Brijdeep S. Bhasin, Thorunn Bjarnadottir, Varsha N. Das, Maia M. Dock, Emily E. Pullins, Jon R. Rosales, Suzanne Savanick, David M. Stricherz and Lark A. Weller
The second Earth Summit renewed attention to sustainable development and environmental concerns worldwide; in our university, however, attention has been minimal. In response…
Abstract
The second Earth Summit renewed attention to sustainable development and environmental concerns worldwide; in our university, however, attention has been minimal. In response, several campus organizations collaborated to raise awareness on campus and in the local community by hosting a year‐long, nine‐event series of speakers and panels, each related to a chapter of Agenda 21. In addition to raising awareness among our constituency, we sought to increase our initiative's sustainability. Towards these ends, we developed 11 objectives, monitoring our success at achieving these objectives throughout the year by using surveys of participants, panelists, and collaborators. Here we reflect on the series’ impact based on evaluation analyses, and an assessment of how well we reached our goals. We close this paper with a discussion of our case study as a means to evolve sustainability interests at institutions of higher education into functional sustainability networks, initiatives and educational programs.
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Christopher W. Wells, Suzanne Savanick and Christie Manning
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the practical realities of using a college seminar to fulfill the carbon audit requirement for signatories to the American College and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the practical realities of using a college seminar to fulfill the carbon audit requirement for signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and presents evidence of this approach's advantages as an educational and practical tool.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the course structure and presents research findings, based on student questionnaires on student learning outcomes.
Findings
Structuring a course around a campus carbon audit has unique educational advantages for students and practical advantages for ACUPCC signatory campuses.
Originality/value
This paper enumerates the concrete advantages to using a college class to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and provides evidence of valuable learning outcomes for students in such a class.