MOOCs - free access to great education

MOOCs -- massive open online courses -- have been a large and growing focus of discussion and debate in the higher ed sector for the past few years.  MIT and Stanford have been leading the way making content available online for free and improving the delivery models.

This TED talk from Stanford's Daphne Koller does a great job describing the process and benefits (and limitations) of this new frontier in education.

Access to education is an important sustainability issue:

First, there are all of the basic benefits we think of regarding a better educated population -- more thoughtful and skilled people, being more productive and supporting better quality of life for all, etc.

Second, education is an effective satisfier of basic human needs - primarily that of understanding, but also indirectly of participation, subsistence, identity, and protection.

Finally, education is necessary for people to understand enough about the social and ecological dynamics of 'un-sustainability' -- how we got to the place we are, how the global economic system cumulatively affects social and natural systems, how the basics of biogeochemical cycles work, etc. -- to be able to create a sustainable society.

I don't see MOOCs replacing universities any time soon, but they are a very cool and potentially powerful tool for accelerating progress towards sustainability.

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New Data Quantifies Sustainability Leadership of Colleges & Universities

Feb. 16, 2012 - The American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an agreement between nearly 700 colleges and universities to promote sustainability through teaching and action, today released new data on the positive environmental impact of colleges and universities across the country in reducing their carbon footprints.

Among the findings:

• The 599 colleges that submitted greenhouse gas inventories reported CO2 emissions of 28m metric tons, roughly as much as 2.58m homes or 5.2m passenger vehicles emit annually
• 306 institutions set a target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 or before; 93 pledged neutrality by 2030
• Collectively, the ACUPCC network has purchased more than 1.28 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits (RECs), making it the third-largest buyer in the country

Avoiding catastrophic climate change will require transforming our economy, our institutions, our daily lives within a generation.  Only higher education has the influence, the critical mass and the diversity of skills needed to do this.

John Olson, associate professor at Villanova University, an ACUPCC signatory, explained the value it derives from the network.

"The fact that Villanova is a signatory of the ACUPCC has helped focus our efforts in many ways. It has prompted us to collect data that are crucial to monitoring our progress. It has also forced us to set milestones for achieving specific and concrete goals and serves as a touchstone for developing academic programs on campus. Finally, the pledge we made when signing the Commitment has allowed us to join the broader coalition of institutions that have similarly committed to climate neutrality and sustainability; such collaboration is energizing."

The ACUPCC has fundamentally shifted higher education's attention on sustainability from a series of excellent but distinct programs to a strategic imperative of presidents, academic officers, business officers and trustees - becoming a key lens for measuring success. It represents a cultural shift to focus on all aspects of social, economic and ecological sustainability.

"This wealth of data speaks to the enormous commitment and impact our member colleges have made," said Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, president of Second Nature, the lead supporting organization of the ACUPCC.  "The ACUPCC truly is an example of courageous leadership by college and university leaders. This is the first major U.S. Sector to commit to climate neutrality and the first time since WWII that higher education in the US has collectively stepped forward to take on a major societal challenge without waiting for some external entity to request it or fund them."

ACUPCC data shows that signatory schools have secured on average $2,343,787 from outside sources to support efforts related to the Climate Action Plan.

The data is publicly available on the ACUPCC's online reporting system - www.acupcc.org/reportingsystem - a platform that enables schools to quantify the sustainability activity that is taking place on their campuses, and hold themselves accountable by sharing their progress in a transparent way.

The full data set addresses current emissions levels, target dates for emissions reductions and climate neutrality, sustainability-related courses, degrees, and research initiatives, sources of funding, projects recently completed, and a wealth of other newsworthy information. The data is available in a variety of formats; contact Ulli Klein for more information. 

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About the ACUPCC 

The ACUPCC is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments from college and universities to accelerate the education, research and community engagement to equip society to re-stabilize the earth's climate, and eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions from their own operations.

Learn more at: www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.

About Second Nature

Second Nature works to create a healthy, just, and sustainable society by transforming higher education. Second Nature is the lead supporting organization of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, a growing network of over 675 signatory higher education institutions in all fifty states that have made a public commitment to transform the educational experience for all students so they are prepared to solve the climate crisis.

