University of North Arizona,
in its 11th year. Borrowing the idea
of naming the project after a local
ecosystem (i.e. Piedmont and Ponderosa)
we have named ours the “Fall
Line Project.” The four members
of the workshop organizing committee
(Lindy Biggs, John Jensen, Sharon Roberts,
and Matthew Williams) attended a “train
the trainer” workshop in January
2006 with the leaders of the Piedmont
and Ponderosa projects.
Sustainability
has become a “buzz” word,
but many people have not had the time
to learn what the concept means. The
curriculum workshop provided an interdisciplinary
environment to expand faculty knowledge
of sustainability as they begin changing
their courses and design new ones to
create a strong foundation for education
for the future.
Workshop
speakers covered the history of the
idea of sustainability, the significance
of Alabama’s ecosystem and “fall
line,” how to use sustainability
in seemingly unrelated fields such as
theater, and curriculum transformation.
Participants enjoyed guided and unguided
nature walks along Lake Martin and outstanding
local and organic food.
The
syllabi
that emerged from the workshop are
available on the Sustainability Initiative’s
website. We have also provided links
to other sites with sustainability course
syllabi.
We
have plans to run another workshop next
spring. Let us know if you’re
interested.
|
|
|
|
Auburn Sustainability Design Wins National
Award |
|
|
 Shelby
Spears, one of the 2005-2006 Sustainability
Initiative interns, won a national award for
a
poster that she designed for our Lug-A-Mug
program! Shelby, a senior in Graphic Design,
won an Award
of Excellence in the advertising division
for her submission to the 36th Annual design
competition for the University & College
Designers Association’s 2006 Conference.
From the 1600 entries, a panel of well-respected
designers from all over the country selected
only 143 designs for recognition. The poster
will appear in the UCDA design show during the
conference from September 16th-19th in Austin,
Texas.
|
|
|
Auburn Graduate Wins National Competition
with Sustainability Essay |
|
|
|
 Recent
Auburn graduate, Brie Cubelic, is not afraid
to speak her mind in an effort to make others
aware about the necessity for sustainability,
and she earned national recognition for doing
so. Brie shared her thoughts on the opportunities
of natural capitalism in an essay entitled “Wake-up
Call” which was recently published
online by the weekly magazine The Nation.
Brie
learned about Natural
Capitalism through her participation in
the Auburn Sustainability Action Project (ASAP),
organized by Dr. Lindy Biggs last spring. Brie’s
thoughtful optimism for the future of not only
our country, but the whole world, earned her
a position as one of 5 finalists out of more
than 700 entries in The Nation’s
Student Writing Contest.
|
|
|
| |
|
21
September, 7:30pm - Sustainability
Film Series, Foy 213 : Kilowatt
Ours
Focusing
on the Southeastern US, Kilowatt Ours is an
award winning film that targets regional problems
associated with conventional power production,
and then outlines positive ways for viewers
to use electricity efficiently and strive for
a future with renewable energy.
28
September, 4pm - Littleton-Franklin
Lecture, Sciences Center Auditorium, Roosevelt
Drive
Kenneth
T. Jackson "The
Road to Hell: Transportation Policy, Suburbanization,
and the Decline of the United States"
|
|
|
|
|
