: What’s the Big Idea? A Strategy for Transforming the Higher Education Curriculum

By Daniel J. Sherman

Abstract inspiration for numerous professional associations, activities, and institutional commitments. !e jour- nals Chronicle of Higher Education,2 Inside Higher !e concept of sustainability is gaining mainstream 3 4 currency in U.S. higher education. Currently the Ed, and University Business have each devoted an entire issue to sustainability. Likewise, Time,5 News- term is primarily associated with prescribed practic- 6 7 es for individuals and campus operations. Although week, and U.S. News and World Report have featured this association is positive, it limits the potential articles on sustainability amidst their annual cover- At this moment of of the concept to integrate broadly across the cur- age of higher education. Within the past two years, riculum. For sustainability to realize its full trans- major U.S. newspapers including the New York ascendance for Times,8 Washington Post,9 Wall Street Journal,10 Chi- formative potential in higher education and society, 11 12 sustainability, it is it must transcend an association with prescribed cago News Tribune, and Los Angeles Times featured practices and even specialized areas of study. Sus- stories about campus sustainability e4orts. prudent to ask just tainability must become a pedagogical big idea, ca- what is associated pable of complementing and connecting avenues of Professional associations such as the University inquiry across the academic disciplines that organize Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF), the Coun- with this term—what and prioritize teaching and learning on campus. If cil of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD), sustainability is employed as a method of examining the Higher Education Associations Sustainability does sustainability the relationship between environmental limits and Consortium (HEASC), and the Association for the mean on American the human values, decisions, and actions that shape Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education the future, it will transform not only what we do on (AASHE) have emerged to institutionalize sustain- campuses today? campus, but also how we think. ability in higher education. Academic journals de- voted to advancing sustainability studies, such as Keywords: curriculum, higher education, sustain- !e International Journal of Sustainability in Higher ability, teaching, university Education, Sustainability: !e Journal of Record, and Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, are now Introduction available. C"##$%$ &'( )'*+$,-*./ 0&12)-$- *' .3$ National conferences draw representatives from as U'*.$( S.&.$- are in the midst of the “sustainability many as 300 colleges and universities to events such revolution.”1 !e concept of sustainability has be- as Ball State’s Greening of the Campus Conference come part of mainstream parlance on campus and and the AASHE biennial conference. More than 125 is undergoing rapid incorporation into the institu- U.S. college and university presidents have made a tional structures of higher education. At this mo- commitment to incorporate sustainability on cam- ment of ascendance for sustainability, it is prudent to pus by signing the Talloires Declaration, and more ask just what is associated with this term—what does than one third of these signatories made the declara- sustainability mean on American campuses today? tion in the last four years. !e American College and What qualities are missing from the popular mean- University Presidents Climate Commitment, dra5ed ing of the term? How might the meaning of the term in December 2006, drew 398 charter signatories in be extended and strengthened as the sustainability just 10 months. revolution on American campuses unfolds? !e concept of sustainability is indeed gaining main- In recent years, campus sustainability has been stream currency within U.S. higher education. But the subject of widespread media coverage and the what meanings are attached to the term? Sustainabil- ity is distinct from the Earth Day Luce-funded Professor of & Decision initiated during the 1970s, when Senator Edmund S. Making, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. Muskie identi6ed an “” that

