The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education announced on Friday four Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards in four different categories. Two other schools were named honorable mention. The awards were given during the 7th biennial Greening of the Campus conference held at Ball State University.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College (Chandler, AZ) won in the community college and other two-year institutions category. Green Mountain College (Poultney, VT) won in the four-year and graduate institution (under 1,000 students) category. Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT) won in the four-year and graduate institution (1,000-7,500 students) category. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) won in the four-year and graduate institution (over 7,500 students) category.

Chandler-Gilbert’s president, Maria Hesse, was one of the first presidents to sign the American College & University President’s Climate Committment. The College is part of a city-wide system that uses reclaimed water for irrigation. Two of Chandler-Gilbert’s campuses use energy management systems to ensure energy efficiency, and all new buildings will be built according to LEED standards.

For Green Mountain College, the environment and sustainability are unifying themes on campus. Environmental awareness is infused into every aspect of the curriculum, and all students must take courses in sustainability. Students installed a wind turbine to power the campus greenhouse and solar panels on the student center. The remaining energy needs are met partially by electricity generated from methane from local dairy cow manure.

Middlebury College has pledged to become climate-neutral by the year 2016. Bill McKibben is a scholar-in-residence there, and Step It Up 2007 was largely organized by Middlebury alumni. 25% of Middlebury’s dining budget goes towards locally grown and produced food, and the college recycles 60% of its waste. The campus uses solar and wind-generated power for portions of its energy needs, and has an Environmental Council, a committee of students, staff, and faculty, that advises the president of the college on sustainability policies.

Michigan State University has been a leader in large campus sustainability by committing to a 2% annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, along with meeting LEED standards for all new buildings on campus. MSU has an extensive recycling program, sustainability speakers, and funds student-designed sustainability projects. It even hosts a green roofs research program. One look around their extensive "Ecofoot" website tells you that this is a campus that takes its sustainability seriously.

Honorable mentions were awarded to Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA) and University of California, Berkeley.

So we know that bottled water is bad for our planet. We also know that cities are refusing to purchase bottled water for employees. Now, a school is joining that fight. Nerinx Hall, an all-women Catholic high school for girls here in the St Louis area, is taking bottled water out of its vending machines and giving the student body reusable bottles to stay hydrated. I applauded this decision, but apparently some people think the Constitution is going down with the Aquafina. In fact, I heard a friend’s parent (who has a daughter at the school) exclaiming what an outrage the ban was. Since Nerinx Hall is not so far from the school where I teach, I wondered if my school could do the same. Many states and schools have banned full-sugared sodas in schools, and water sales have increased as it replaces soda in vending machines. It’s become widely available, so how do you encourage both students and staff to give up the bottled water habit?

My first thought was, "Why is this such a big deal in the first place?" It wasn’t long ago that most people scoffed at paying a premium for what they can get for pennies at home. Remember that old joke that "Evian" was just "naive" spelled backwards? It’s been less than ten years since bottled water rose from a luxury product to a ubiquitous beverage of choice, yet mention banning bottled water, and "from my cold dead hands" cries ring out everywhere. When did we grow so attached to bottled water?

First off: provide an alternative. Nerinx Hall provided water bottles to its students, but it’s a private school, and I’m sure tuition could be adjusted to allow for Nalgene for every students. Public schools may have that option. See if your school store will sell reusable bottles with your school logo printed on it. If you don’t have a school store, maybe a student group could sell them for a fundraiser. I found them for just a few bucks here. Still better might be a school-wide incentive program for those willing to pledge to curb the bottled water habit–with the reusable bottles as the incentive.

Second: educate. Many people don’t realize that there’s a price to pay for that convenience: plastic bottles are made with petroleum. The light bulb goes off once people realize that the same stuff that causes climate change produces the bottles they throw away with little thought. Here’s a few articles that highlight just how harmful that seemingly-innocent bottle can be.

Third: check out the contracts you school has with vending machines. Do you have to have water in them? If not, get rid of it.

Four: point out the price factor. Most schools are pinching pennies. So why, at almost every meeting or professional development session, are we offered cold bottles of water (and, even worse, the tiny 8 oz, encouraging people to take more than one!). Why are we paying for this? We’ve got gorgeous refrigerated drinking fountains–get your school administration to purchase a few filtered-water pitchers for the teachers’ lounge instead.

Five: get students involved. I’ve blogged before about the impact of visiting a landfill or doing a waste audit of your school. Once they see the magnitude of the problem, they’ll be motivated to act. Who better than other kids to get students to say no to bottled water? Can your student council do an awareness campaign? Students and staff alike are more easily persuaded by student activism than teachers getting preachy.