Learn more at:  www.secondnature.org.

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Campus Climate Leadership through the ACUPCC

At Second Nature, we recently released an excellent compilation of original articles covering a variety of climate action and education for sustainability topics related to fulfilling the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

The report, which is free to anyone from an ACUPCC institution, can be accessed here.

The compilation draws from the monthly ACUPCC Implementer newsletter -- to which anyone can subscribe for free.  If you're at all interested in sustainability and our future, I highly recommend signing up, it's not overwhelming to the inbox, and it's a great way to learn more about why higher education is such a critical leverage point in developing the leadership and implementing the solutions needed to create a sustainable society.

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2010 ACUPCC Annual Report

The 2010 Annual Report of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) was released yesterday.  Click on the icon below to flip through the e-version.

It's hard to believe it's been four years we've been working on this - and it's amazing to see how far these institutions - 677 of them to date - have come in managing their carbon emissions, raising awareness, engaging their local communities and providing the education and research needed to lead the transition to a low-carbon economy as safely as possible.



To see which schools have joined this network, and to check out the details of their emissions profiles, and their climate action plans for reducing those emissions, go to the ACUPCC Reporting System at www.acupcc.org/reportingsystem.  There you can search by school, or institution type, or state and click through to all of the greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans.

Check out the press release announcing the report - there are some great quotes from the co-chairs of the ACUPCC Steering Committee, like this one from Mary Spangler, Chancellor of Houston Community College:

Across the country, colleges and universities of all types and sizes are rethinking what it means to prepare graduates for the 21st century economy. We are working with partners from the private and public sectors to ensure our students gain the necessary skills and experience to help create the green economy.

I'm very proud of the team at Second Nature who worked to pull this beauty together, and so appreciative of all the people at the ACUPCC institutions who provided the content and are working diligently every day to fulfill this commitment.

Please share this far and wide and support your alma mater in their education for sustainability efforts!

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Take the Leap - Go to Sweden for Year

Five years ago I took a bit of a chance and attended the Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) program at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Karlskrona, Sweden.  The program was just in its second year and largely an unknown, but I knew from how a friend in the first class described the program, that the odds were good it would be worthwhile.  It far surpassed my most optimistic expectations. 

BTH now offers two groundbreaking Master's programmes. These programmes come with the great opportunity of being free for all EU/EEA and Swiss citizens, and compared to tuition in the US, the international fees are very reasonable (around $10,000 per year).  

The network of graduates from this program is out in the field, all over the world, doing incredible things to move society towards sustainability.  We're a tight-knit group, actively supporting each other in our work, and there are few places in the world that I can't find a place to stay through the alumni network.  

Anyone interested in sustainability, who is ready to take a leap and bring their leadership to the next level should absolutely apply to one of these programs.  Applications open on the 1st of December 2010 and close 17th January 2011.  The process is straight-forward and online: www.bth.se/sustainability

BTH is a top ranked sustainability research and education institution currently recruiting bright, early – mid career professionals for their cutting-edge Master's programmes.

The Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) and the Master's in Sustainable Product Service System Innovation (MSPI) are underpinned by the science-based Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (widely known as The Natural Step Framework), spearheaded by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a global sustainability leader and programme co-founder.

MSLS explores the baseline science of strategic sustainable development coupled with the skills required for organizational change. The programme produces graduates who can deliver organizational leadership for strategic change towards sustainability.

MSPI enables students to design and innovate for positive socio-ecological impacts of products, services, and product-service systems throughout their life-cycles. This programme produces graduates who can deliver outcomes that meet user needs while generating competitive advantages in the expanding sustainability-driven market.

The Swedish state kindly pays for tuition fees for these Master’s programmes for European students and courses are taught in English. BTH is located in the beautiful coastal city of Karlskrona, a UNESCO world heritage site on the southeast coast of Sweden.

Again, applications open on the 1st of December 2010 and close 17th January 2011.

Please see the website portal www.bth.se/sustainability for more information and APPLY TODAY!! 