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Sherman.indd 1 6/10/08 3:40:31 PM was primarily focused on new regulatory policy tar- “reusable co"ee mug,” while another !ve percent re- geting oil, chemical, and other polluting industries.13 sponded with an environmental problem like “global In contrast, the sustainability revolution is directed warming” or “loss of .” Only !ve percent inward, cultivating a sense of individual and orga- of the students responded with a bigger idea such nization responsibility to adopt prescribed environ- as “balance” or “systems,” “ and environ- mentally bene!cial practices such as and ment,” or “future generations.” . Sustainability e"orts in higher education have primarily focused on transforming #e identical exercise conducted among UPS faculty campus operations to incur less of an environmental at workshops (n = 48) on sustainability produced impact. similar results, with 86 percent writing “recycling” or another prescribed practice. Only eight percent of #e association of sustainability with the adoption the faculty responses indicated an association with a of prescribed environmental practices for campus bigger idea such as “conservation,” “systems think- operations is certainly positive, but it is unneces- ing,” or “precautionary principle.” sarily limited by a poorly de!ned relationship to the primary mission of higher education—teaching and Each student and faculty respondent was also asked Sustainability as learning. Sustainability is a concept with tremendous to write freely for one minute on the subject of sus- opportunity for the kind of pedagogical applications tainability. #e majority of these responses by both a concept must that usher in broad and enduring social changes. students and faculty (86% and 78%, respectively) become a big For sustainability to assume its full transformative centered on the problem of how best to implement potential in higher education, the concept must be- some environmental practices or how to get people idea that critically come a big idea, an avenue of inquiry that critically on campus to adopt certain practices. examines our role in the world. Big ideas are the examines our role generative material of all academic disciplines—the #ese results are admittedly the product of a small, in the world. building blocks of the university and its curriculum. non-random sample and therefore an unsophisti- Sustainability is a rich concept that can o"er big cated instrument. However, the responses do align ideas complementary to and overlapping with most, with results from survey research that indicate if not all, traditional disciplines. students most frequently articulate sustainability as “light green” actions, such as purchasing habits and recycling.15 #e results provide an example of the Sustainability as a “Should”: popular meaning ascribed to the term sustain- A List of Prescribed Practices ability in higher education—that is, a list of things one should do. #e responses do not indicate that Sustainability is a “should” on U.S. college campus- sustainability is gaining ground as a way of critically es today; the dominant association attached to the thinking about our individual and collective role term is a list of prescribed practices for individuals in the world, as a way of making visible our impact and administration and facility sta" to adopt, or feel on ecological, economic, and social systems, or as guilty for failing to adopt. #ese prescribed practices a way of informing our individual and collective are certainly worthy of encouragement, but they can decisions. also constitute an intellectual shortcut around the more complex, pedagogically rich relationship be- It is di$cult to see how prescriptive lists of behav- tween natural limits and value systems that under- iors can be integrated into the educational mission of lies the human impact on the environment. One of colleges and universities. #is is the primary limiting the functions of higher education is “to remind us of factor to the sustainability revolution in higher edu- the real meanings of words and the signi!cance of cation. Faculty and administrators working together concepts” and to ensure that sustainability does not at a recent national AASHE workshop on green- become so intellectually constrained as to make it a ing the curriculum came to the conclusion that the cliché (p. 18).14 major barrier to the di"usion of sustainability across a broad range of courses and disciplines was the Word association exercises conducted with envi- perception that sustainability is not academically rich ronmental studies students and environmentally or rigorous enough to warrant inclusion in course work and is perhaps best le% to student clubs and fa- committed faculty have con!rmed the association 16 of prescribed practices with the term sustainability. cilities sta". Preaching to students and others about University of Puget Sound (UPS) students in eight what they should do does not !t with the way most di"erent classes (n = 107), faculty members de!ne the purpose of teaching. were asked to record the !rst word or phrase they associated with sustainability. Nearly three quarters Sustainability as a Focus of the students (73%) wrote down “recycling.” Many on Campus Operations of the remaining students (17%) wrote a word or phrase indicating another prescribed environmental #e fact that sustainability on campus is primarily practice, such as “composting,” “buying organic,” or associated with prescribed practices rather than with