I start school again tomorrow, and the kids don’t come back for another week, but I’ve already met with my Student Council: they want to continue to lead the way in creating a more environmentally sustainable learning environment. I can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with to tackle this problem!

Imagine my shock when I opened my mailbox to find the latest issue of Newsweek sporting a fire-glowing orb and the headline "Global Warming is a Hoax.*" It’s hard to believe (particularly for the GO family) that there are still people who deny that climate change is happening and caused by humans. With the influx of pro-green exposure in the media, many greens saw this past year as the tipping point in awareness and activism on global warming. Yet, "deniers" still exist, and Newsweek’s cover story (complete with tongue-in-cheek headline) aims to track the foundations of the denial movement, the major players behind it, and the motivations behind the well-coordinated effort to keep the American public doubting that global warming is real. (That asterisk? It noted "Or so claim well-funded naysayers who still reject the overwhelming evidence of climate change.")

"They patterned what they did after the tobacco industry," says former senator Tim Worth, quoted early in the article. The key tactic? Creating doubt in the minds of both policymakers and the public by disputing the science behind global warming. As soon as then-senator Al Gore brought global warming to Washington’s attention in 1988, groups with benign names such as the Global Climate Coalition and the Information Council on the Environment, which were actually lobbyist groups from the petroleum, steel, auto, and utilities companies, began an all-out war to contradict the overwhelming body of science that supported global warming.

The rhetoric changed as the science supporting global warming grew more and more conclusive. It started with "the science behind global warming is wrong", moved to "global warming is happening, but it is not the fault of humans", and ended with the current denier mantra, "global warming is happening, and we may be causing it, but it’s effects are hardly anything to worry about."

Also impossible to ignore in the article is the amount of money and power changing hands between lobbying groups, policymakers, and scientists. One Exxon-Mobil-backed group has offered $10,000 to scientists willing to speak out against global warming. And that might be what’s so depressing about the "deniers": it seems that from day one, their motives were entirely based on the acquisition or preservation of money and power. As Gore demonstrated in a graphic in An Inconvenient Truth, what’s more important: bars of gold, or the entire planet?

The article is fascinating and puts a face (and clear strategy) on the campaign against the planet. This issue of Newsweek is on newsstands now, and the entire article can be found on Newsweek’s website.

Ask most educators about No Child Left Behind, the current administration’s education initiative, and a constant complaint would be the de-emphasis on those subjects deemed non-essential: art, music, physical education, etc. Environmental education, outside of the traditional science class, fits into the category of subjects that aren’t assessed by standardized tests and, therefore, not prioritized in many U.S. schools. Fortunately, potential legislation might change that. No Child Left Behind expires this year, and Congress must reauthorize it, allowing room for changes.

On July 12th, Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007. The measure, HR 3606, provides incentives for state educational agencies to create a state environmental literacy plan that will integrate environmental education across disciplines in K-12 curriculum while building an infrastructure for environmental education. It will also provide funding to help states, districts, and non-governmental organizations to implement this plan. The bill is supported by the No Child Left Inside Coalition, which includes the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Where would the money come from? The bill would include environmental education as a authorized areas for use of The Fund for the Improvement of Education, where many states and districts obtain special funding. The bill also calls for grants that could be used to train teachers as specialists in environmental education.

To ask your representative to co-sponsor the bill, click here.

Ontario's Liberal Party unveiled its plan for statewide environmental sustainability education, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne announced yesterday. "We must help students build on the knowledge and leadership they have already shown on climate change issues," said Wynne. "Our government is committed to reaching every student with an environmental education that inspires them to take positive action."

The Canadian province's plan infuses environmental education in all grade levels across disciplines, as well as creates an optional Grade 11 course focuses exclusively on environmental education. Ontario previously had mandatory environmental education, but that initiative was eliminated in 1998. The new initiative will cost $4 million.

The plan was partially in response to a report issued by the Ontario Ministry of Educations's Curriculum Council and their Working Group on Environmental Education that recommended the standardization of environmental lessons and inclusion of parents in that education. The report, titled Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future, is available online.

The plan is just part of a string of environmentally-friend initiatives the Ontario government has supported, including the EcoSchools program, two green-themed websites targeting high school and elementary students, and a Clean-Air and Climate Change artwork and essay contest.

