What is Sustainability?
"Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
The Brundtland Report: Our Common Future, 1987
Vision
The AU Sustainability Office embraces the United Nations definition of sustainability: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The office will guide the university in reducing its environmental impact and leading a program to foster sustainable practices in Alabama and the Southeast. Our programs in curriculum, research, and outreach will make sustainability an integral component of the university experience of all students and prepare them to be effective leaders and proactive participants in a world economy increasingly driven by the limitations of natural resources.
Mission
In keeping with the university's land-grant tradition, the Sustainability Office provides tools and resources to help people learn to work and live sustainably: to reduce their impact on the environment while enjoying a full lifestyle. Instruction, in the broadest sense, is the first mission of the office. Through curriculum development, and a minor in sustainability studies, the office will foster formal classroom instruction in sustainability. Through workshops, symposia and guest speakers we will enable the entire community to educate itself in the wide range of issues related to sustainability. And through our campus-as-laboratory work to create a sustainable campus, we plan to motivate students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors by example.
Our second mission is to assume a lead role in creating a sustainably-functioning campus. Through the promotion of energy-efficient design, alternative modes of transportation, recycling and waste minimization, green purchasing, and other programs, we will create a model of sustainability for the campus, community, and region.
Through regular workshops, symposia, and informal gatherings, the office acts as a facilitator for multi-disciplinary research across campus and inspiration for incorporating sustainability into all aspects of the activities of the university community. More broadly, The office will serve as a regional center for information on sustainability by offering information, referrals, and workshops. The office collaborates with other units on campus, with extension activities, and city-and state-wide programs. In particular, our website will be a resource for campus and regional use.
Our inter-disciplinary focus is regional, national, and global. The office strives to emphasize the triple bottom line of sustainability-to benefit people, to enable profits to be realized from doing so, and to preserve the planet as a hospitable place for both people and profit.
To educate about sustainability, to promote sustainable practices both on and off campus, and to provide resources and support for people who wish to incorporate sustainable practices into their work and life.
American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)
In september 2008, President Gogue signed the American Colleges and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment, which commits Auburn to being carbon neutral in the future. Read the full text of the commitment, download the PDF here.
Vist the ACUPCC website, here.