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Sherman.indd 2 6/10/08 3:40:33 PM an academic approach is a re!ection of the imbal- Green rankings of U.S. colleges and universities ance between e"orts devoted to campus operations focus almost exclusively on campus operations. For and those dedicated to greening the curriculum. instance, Sierra magazine pro$led 10 schools with #is imbalance is evident in specialized and popular a total of 36 sustainability accomplishments.17 Of communications on campus sustainability, topics of these, just two addressed teaching and learning. Grist study presented at national sustainability conferenc- magazine recently pro$led 20 colleges and universi- es, and various indicator schemes designed to mea- ties highlighting 64 campus achievements.18 Of the sure the implementation of campus sustainability. eight achievements in teaching and learning, only three attempted to integrate sustainability broadly Between 2006 and 2007, the AASHE Bulletin posted into the curriculum, while the other $ve were newly a total of 1,208 announcements to “publicize campus created programs in environmental studies. Curric- sustainability news.” Just 6% of these postings dealt ulum development, at best, is just one among many with teaching and learning sustainability, of which indicators. Table 2 displays the small percentage of 89% were concerned with the creation of special- indicators devoted to teaching and learning on such ized institutes or programs on the environment. assessment instruments; not one of the instruments Only eight postings dealt directly with broad-based devotes as much as ten percent of the indicators to Curriculum curriculum development, course content, teaching, teaching and learning. development, at or education. #e primary news communicated in the postings dealt with campus energy conserva- To the extent that sustainability is measured in the best, is just one tion, green buildings, alternative transportation, curriculum at all, it is too o%en assessed in unsat- and recycling. Similarly when students, faculty, and isfying ways. #e Campus Guide has one among many sta" share ideas on campus sustainability at national of the highest percentage of indicators devoted to indicators. conferences, the primary focus is on campus opera- teaching and learning, yet just one of the questions tions. on this instrument assesses sustainability education outside programs in environmental studies.19 Other As Table 1 indicates, the major conferences on sus- approaches assess sustainability in the curriculum by tainability in higher education during the past $ve simply tallying whether students take a sustainabil- years have rarely devoted as much as one $%h of the ity pledge, survey, or literacy test at graduation; and total presentation venues to teaching and learning. whether there is a required course on sustainability. Perhaps this imbalance within the campus sustain- ability community explains why stories in the popu- #e point of this analysis is not to disparage e"orts lar press feature operational changes rather than to measure, share, or publicize campus sustainability, broad-based curriculum development..6–9 but to highlight the under-representation of broad-

Table 1. Sustainability Conference Presentations Devoted to Teaching and Learning

Sustainability conferences Total no. of Percent devoted to presentation venues teaching and learning

AASHE, 2006 268 20 Greening the Campus, 2007 74 18 North American Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education, 2004 174 18 Greening the Campus, 2005 83 17 Greening the Campus, 2003 89 16

Table 2. Indicators Devoted to Teaching and Learning in Campus Sustainability Assessment Instruments

Assessment instrument Total no. of Percent devoted to indicators or fields teaching and learning Campus ecology guide 88 9 Sustainability assessment questionnaire 55 9 Campus sustainability assessment project 130 6 Comparative sustainability assessment framework 343 6 Sustainability pathways toolkit 40 5