Image Credit: Rolling StoneRolling Stone joins about every other magazine on the planet (score!) by publishing an environmental issue, specifically, a "special report on climate crisis". Apparently, that warrants a sleeveless Sting, along with the rest of The Police, gracing the cover, but I kept reading anyway. In any event, Rolling Stone's environmentally-focused content runs the gamut from clueless rock-star flightiness (sorry, Roger Waters, but I'm looking at you) to downright scathing allegations against Bush and Cheney and their attempts to mislead the American public on global warming and is well worth the read for those of us involved in green lifestyles.

RS uses an article on Live Earth, the worldwide series of concerts promoting global warming awareness set to take place on July 7th on all seven continents, to lure it's music fan readers into a green frame of mind. Set to be the biggest concert in history, yet drawing fire from many environmentalists because of the massive energy resources involved in staging ten large-scale concerts (technically nine…the Antarctic show, and there is one, will probably be an intimate affair) and the real purpose of the shows. To some, they seem like just, well, big concerts. However, the article gives some reassurance from organizer Kevin Wall: "You can't depend on your governments anymore. We have to mobilize an army, and that's what we're going to start doing."

RS follows the Live Earth article with its traditional celebrity-focused pieces. In one, singer/songwriter Jack Johnson's attempt to build a green record label, Brushfire Records, and recording studio is profiled. This is followed by brief interviews on sustainability with several Live Earth musicians such as Dave Matthews, Melissa Etheridge, and John Legend. Let's just say some really know what they're talking about, and a few seem, well, still clueless. Perry Farrell's eco-style is profiled in the regular Style profile (including a very cool organic-cotton hoodie from H&M).

Just before RS gets into the meat of their issues — three features on climate change — they take a page to introduce these articles and to announce that they are the first mass-marketed magazine to be printed on carbon-neutral paper from Catalyst Paper, although they've received considerable flak for the recycled content (zero) of the paper.

To start, Eric Bates and Jeff Goodell (whom you may remember I saw a few weeks back at Wakarusa) interview Al Gore. Although Gore interviews are hardly rare since An Inconvenient Truth, Bates and Goodell do a fine job. I enjoy Gore interviews much more than any other eco-celeb, mainly because I feel he is able to combine knowlege of climate change with extensive knowledge of our political system, making him an ideal leader in the fight for real change.

RS juxtaposes the Gore interview with, ironically, an all-out assault, condemning the Bush administration, specifically Dick Cheney, and its refusal to take any type of real action on climate change. Writer Tim Dickinson goes even further, citing multiple examples of the current administration's attempt to downplay climate science and censor government scientists. Included in the article is one clever insert showing the revolving door of conflicted interests that is the environmental advisors to the Bush administration, and another chart documenting statements Bush has made about environmental policy, and the reality of what happened after those statements were made.

The trio of features ends with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s proposal for what must be done to cut carbon emissions. The five big things? Establish an emissions cap along with a global carbon market, eliminating new coal plants that don't sequester CO2 underground, build more efficient cars, ban incandescent light bulbs, and make net metering nationwide, with Kennedy explaining these ideas more fully throughout the article.

In conclusion, Rolling Stone's issue is worth the read, particularly if you were already going to check out the review of the new White Stripes album. It is more big-thinking than some other green issues, taking on policy and larger changes than just changing your light bulbs. If only it was printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink…a girl can dream, can't she?

Graphic courtesy of Wakarusa Music FestivalI spoke on Tuesday about the Wakarusa Music Festival's Sustainability Symposium that took place on Saturday of the festival. Moderated by Treehugger's Simran Sethi, the symposium featured Big Coal author Jeff Goodell, Land Institute president Dr. Wes Jackson, Wakarusa Director Bret Mosiman, Kansas wind-farmer and cattle rancher Pete Ferrell, and Director of Sustanability for New Belgium Brewing Nic Theisen, the symposium focused on energy and sustainability and evolved into a fascinating discussion about public policy, individual actions, and the sustainability movement

The morning started with Ferrell discussing wind power, specifially Kansas's potential for wind power. Ferrell is the primary landowner of the Elk River Wind Farm, and is also the general manager of Ferrell Ranch, where he uses sustainable methods of raising cattle. He became interested in wind farming when visiting Hawaii's biggest cattle ranch. Ferrell noted that in Hawaii, ranching had to be sustainable–there isn't room for externalities on an island, "If we all had an island mentality, we'd change how we do things." While his speech focused on wind and energy, he welcomed questions about the seeming contrast between an environmentalist and a cattle rancher. When one audience member tried to bait him into admitting he would use an herbicide if necessary, Ferrell rattled off several different sustainable alternatives he could use instead. Ferrell spoke passionately and urged the audience to commit to both living sustainably and becoming politically active.