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On Earth as it is in Heaven

by Emilie Oyen

One morning several years ago I was walking through the woods in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Dew clung to the glowing early-summer leaves, the air was rich. It was silent. No interruptions. My mind drifted as I walked, I lost track of time, of myself --- the usual --- until that point, I looked up from my thoughts and found a shaft of light spilling through a break in the trees. And you know for a brief moment it felt like heaven. 


Have you ever survived a long brutal winter to find, one March morning, the stem of a crocus pushing its up through the cold dirt? Have you watched the light play against a choppy ocean? Have you marveled at the delicacy of a moth's wings? Nature is divine, and every day it offers another miracle.

Nature is divine and sacred and glorious, and it is thus no wonder that Christians --- specifically students at Christian colleges ---- are dedicated to caring for it. And they are caring for God’s creation through action, such as recycling projects, river clean-ups, ecosystem restoration, and promoting green building.

The Green Awakenings Campus Report is the first report to document a phenomenon that is growing and that is a hopeful, spiritual pursuit of sustainable practice. The report details how Christian students and campus are working together for the renewal of God’s creation, and inspires others to join.

“We were shown that God reveals Himself through two books, His Holy Word and the Book of Nature, and both are important,” said Brittany Bennett, a student at Eastern University.

The report is divided into five geographical regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West) with a number of campuses featured from each region, interspersed with student leadership profiles. It’s very accessible --- open to any page and begin reading, or find a region and compare projects. The short, engaging pieces offer ways to connect with any of the described projects: whether to join forces or to start something new.

When asked why a green revolution, one student replied, “A green revolution is only a byproduct of a lifestyle of stewardship in which God calls us to live. I find gardening spiritual because God is life, and God calls us to live. There is something so intimate about God taking time to create on Earth, because He loves us, because He wishes to enjoy a relationship with us.”

Above painting: Parkway Ridges by Jeff Pittman

Fast Company & Making Sustainability Second Nature

Fast Company has featured four blog posts discussing higher education's role and progress in moving society towards a healthy and sustainable future. Co-authored by me and Second Nature President Tony Cortese, they are part of Fast Company's Inspired Ethonomics series:

1. Higher Education's Purpose: A Healthy, Just, and Sustainable Society

Part 1 discusses how higher education must make creating a healthy, just, and sustainable society an overarching goal of higher education, and how the concept of sustainability, as former Cornell president Frank Rhodes suggests offers "a new foundation for the liberal arts and sciences."

2. Making a Sustainability Perspective Second Nature in Education

Part 2 covers how Higher education must lead a process of re-thinking how we operate our society. It must transform its teaching, research, operations, and service to communities, and prepare graduates - 3 million per year - for 21st century businessif we are to have a chance at a thriving, peaceful, global society.

3. The Campus as Living Laboratory

Part 3 talks about how students must experience sustainable living first hand and be involved in helping their schools become powerful role models of sustainable practices for the rest of society. As Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University (ASU), has said of the U.S. higher education sector: "We may only have 2% of the carbon footprint, but we have 100% of the education footprint," and as some wise old Chinese person said: Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.

4. Leadership for a Thriving World

Part 4 shows how leadership at all levels - from the students to the presidents and trustees - is making real change happen in higher education. From the 665+ institutions that have joined the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment to the Define Our Decade campaign from the Energy Action Coalition, this sector is providing much needed leadership, challenging business, government and the rest of us to follow suit.

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New Report Shows Bold College & University Action on Climate Disruption Provides Model for Governments

March 23, 2010 Press Release from Second Nature

While the US government and the global community have been slow to address severe climate disruption, colleges and universities are stepping in to boldly slash their carbon emissions, research and develop new technologies, and prepare students to create a safer, clean energy economy.

According to a new annual report (PDF) released today by the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), the participating schools are working to cut a combined estimated 33+ million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. The ACUPCC, launched in early 2007, is currently comprised of 677 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia - representing nearly six million students and about one third of the US higher education student population.

David Shi, President of Furman University and Co-Chair of the ACUPCC, noted, "Sustainability is one of the few enterprises that fosters collaboration among institutions. That so many schools have embraced the climate commitment is unprecedented. Such bold action on such a broad scale provides a model for the rest of society to emulate."