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Sherman.indd 3 6/10/08 3:40:34 PM based curriculum greening in higher education. If disciplines altogether, most have not, and it is fool- the meaning of sustainability in higher education is ish to attempt institutional transformation in higher a re!ection of what is measured, presented at pro- education by ignoring the disciplines or to merely fessional conferences, and communicated through “tack on another outshed to the rambling curricular specialized and popular media outlets, then the term edi%ce of Babel and call it ‘environmental studies’”(p. is predominantly associated with a set of things to do 95).22 Arizona State University President Michael rather than with a way to think. “Doing” sustainabil- Crow described the %eld of “” ity through prescribed practices for individuals and as a “new box” created “because the old boxes [dis- campus operations will undoubtedly have a positive ciplines] are just too limited.” He has also called for environmental impact. As a $315 billion sector of the “a course in sustainability for everyone in the uni- economy, colleges and universities will also have a versity.”7 positive impact on the market for sustainable prod- Sustainability ucts and business practices. And it is important to $ese are innovative e#orts, but they miss the sig- note that students engaged in the transformation of ni%cance of traditional disciplines in two ways. First, efforts in higher campus operations will learn applied lessons that the “old boxes” Crow mentioned comprise the orga- may translate into sustainable practices long a"er nizational infrastructure of most colleges and uni- education must be graduation. As a recent feature article in Newsweek versities. Traditional disciplines, as represented by incorporated into reported, “the university presidents hope that even departments, create the organizational culture and students who don’t pursue increasingly popular ma- establish the incentives that govern the professional the curriculum, jors in environmental studies will learn simply from lives of faculty members.24–26 Second, traditional dis- being on a green campus, living in green buildings, ciplines organize and prioritize the knowledge and not just limited to eating sustainable food, and absorbing everyday understanding most students experience in higher campus operations messages of conservation.”(p. 60) 20 education. and specialized Sustainability as a Specialization If the goal is to engage as many faculty and students programs. as possible in teaching and learning sustainability, it But this hope is not enough. Nor is it enough to in- would be best to bring sustainability into all disci- ject sustainability into the curriculum solely through plines as a common idea that opens the “old boxes” specialized programs in environmental studies. If to each other. As maintained by Cortese, “the en- the sustainability e#orts in higher education are lim- vironment should not be solely a special topic or a ited to campus operations and specialized programs subject for professionals who will work on environ- rather than extended into the higher education cur- mental problems. … It must be a fully integrated and riculum, the sustainability revolution on campus prominent part of all education” (p. 1109).21 will miss an opportunity to make its greatest envi- ronmental impact on the world. $is is an ambitious goal. Until sustainability is con- ceptualized as something complex, interesting, and As pointed out by Anthony Cortese years ago, “col- powerful enough to match the educational mission leges, universities and professional schools educate of faculty within their disciplines it will have no most of the people who develop and manage soci- place in more than a few specialized courses. Aca- ety’s institutions and train the teachers who edu- demic disciplines are not merely constructed around cate children from the kindergarten through high topics. $ey are designed to “cultivate powers of the school, vocational schools and community colleges” mind” that can be applied to any number of topics,27 (p. 1108).21 Similarly David Orr has argued that en- and they coalesce around paradigms with commonly vironmental destruction in recent generations has understood methods, concepts, themes, or theories, been largely the result of decisions made by highly and avenues of inquiry.28 Similarly, the best teach- educated people.22 ers apply content and topics to develop transferable skills,29 and cultivate “habits of mind” that enable $e greatest impact a college or university makes is students to “understand, apply, analyze, synthesize, through the lives of its graduates. $e primary cam- and evaluate evidence and conclusions” (pp. 85 & pus operation is student education, and the vast ma- 115).30 For sustainability to achieve broad integra- jority of this education takes place within traditional tion into the higher education curriculum, it must academic disciplines. A sustainability revolution that come to be associated with big ideas, rich enough to largely bypasses teaching and learning in the tradi- complement the intellectual priorities within aca- tional disciplines will fail to fully transform higher demic disciplines. education. Sustainability as a Big Idea $e shortcomings of traditional academic disci- plines and disciplinary thinking in environmental Big ideas are the concepts, themes, debates, para- education have been well chronicled.23 While some doxes, questions, theories, and/or principles that are colleges and universities have eschewed academic central to a course of study.31 $ey are the linchpins

