Resources for Educating Higher Education About Sustainability (EDUCAUSE Quarterly)

By Debra Rowe

Sustainability as both an analysis of our common future and as a practice affects the entire campus community, and many campus-wide sustainability efforts arise bottom-up from student and individual staff efforts or top-down from a president or governing board. IT is often a late-comer to such campus initiatives, with many IT projects focused on consolidating distributed functions and saving money. For some IT departments, sustainability is a beneficial side-effect of technology projects. For others, sustainability is part of the technology strategic plan and a framework for IT initiatives. IT has a unique and important role to play in education and actions for a sustainable society. To educate themselves and others on campus about sustainability issues in higher education, IT staff can consult the following resources:

Find excellent online learning communities and weekly e-bulletins for facilities and purchasing staff, administrators, faculty, and students. Much is available for free, but your institution can also join to get member-only resources:
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
Resources and models for your institution, including higher education sustainability mission statements, assessments, publications, policies, projects, curricula, and other initiatives:
- AASHE Resource Center — multiple resources including publications, tools, policies, and case studies
- Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) — resources from 16 national higher education associations
- Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS) — resources from dozens of academic disciplinary associations
- Second Nature — founder of many national initiatives in sustainability
- National Wildlife Association Campus Ecology — fellowships for students and examples from campuses of fellows’ projects
Multiple societal sectors working on sustainability education and actions:
- U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development — societal sector teams including higher education, business, faith, government, and K–12 and no charge to join as a partner; trends and resources available by clicking on Partner Resources
The American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment has over 650 higher education presidents who have committed to becoming carbon neutral as soon as possible and to educating students to participate in solutions to our sustainability challenges. Multiple resources on these topics are available to everyone at this site.