Recently, more than 300,000 individuals called their Senators as part of a coordinated effort promoted by dozens of advocacy groups urging the US government to pass comprehensive climate legislation. But the higher education sector is not waiting for uncertain government action.

ACUPCC schools, growing in numbers each month, have conducted greenhouse gas inventories and developed comprehensive climate action plans for their own institutions. Their bold commitments are voluntary and transparent, with public reporting submitted to the ACUPCC online Reporting System. The higher education sector is the first in society to substantially pursue climate neutrality.

Colleges & Universities Slashing Carbon Emissions
According to the new ACUPCC report, 66% of the participating ACUPCC schools have determined that they will reach climate neutrality in their campus operations by or well before 2050. Relative to its 2005 baseline, the University of Florida is working to reduce emissions 3% by 2012, 17% by 2020, 42% by 2030, and 83% by 2050. The University plans to achieve climate neutrality in 2025 using carbon offsets, while continuing to reduce its internal emissions each year thereafter. The University of Wyoming is reducing emissions 15% by 2015, 25% by 2020, and 100% by 2050. Its plan incorporates behavior change, facility upgrades, and long-term infrastructure and alternative energy projects in line with Wyoming's position as an energy-producing state.

In 2007, College of the Atlantic in Maine became the first higher education institution in the US to achieve carbon neutrality. All of the school's electricity comes from renewable sources. By purchasing locally and reducing travel, the college has cut its actual emissions by about 40% over the last three years and has purchased offsets to reach "NetZero" with a plan to continue reducing its direct emissions and thereby the amount of offsets purchased over the long term.

Students Learning How to Address Climate Disruption
Central to the ACUPCC are efforts to ensure that all graduates are equipped to help society address climate and sustainability in their personal and professional lives. Wilson Community College in North Carolina offers a certificate program in home weatherization and features the use of a carbon footprint calculator in a required course. Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Biologically Inspired Designs is conducting a research project, informed by research on honeybee colonies, on more efficient Internet hosting. Santa Fe Community College offers a solar energy certificate program through which students acquire the skills they need to find jobs in the solar and green building sectors. The Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont is examining the relationships among ecological, political, and economic systems and whether the Genuine Progress Indicator is a better metric than Gross Domestic Product.

Working Beyond the Campus Gates
At Ball State University in Indiana, students and faculty recently researched and developed a new model for sustainable neighborhood renewal in Indianapolis. This Smart Growth Renewal District has been selected as one of five pilot projects in the nation to be supported by the Office of Sustainable Communities, a new collaboration among the EPA and the federal Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development.

Villanova University students are designing and constructing schools, water supply systems, and small-scale electrification projects using renewable resources, together with partners in Kenya, Thailand, Nicaragua, and Honduras. A group of Green Mountain College faculty and students are looking for potential sites for solar, hydroelectric, wind, and geothermal energy in Poultney, Vermont, with the intent of creating a community energy plan for the town.

Cognizant of the significant impacts associated with the manufacture, use, and disposal of products, the University of Arkansas has partnered with Arizona State University to launch the Sustainability Consortium, which will determine a way to clearly and consistently measure product sustainability. The program, in collaboration with various NGOs and government partners, is funded by major manufacturers and retailers. Said University of Arkansas Chancellor and ACUPCC signatory G. David Gearhart, "We are excited to be involved in this ground breaking work that will change the way business is done around the world."

Many more examples of new innovative climate- and sustainability-related activities by colleges and universities are featured in the new ACUPCC Annual Report available online (PDF).

About the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment
The American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, a high-visibility effort to address global warming, garners institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth's climate. The ACUPCC is led by a Steering Committee comprised of more than 20 university and college presidents and is hosted and staffed by Second Nature, a Boston-based national nonprofit organization, with additional support provided by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. ecoAmerica, a third founding supporting organization, contributed to the production of the 2009 ACUPCC annual report. More information athttp://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.

Fast Times in Higher Ed

In the fast-paced business world, Fast Company has been keeping up with the winning trends at the leading edge. That's why it's very exciting that more and more they're seeing sustainability as a core strategic priority for any organization.