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Sherman.indd 4 6/10/08 3:40:36 PM that meaningfully connect a multitude of content comes with a price, a diminishment of useful energy knowledge and apply in diverse contexts. To discov- for the future. er the big ideas that shape a course or class session in a discipline, a faculty member need only ask, “What Similarly, the principle of conservation of matter is are the things I hope my students will remember also central to both natural science and sustainabil- and be able to apply long a!er they have forgotten ity. #is principle states that matter is neither created speci"c bits of factual information?” If sustainabil- nor destroyed, but transformed and combined in dif- ity comes to be associated with the big ideas faculty ferent ways. Matter does not disappear, everything think of when they ask this formative question, it will goes somewhere, there is no “away.” complement and enrich the most important goals of the higher education curriculum. A string of additional ideas in the natural sciences follows from these limiting principles and is inspired Whether we consider the most general de"nition of by essential questions such as: Where do things come sustainability, the more specialized de"nitions used from? where do they go to? Why? With what do they in economics, or the de"nition created by the United interact? To what e$ect? How do processes work? “To be sustainable” Nations Commission on Environment and Devel- Examination of energy %ow, nutrient cycles, and opment, the term can be broken into two primary the of biological communities (including in economic terms elements—recognition of limits and vision for the productivity, abundance, diversity, complexity and was to use a future. Probing these two elements unlocks several connectedness, resilience and stability, community big ideas. Originally the term sustainable was used structure, and change) follows from these powerful resource without by the military to mean “capable of being defended” questions at the heart of the natural sciences and (p. 44).32 Inherent in this de"nition is a vision of the sustainability. diminishing or future, with the implication that a defense may be permanently needed and the object to be defended must be de- In the social sciences, economics is most o!en as- termined. #ere is also recognition of limits beyond sociated with limits. Many economic texts boil down damaging which the thing in question can no longer be de- the discipline to the concept, “#ere is no such thing its supply. fended. as a free lunch.” However, the predominant focus of limits in economics is the scarcity of resources and Later, “to be sustainable” in economic terms was to the realization that scarcity can be overcome by use a resource without diminishing or permanently the market-driven development of new technology damaging its supply. #is usage of the term recogniz- and/or replacement resources that allow economic es physical limits a$ecting stocks of resources while growth to continue inde"nitely in an open system. projecting future values of the resources in question. #e most common de"nition of sustainability in en- Yet the natural science concepts mentioned above vironmental circles is drawn from the U.N. “meet- reveal limits besides scarcity that ensure the econo- ing the needs of the present without compromising mist’s lunch is never free: #e second of thermo- the ability of future generations to meet their own dynamics and the principle of conservation of matter needs.” #is de"nition acknowledges limits a$ecting describe a closed system where each energy transfer the ability to meet certain needs, and projects values comes at a cost and each transformation of matter for such needs in the future. In his content analysis must occupy a space. Big ideas associated with the of contemporary statements of mission and prin- properties of ecosystems highlight the fact that re- ciples by organizations working for sustainability, sources (and their use) do not stand in isolation, but Edwards identi"es seven common themes, including are instead engaged in dynamic interactions. If one respect for limits and intergenerational perspective, is to do a comprehensive examination of the costs thus noting the elements of limits and future vision. and bene"ts of resource use, the examination must #e remaining "ve themes he identi"es attempt to extend beyond the stock of the resource in question. balance these two fundamental elements of 1 sustainability. #is interesting collision between limiting prin- !e idea of limits ciples in the natural sciences and economics reveals that there are also limits inherent in the application #e limits element within sustainability is central of various forms of social, economic, and political to big ideas in both the natural and social sciences. organization ripe with pedagogical opportunities in For example, the second law of thermodynamics is disciplines ranging from history, , and one of the most important big ideas in natural sci- geology to political science and . #e ways ence. #e law recognizes that with each successive in which organizational principles within cultures, energy transfer, less energy is available to do work. societies, and states shape and are shaped by limits #e successive loss of energy and disorder is called in the physical environment are not new territories entropy. #is is a fundamental limiting principle of examination in any of these "elds—thus there is a in our universe, and is therefore also central to an bridge between sustainability and avenues of inquiry understanding of sustainability; each use of energy already prioritized in these disciplines.