Seeing Dr. Wes Jackson speak at length was the non-music highlight of my trip to Wakarusa. Jackson is incredibly well-regarded–he was one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, was a MacArthur Fellow, past winner of the Right Livelihood Award, and Pew Conservation Scholar, among other laudable titles. He spoke about the urgency of environmentalism and sustainability and eschewed those in the green world who preached what he called "Wal-Mart Environmentalism", the idea that if we all change to CFL's, that's all we need to do to save humanity. The theme of his words reiterated my frustration with The Lazy Environmentalist. Jackson is incredibly knowledgeable and spouted facts and figures that put our impending crisis into perspective. Consider this: today's 22-year-old college graduate has lived through the use of 50% of the world's total fossil fuels. He believes that a reduction of 60-80% of the world's carbon emissions by the year 2100 is necessary to continue to sustain humanity. Despite Jackson's seemingly bleak message, he was actually full of hope–he thinks agriculture is one vital piece of the puzzle that we can fix (which is what the Land Institute is all about), and was so visibly passionate about his work that I immediately wanted to sell my car and go off the grid.

New Belgium's Nic Theisen echoed Jackson's ideas about real commitment to sustainability. He should know–he doesn't fly and has been car-free since 2000. With no Amtrak service from Fort Collins, CO (where New Belgium is located) and Lawrence, Theisen took the train to Lincoln, NE, then rode his three-speed bike from Lincoln to Lawrence. Theisen spoke about New Belgium's efforts to become more sustainable–their entire operation is carbon-offset using wind tags, they use significantly less water than their counterparts, their buildings are LEED-certified, and they reduce, reuse, and recycle at every opportunity, among other sustainable practices (like their certified-organic Mothership Wit beer….delicious!) After speaking about what New Belgium is attempting to do, he continued to note that it's still not enough. Their beer production is still, theoretically, unsustainable. He cited instances where, despite their company's commitment to sustainability, he knew New Belgium employees saw him as an outlier, a freak of environmentalism. He defended New Belgium's pursuit of a growth model of business, and noted that they are seeking to transform the industry by providing a successful model of sustainable practices at an increasingly larger scale. I was refreshed by his honesty and the level of transparency he had when speaking about New Belgium's practices.

After these three spoke, Sephi moderated conversation about sustainability and energy peppered with questions from the audience. Afterwards, all speakers were incredibly approachable and the entire event had the close ambience of a classroom. The Sustainability Symposium was truly a pocket of activism amongst all the beer-drinking, hoop-dancing, frisbee-throwing, and tail-shaking that took place at Wakarusa that weekend, and it was absolutely refreshing to hear people speak so passionately about their commitment to sustainability.

Image courtesy of the Wakarusa Music Festival

More and more buzz is being generated in the music industry about artists greening up concerts and venues greening their practices. I was able to see some of this first hand while spending four days at the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival in Lawrence, KS, this past weekend.

Lured by the temptation of such acts as Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Son Volt, Yonder Mountain String Band, Widespread Panic, and my personal favorite, the John Butler Trio, my husband and I set out for an extended weekend of camping and concerts approximately 45 minutes west of Kansas City at Clinton Lake State Park. We were pleased to find multiple efforts at sustainability from the moment we got to the venue.

When driving into the park, after receiving our wristbands from festival organizers, volunteers handed us two plastic bags: a clear bag for trash and a green bag for recyclables. Dubbed "Recycalusa" Wakarusa's recycling efforts extended to glass, aluminum, cardboard, and plastic. Wakarusa even urged festival-goers to bring canned beverages, not bottled, because the market for glass recycling was far smaller in Lawrence than for aluminum. There was a Recycalusa booth where festival-goers could take their green bags, sort their recycling, and win prizes such as band merch.

For those who didn't want to head to the booth (like us), campers could place both green and clear bags on the "corner" of their respective campgrounds, and Waka volunteers would pick up both recycling and trash. There were also recycling bins everywhere in the venue: 240, according to festival organizers, clearly marked for trash, plastic, aluminum, and glass. New Belgium Brewery, sustainability leaders in the beer industry, and sponsors of the festival, exclusively sold beer at the venue, and encouraged drinkers to reuse the plastic cups the beer was sold in.

Waka organizers began offsetting the energy costs of the festival in 2006 through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation's partnership with Zephyr Energy, which features a mix of low-impact hydro and wind power projects ( I know some of you are already shaking your head at the idea of offsets–keep reading). This year, organizers were able to eliminate about 40% of their total energy costs by eliminating one of the main stages. Festival patrons could also offset their travel to Lawrence by purchasing wind tags offered by Zephyr Energy.

