One of my friends at UBC recently wrote a short review of a book called "The Nature of College" by James Farrell. She wrote an excellent post on the blog "Getting to GreenR" reviewing this book and relating it to current examples of applied sustainability in her program (Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability) at UBC. She writes:
"By exploring the life of the average college student, Farrell finds that nature is everywhere; that between the cafeteria food, clothing choices, computer time, parties and more, the life of a student in fact, connects a lot more intimately to nature – and to a sustainable society – than appears at first glance".
Sustainability is inherently very practical and applied. It must be active on campus and carried out by students. Teaching sustainability can only go so far. Indeed, energy saving projects like double-paned windows and vermicomposting programs are two sustainable projects that students can engage with not only to green their campuses but to understand the process more generally.
"At my own campus at the University of British Columbia, one of the newest courses on offer is Applied Sustainability: UBC as a Living Laboratory, which will be open to students across different faculties, and combines theory and knowledge with practical projects that will be geared towards greening the university’s own operations. By having students act, in essence, as consultants for the university, both groups benefit from the project, while driving sustainability action on the ground. What’s also great is that students themselves are helping to design the course, providing a valuable learning experience and providing student perspective to the course syllabus".
Read the full post here.
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