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Sherman.indd 5 6/10/08 3:40:38 PM !e idea of a future vision with limits across the disciplines from the natural sciences to the humanities, social sciences, and applied disciplines #e future element within sustainability is value-lad- such as business, education, law, and . en. As stated by Egan and colleagues, “the meaning Disciplines in all of these !elds work to understand of the term is a function of the values of the social temporal and/or spatial scale—how actions in one actors who deploy the term” (p. 1).33 #is is what place and time a"ect conditions and actions in other makes sustainability a contestable concept,34 one places and times. #e best teachers in higher edu- that Norton argues can at best be de!ned “schemati- cation aim to instill in their students the necessary cally” with a “broad commitment to future-oriented skills to trace processes in and across systems and to living,” but must be further speci!ed when commu- examine, explain, re$ect, and act on the implications nities “choose what is important to protect” (pp. 360 of what they !nd. & 364).35 #e examination of contests over values is central to the humanities and social sciences. #e Examples of Curriculum Planning contestable future vision of sustainability engages for Sustainability normative academic approaches with questions such as: What should be sustained? How should we value Inspiring faculty to engage sustainability as a big idea Understanding and treat the environment? What meaning should can be as simple as the completion of a short planning we ascribe to terms like environment, nature, wilder- exercise. At a UPS summer workshop, faculty in 10 sustainability ness, health, and justice, and what do these meanings di"erent disciplinary teams completed the following say about our human experience? What quali!es as three-step exercise in two hours: 1.) identify some as a big idea an environmental “good” or “bad,” and how should big ideas within the discipline; 2.) identify a link be- involves the these be distributed? And what is environmentally tween one or more of these ideas and the elements of just? Questions such as these share avenues of inqui- sustainability; 3.) design a class component (reading, study of what ry found in disciplines such as philosophy, religious assignment, discussion, project, or entire class) that studies, literature, and the arts.33 integrates the discipline with sustainability. matters for the future. Descriptive and explanatory approaches also help Two hours of work produced some promising results. to engage the future element within sustainability #e history team connected sustainability to a study by posing questions such as: How have past values of how the concept of “American” has been contested regarding the environment shaped human behavior, and has changed since 1877. Students would be asked societies, and environmental changes over time? How to compare the oral history of a Sioux medicine man do values and behaviors regarding the environment and his relationship to the environment with essays compare across cultures, and to what e"ect? How do on industrialism and capitalism by Andrew Carn- competing values shape individual environmental egie and John D. Rockefeller. #e readings were used behavior? How and why are individual and collec- to foster a discussion about how competing values tive decisions a"ecting the environment created, and shape individual environmental behavior, broaden- what are the implications? How might one in$uence ing into a study of the environmental, economic, and individual and/or collective values, decisions, and social hardships of the Dust Bowl and Great Depres- actions a"ecting the environment? sion, and examining the interaction of human values and actions with the environment. #ese questions complement areas of inquiry within numerous disciplines including history, as the ex- #e English team brought sustainability into an amination of factors causing changes in human ex- examination of how writing and interpreting texts perience over time; anthropology and sociology, as is shaped by interpretive lenses and a particular the comparative study of cultures and societies; eco- context. #ese professors built a class component nomics, as the critical appraisal of value tradeo"s; around texts on sustainability from various media psychology, as the study of human behavior and outlets to examine how what matters or what should mental processes; and political science, as the study be sustained is interpreted, portrayed, and provided of the authoritative allocation of values. meaning.

Ideally, the two elements of sustainability are joined #e biology team developed an introductory class to reveal the biggest idea—an interconnectedness project to engage the students in the critical analysis across space and time. Understanding sustainability of !sheries policy and seafood consumption as they as a big idea involves the study of what matters for relate to life cycles and diversity. #e business team the future. Such a study necessitates an understand- developed a class module to help students apply the ing of the limiting context shaping that future and principles of marketing that would encourage the the interaction of those limits with the normative adoption of sustainable practices. choices regarding what matters, the human portrayal of what matters, the measurement and assessment of #ere are now demonstration class components such what matters, and strategies to protect what matters. as these for nearly half of the disciplines on the UPS #is is a higher education suitable for adoption campus. Each summer another faculty workshop is

