sustainable |səˈstānəbəl|
adjective
able to be maintained at a certain rate or level : sustainable fusion reactions.
• Ecology (esp. of development, exploitation, or agriculture) conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.
• able to be upheld or defended : sustainable definitions of good educational practice.
This is all I knew about sustainability before my visit to Arizona State University. When I had arrived, I thought sustainability and “going green” were synonymous. Turns out there is a whole new term for the surge of companies “going green”: Green Washing. Anyone can really claim to “go green”, you don’t get certified in it, and most of it is a PR- lion through a fiery hoop act- to make consumers spit out ooh’s and ahh’s.
Sustainability seems, for lack of a better word, more pure than that. So when I sat down with Bonnie, the Director of Sustainable Business Practices at ASU, I asked: what exactly is sustainability?
There are many ways to define it, some are more correct than others… but here are a few that might help you understand:
“Sustainability is eating food your great grandparents would recognize.”
“Sustainability is living like tomorrow matters… and the next day.”
“Sustainability is focusing on your actions, and realizing the impact they make on your environment, the economy and the community.”
The most cohesive definition I have found however goes a little something like this:
“Sustainability is related to the quality of life in a community — whether the economic, social and environmental systems that make up the community are providing a healthy, productive, meaningful life for all community residents, present and future.”
ASU is home to this nation’s first School of Sustainability, and they are proud of it! And on top of that- they should be! Not only is ASU one of the nation’s top green universities, but you can tell the faculty and the students are committed to a vision of full sustainability, and making that vision come true.
But as Bonnie said: “It’s not easy, it’s very difficult. We have come a long way, but we most certainly still have a long way to go. Oil tankers don’t just turn on a dime. But once we get there, the impact will be immense.”
An awesome organization they have at ASU is called Campus Harvest. There are plants all over the campus that produce edible food. A couple of years ago, the lemons, oranges, dates, bananas, etc. would fall to the ground and be hauled off to the landfill. Campus Harvest however, allows students to volunteer their time to go out and pick that produce. These natural, local, edible treats are then used by the eateries on campus to make food for the students! I had the pleasure of eating at Engrained where I met with several sustainability evangelists, including Katrina, the Sustainability Manager of Engrained. Try the quinoa burger- veggie and delish!
Besides the delicious food, the students, faculty and staff at ASU are focused on changing not just their community, but the world. They work on such things like turning algae into biodiesel fuel, and finding new ways to create clean water in third world countries, and ways to achieve conservation in a social context. I’ve met and seen lots of people who care, but here you can find people taking action and trying to solve. That was what was so unique about this establishment.
I know what you’re all thinking: But how can I make a difference???
Think about it… if each one of you just adjusted a little, it would make a huge impact. Here are some tips:
carpool, reusable grocery bags, shut down your computer when not in use, recycle, drive at or a little below the speed limit, do only full loads of laundry, go organic, buy local, bike, walk, skate board, carry a refillable water bottle, buy reusable ink cartridges…
I was told the best thing you can do is to choose a habit, just one habit, and learn everything you can about it. Where does it come from? What happens afterward? What is the environmental impact? And then take that habit and see if you can reduce, or stop it all together. It’s not easy, but if each person cared just a little bit more, and got just a little bit more educated, and became just a little bit more tolerant- I guarantee the world will be a better place today, tomorrow, and the next…
Video from ASU:
http://www.asu.edu/
http://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/
Great Twitter resource! http://twitter.com/ASUgreen
I want to send out a very special thank you to Vanessa, Colin, Bonny, Rob and Karen at ASU! You made me feel so welcomed and opened up a new world of knowledge.
OK everyone! If you aren’t following along with me yet on my 8th Continent Soymilk Taste of Life Tour- well, DO IT! Just DO IT!
http://facebook.com/8thlopez
And then you entered the eye of the tornado- the study rooms. There were entire buildings with laptops that looked like Apple stores. Clean, chic, modern… I wanted a bedroom like this! You could just see the concentration in the students’ eyes!