They've developed their own take on the concept, which they call Ethonomics and describe as follows:

"The end of the modern financial system as we know it has cleared the way for an era of ethical economics, or "Ethonomics"... Ethonomics is a hybrid of technology, design, and social responsibility, and at Fast Company we believe it is the future of business.

But we're not breathless cheerleaders for every daisy-splashed widget that comes down the pike. We have a skeptical eye out for greenwashing by large and small companies alike, and are impatient with lofty claims that stray too far from the marketplace or from Main Street."

What's even more exciting is that Fast Company sees the importance of higher education's role in developing and fostering this concept of Ethonomics, and driving the innovation, creativity, and prosperity-generation that comes with it. They've asked Tony Cortese and I to develop a 4-part blog series on the topic based on our work at Second Nature and with the ACUPCC.

In part one, we start with an overview of the education for sustainability movement and the basics of why this is the most important, core, strategic imperative for higher education and its students in the 21st century:

At colleges and universities, tomorrow's business leaders, architects, product designers, policy-makers, schoolteachers, economists, etc. learn about how the world works and how things get done. To date, they've learned how to do this in an unsustainable way. But a change is coming, with hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities transforming the way they teach and the choices they pursue in research and operations. Simply put, they are preparing students for 21st century citizenship.

To create a sustainable society, we need to be rethinking how we design just about everything - our products, our industrial systems, transportation systems, buildings, energy systems, agricultural systems, etc. - and we need to be doing so quickly. This is happening in many real ways in business and civil society, but the education sector is too often overlooked.

This is important in the medium-to-long-term as tomorrow graduates will soon be in the work force making decisions, and need a comprehensive understanding of sustainability - at the very least the basics of ecology, how social systems work, how complex systems operate, and what mechanisms undermine ecological and social systems.

But it's also important in the immediate-term. Colleges and universities operate as small cities, and can serve as great role-models for solutions. They have the social mandate to create the knowledge and graduates needed for a civil society and are set up to experiment with new and better ways of designing all of our systems.

Hundres of colleges and universities are taking this on in a real way with commitment from the top and incredible solutions emerging from all levels of the organizations - take a few minutes to check out a few of the 200+ climate action plans that have been submitted to the ACUPCC Reporting System to date.

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Post Hopenhagen...

There's lots of continued fall-out, analysis, despair, and renewed hope and energy in the aftermath of the Copenhagen negotiations in December. I won't spend too much time diving too deep into my own thoughts and analysis but suffice it to say, it fell far short of what we need, but had some very hopeful silver linings, most importantly so many heads-of-state getting in the same room and getting more serious about this - particularly those from the US and China.

On that note, check out a must read from Guardian reporter, Mark Lynas, who was in the room and in this article exposes the barriers the Chinese delegation presented in making sure no real targets came out of Copenhagen. In my view this a pretty solid case for imposing a carbon tariff on Chinese imports, which is not normally the kind of isolationist approach I'm a fan of, but would have some ancillary benefits of protecting American jobs and addressing some of the "we-can't-price-carbon-cause-it'll-make-us-less-competitive" arguments.

Also, get involved with the latest 1Sky campaign: The just-passed international climate talks in Copenhagen show the critical need for the U.S. to take bold action on climate and energy in the New Year. Next Tuesday, January 12 people all across the country will flood Senate offices with phone calls to urge support for strong climate and clean energy legislation in 2010. Sign up at http://www.1sky.org/call-in to join this effort and make your voice heard!

Finally, in our work at Second Nature, many people have been saying how Copenhagen's results have prompted them to refocus on the local efforts, and set precedent for real action that will make the federal/international agreements easier to make. The signatories of the ACUPCC (American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment) have been doing so for 3 years now, and making great strides - about 500 have completed and publicly reported their GHG Inventories, and over 130 have submitted plans for pursuing climate neutrality in operations and incorporating climate and sustainability into the educational experience. These are all available at www.acupcc.org/reportingsystem - see if you're school has signed and if they're up-to-date on their progress. For a great breakdown of what happened in Copenhagen, how colleges were involved, and what it means in the context of the ACUPCC, check out this article from Sarah Brylinsky at Dickinson College.

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