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Sherman.indd 6 6/10/08 3:40:39 PM held to expand the applications of sustainability to and the values undergirding human visions for the even more disciplines. future. In this way the sustainability revolution will not only transform what we do on campus, but also Many promising initiatives such as this one are how we think. working to integrate sustainability broadly into the higher education curriculum. !e Curriculum for References the Bioregion Initiative of the Washington Center is working with biology and English professors in 1. Edwards A. !e Sustainability Revolution: Por- the Paci"c Northwest to match the big ideas in their trait of a Paradigm Shi". New Society Publishers, disciplines with sustainability in ways that can be Gabriola Island, Canada, 2005. incorporated into general education courses. !is project is also hosting a training institute for teams 2. What is a sustainable university? Chron Higher of faculty members from di#erent colleges and uni- Ed 2006;53(9). versities to assist in the development of curriculum greening strategies. AASHE o#ers workshops on 3. Powers E. Selling students on sustainable liv- The sustainability “sustainability across the curriculum leadership’” for ing. Inside Higher Ed, July 2007. Accessed on faculty interested in learning from the curriculum Mar 3, 2008: http://www.insidehighered.com/ revolution will not development successes experienced at Emory Uni- news/2007/07/31/dorms only transform versity and Northern Arizona University.36,37 Green Mountain College and St. Olaf College have worked 4. Ezarik M. Most sustainable campuses. University what we do sustainability into the core curriculum as a central Business, Nov 2006. theme on which all disciplines can draw. !e World on campus, but Resources Institute, based in Washington, DC, is 5. Steptoe S. Getting schools to think and act green. how we think. working to incorporate sustainability into business Time, Aug 10, 2007. school curricula by publishing curriculum ideas and o#ering faculty training events.38 Similar e#orts are 6. Kuchment A. It’s hip to be green: for today’s under way for engineering programs.39 young people "xing the environment is job one, and they have their own ideas how to do it. !e Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustain- Newsweek, Apr 17, 2007. ability within AASHE has convened meetings of more than 20 disciplinary associations, ranging from 7. Cole D. Greening the world. U.S. News and the American Academy of Religion to the American World Report, Mar 29, 2007. Chemical Society, to explore how each discipline can integrate sustainability into curricula, stan- 8. Deutsch C. College leaders push for carbon neu- dards, and tenure requirements. In another instance, trality. New York Times, June 13, 2007. Debra Rowe, the president of the U.S. Partnership for Education for , is lead- 9. Eilperin J. Colleges compete to shrink their mark ing an ambitious campaign to encourage publishers on the environment. Washington Post, June 26, to incorporate the topic of sustainability into text- 2005. books.40 10. Alsop R. How to keep your school from being Conclusion brand X. Wall Street Journal, Dec 12, 2006. 11. Bendero# E. Class of 2011 encouraged to adopt U.S. colleges and universities have made great strides greener lifestyle. Chicago News Tribune, Aug 23, in sparking environmental improvements in cam- 2007. pus operations and in familiarizing all campus users with the term sustainability. However, the dominant 12. Eastman J. Green goes to school. Los Angeles meanings associated with this term have unnecessar- Times, Aug 23, 2007. ily limited its transformative potential. Sustainability on campus must come to mean more than a list of 13. Graham M. !e Morning A"er Earth Day: Prac- prescribed practices for individuals and campus op- tical Environmental . Brookings Institu- erations or a newly specialized area of study if it is tion, Washington, D.C., 1999. to be broadly integrated with the higher education curriculum. Sustainability must become a big idea 14. Cullingford C. Sustainability and higher educa- on campus, associated with the concepts, themes, tion. In Blewitt J, and Cullingford C (Eds.): !e debates, paradoxes, questions, theories, and/or prin- Sustainability Curriculum: !e Challenge for ciples that complement and connect the overarching Higher Education. Earthscan, Sterling, VA, 2004. avenues of inquiry of the traditional academic disci- pp. 13-23. plines, which organize and prioritize knowledge in higher education. Sustainability can be an explora- 15. Kagawa F. Dissonance in students’ perceptions tion of the interaction between environmental limits of sustainable development and sustainability;

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