Page 36 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

(a) Urging divestment from fossil fuels (b) Installing energy-efficient CFLs at Dickinson

(c) Recycling at Davidson (d) Collecting electronic waste at UT Austin
FIGURE 1.15 Students are helping to make their campuses more sustainable in all kinds of ways. CHAPTER 1 • SCIENCE AND SUSTAIN ABILITY : AN INTR ODUCTI ON T O ENVIR ONMENTAL SCIENCE

• Students can learn and grow as a result. Colleges and Environmental science prepares
universities are microcosms of society at large, and the you for the future
challenges, successes, and failures encountered while
working with others as part of a team can serve as valu- By taking a course in environmental science, you are help-
able preparation for similar efforts in our broader society. ing to prepare yourself for a lifetime in a world increasingly
dominated by concerns over sustainability. As society’s
In our final chapter and throughout this book you will concerns have evolved, colleges and universities have
encounter examples of campus sustainability efforts. Should adapted their academic curricula. The course for which you
you wish to pursue such efforts on your own campus, informa- are using this book right now likely did not exist a genera-
tion and links available in the Selected Sources and References tion ago. As our society comes to appreciate the looming
point you toward organizations and resources that can help. challenges of creating a sustainable future, colleges and
You will also see that the general concept of sustain- universities are attempting to better train students to con-
ability is infused throughout this book with one issue after front these challenges.
another, and that the vital concept of sustainable development Still, the latest nationwide survey of campus sustain-
is tackled in Chapter 6. Our final chapter (Chapter 24) rounds ability efforts (in 2008) found that the percentage of Amer-
out our discussion by presenting a summary of approaches to ican colleges and universities that require all students to
sustainability—on college and university campuses and in the take at least one course related to environmental science
world at large. All along the way, we will explore a wide array or sustainability had actually decreased, from 8% in 2001
of issues in our far-reaching search for sustainable solutions. to just 4% in 2008. At most schools, fewer than half of 35

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