Food vendors offered more veggie options than any other event like this that I have been to. There was an amazing Lawrence restaurant, Local Burger, that had veggie burgers, beef, buffalo, and elk burgers, and numerous other outstandingly delicious meals all locally sourced, yet reasonably priced (best veggie burger of my life, if you must know). Indian, Chinese, and Mexican-themed vendors all provided numerous meat-free meals. Most vendors made a special effort to use packaging that could be recycled at the festival.

Perhaps my favorite part of the sustainability efforts at Wakarusa was the Sustainability Symposium. Featuring such individuals as Big Coal author Jeff Goodell, Land Institute president Dr. Wes Jackson, and Director of Sustainability for New Belgium Nic Theisen, we spent almost three hours listening to six individuals discuss energy and sustainability, policy and ecology, music and beer. I'll be writing about this at-length on Thursday.

There were a few disappointments over the weekend (other than Saturday night's rain). Despite the obvious efforts of Waka organizers to make recycling just as convenient as regular trash, I was heartbroken to see how few patrons took advantage of recycling. There was also some confusion on the location and time of the different sustainability speakers, some of whom only spoke for a few minutes. I was also under the impression (from Waka's website) that all packaging from Waka food vendors had to be either recyclable or compostable, but that was not the case. All in all, though, the disappointment I had was mainly because people weren't taking advantage of the sustainability efforts of the concert. And the music, most definitely, was well worth the drive.

My problem with The Lazy Environmentalist, green radio host Josh Dorfman's self-proclaimed "guide to easy, stylish, green living" isn't that it lacks information. It's actually a quite comprehensive guide to supporting green companies. I dog-eared multiple pages so I could visit websites of the companies in which I was interested. But it's not so much a guide to green living as it's a guide to green buying. I guess the tone set forth from the brief introduction rubbed me the wrong way:

These innovators make it easy for us to integrate environmental awareness into our lives. They understand that while so many of us are concerned about the environment, we don't always have the time, energy, or inclination to do something about it.

I only wish this was written in a less-than-serious voice. In my mind, if you don't have the "time, energy, or inclination" to do something about the environment, than you can hardly classify yourself as an environmentalist. You are looking to alleviate guilt for your conspicuous consumption, a culture of consumption that is devastating our planet. It's exactly the "culture of convenience" that's waging all-out war on our resources. Consider this passage from the chapter on cars:

There really is something for everyone–even those who drive Hummers, the most colossal of all urban assault vehicles…By offsetting the carbon dioxide emissions spewing from your car's tailpipe, TerraPass offers Hummer drivers eco-salvation.

Eco-salvation for Hummer drivers? A little too, oh, oxymoronic, for my tastes. Lazy is definitely geared towards a more high-end clientele, despite it's mention of Wal-Mart as an organic clothing retailer (Yeah, I know what you are thinking…I can't trust them quite yet, either).

Stepping off of my soapbox, for those of us who do have time, energy, and inclination to do something to lighten our footprint still have to buy goods and services, and Lazy provides a well-laid, well-written plan to finding greener versions of those goods and services. If you have to spend money, you might as well spend it on more sustainable products, right?

There are 22 chapters focusing on different products and services, from home furnishing to energy providers to media outlets (what, no shout out for Green Options?) Each chapter begins with a narrative insight into what practices these eco-companies are establishing to go green, then lists several companies, along with their websites and a brief description of what their business does or produces. Reading about different design innovations companies are using was fascinating (BraveSpace's hollow bamboo tables, anyone?), and I'll definitely check out many of the websites listed. If I'm going to save the planet, though, I've got better things to do.

Renowned University of Alberta ecologist David Schindler said in a speech Friday that children are our best hope for slowing climate change.

Speaking at the Trails To Sustainability conference on environmental education near Calgary, Schindler said,

"By the time people who are six to 12 years old now are grown up, we're going to see a different political landscape and a different environmental one."

A world-renowned expert on climate change and fresh-water ecology, Schindler was the 2001 winner of the NSERC Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, Canada's highest scientific honor. Schindler also noted,

"We're all pretty set in our ways and I think looking at people who really don't get it - who leave their cars idling while they're in the grocery store for an hour in the winter and things like that - we're not going to reach those folks. We can reach their kids."

Schindler, who also teaches environmental decision making at the University of Alberta, also said that while today's generation and their elected leaders have refused to deal with looming water shortages and global warming issues, unavoidable change is coming.