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Yesterday I attended a lecture at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, on environmentally sustainable campuses as part of their annual Fall for the Book event. Presenter Jim Merkel, former sustainability coordinator at Dartmouth College and author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth, asked audience members to imagine a future in which GMU had become a sustainable campus. (He’s an amazing guy with a great story BTW, I encourage you to check out his website and book.)
Jim asked us to turn to our neighbors and imagine the new sights, sounds, and smells we might experience. Simply put, I was stunned by what I heard: The student sitting next to me had absolutely nothing to say. He had no thoughts whatsoever on how the campus might be improved, changed, or more efficient. I even tried prompting him for possible ideas (I didn’t tell him of my background), to no avail. He was at a complete loss as to how GMU could be sustainable in the future. How is this possible? I was under the impression that from an early age, U.S. school children are being taught environmental education (not like when I went to school in the ’80s!). I figured that by college, these children would have grown into environmentally aware adults.
Now I certainly don’t want to jump to any conclusions based on this one interaction. But then I got this press release from the Go Green Initiative that boasted how over 1 million students and teachers in the U.S. had gone green. At first glance, that looks great. But then you look at the statistics: There are over 45 million students in the U.S. and nearly 3 million teachers according to the NASBE.
I got curious. I found out that my own children’s school in Fairfax County — in one of the largest school systems in the country — does not even have a recycling program in place (yet)! I plan to meet with the PTA about starting the Go Green Initiative there next week.
My point is this: If we are serious about increasing our environmental sustainability as a nation, shouldn’t we be starting in the schools?
Elizabeth Striano
Consultant and writer on sustainability and the environment
www.agreenfootprint.com
Helping you leave a green footprint on the world…
At the risk of showing my dorkier side, I just have to say that I was happy to see Thomas Dolby (of “She Blinded Me With Science” fame for those who haven’t kept up with this genius) is planning to record his next album using only solar and wind energy. More impressive I think, is that, as he says himself, “It may be perceived by some as me jumping on the current green bandwagon, but that’s really not the case.” He goes on to talk about his family’s other, longer-term “green” habits.
My point in mentioning this is that I wonder if the expanding celebrity greening is a positive sign for the growing Green Wave, as coined in the book Green to Gold. I was surprised to learn that there is even a blog dedicated to celebrity green gossip. What I find intriguing about this type of news, is that it’s more about celebrities DOING green rather than PREACHING green. We all tire quickly when some rich and famous celebrity tries to tell us how we should be living our lives. But it’s a different thing all together when they are doing actually doing something themselves (something positive of course) without being preachy about it.
Could we all, as Americans, be persuaded by this more gentle push to become more environmentally sustainable?
Has everyone seen the new online video “game” that allows the average U.S. citizen to estimate their personal environmental impact? It’s called Consumer Consequences and it shows users how many “earths” it would take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans… if everyone lived like you. I played and it was a bit of a wake up call. I try my best (or so I thought) every day to incorporate environmental sustainability into my life. But I still have many of the common American habits that are just so hard to shake — like my long commutes on the road, alone in the DC Metro area. That really did me in as far as my overall score. And, of course, just today we learn that DC now has the second worst traffic in the nation, losing out only to Los Angeles.
Environmental sustainability does get complicated when some issues are out of your control. What I just don’t understand is why this region (and others like it), don’t consider alternate work schedules and telecommuting as viable, potentially low-cost, high-impact solutions to traffic woes. Yes, public transportation is a great thing; and more of it is always appreciated. But you’re still creating pollution, although far less than the individuals in their cars. And HOV is a smart option. But just think of the potential impact if just 10% of the people driving every day during rush hour were simply taken off the road. With all this technology at our fingertips, why in the world do we still require employees be on-site five days a week during “normal business hours”?
What is going to be the wake up call here? When traffic is so bad, that it literally does not move or when the smog is so bad that you can’t see wear you are going? Something has got to give.
