This past week, the Student Sustainability Task Force officially released the “Sustainability at Rensselaer” report. This report was researched, compiled, and written by student members of the SSTF. It includes input from numerous members of the Rensselaer community, including vice presidents, deans, directors, faculty, and staff. The main sections of the report are “baseline,” “benchmark,” and “suggestions,” which are subsequently broken down into specific topics including education, research, leadership, operations, and culture. A full version of the report can be found on Rensselaer’s sustainability website (http://blogger.rpi.edu/sustainability/), under the heading, “Official Release of the ‘Sustainability at Rensselaer’ Report.”
The baseline section outlines the current conditions of sustainability at Rensselaer. It also includes a timeline of sustainability-related events, programs and initiatives. The benchmark section provides information regarding sustainability at other colleges and universities, and is divided into three parts: an inter-university sustainability comparison chart, best-practices information, and the structure of a sustainability resource. The comparison chart allows for a quick assessment of similarities and differences between Rensselaer and other schools by examining some basic measures, such as whether or not the school has a sustainability coordinator, research in sustainability, and green purchasing or composting. The best practices section offers information on innovative and creative practices that have been established at other universities. Finally, the structure of a sustainability resource presents details regarding alternative ways of organizing sustainability professionals within a university. The suggestions section discusses the benefits of having a centralized sustainability resource, and provides ideas that could be readily implemented.
So why is this important? Taken in a global context, the number of Rensselaer graduates is only a small percentage in terms of world population, but a sizable percentage in terms of capability. Rensselaer graduates and researchers have the necessary intelligence and preparation to face sustainability challenges, and they are in a unique position to tackle issues of pollution management, remediation, biodiversity, water use, land use, transportation, environmental health, food production, waste management, energy security, and climate change. The likelihood of students rising to these challenges depends on their awareness of the problems. Awareness comes simultaneously from exposure in the classroom and from living in a community that is aware and active; this means an integrated focus on research, education, operations, and culture is necessary. As most students develop their global perspective while at college, it is absolutely imperative that Rensselaer graduates leave as global citizens who are fully prepared to take responsibility for the challenges of our lifetime. We must all take part in endowing this responsibility within our community.
Plans are underway to continue on the path of incorporating sustainability into RPI’s education, research, operations, and culture. A sustainability design charrette contest will be held for students, in an effort to generate innovative, yet realistic and implementable, ideas for Rensselaer. An Institute-wide Sustainability Task Force will also be formed in the near future. If you have interest in participating in the planning of this charrette, or have interest in being a part of the SSTF or the Institute-wide Sustainability Task Force, please e-mail Sarah Parks, parkss@rpi.edu.
