Topic: Environment
Greg Smith awarded environmental education grant
Greg Smith, professor of teacher education:
Smith has received a $19,380 grant from the Gray Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation to train teachers in the West Linn School District on environmental issues. The Environmental Education Program seeks to encourage a strong local land ethic, sustainable communities, and stewardship of the natural environment by citizens throughout Oregon. The Fund is committed long term to institutionalizing a series of age-appropriate experiences that build a sense of place and responsibility towards Oregon and the region.
The Sustainability Education Initiative is a program of professional development coursework and activities for K-12 teachers in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District. During three courses offered in 2009, Smith will prepare 50-60 teachers to incorporate sustainability issues into their classrooms and help them implement school or community projects that will enhance local natural and social environments. Participants will be eligible for small seed grants to fund start-up projects. The grant aims to increase the number of teachers implementing sustainability projects in schools, and increase student and educator awareness of local natural systems, ecologies, and social needs.
Professor Proctor’s ‘ecopocalypse’ research featured in USA Today column
Jim Proctor, professor and chair of environmental studies, is featured in a USA Today column on environmentalist Americans’ fear of ecological collapse and the problems with end-times fixations. Religion and public life columnist Tom Krattenmaker questions the effectiveness of this dystopia concept and other fear-based strategies designed to motivate people to behave in a certain manner.
Proctor and a research team have been talking with Oregonians and surveying the general population about their experiences with nature and pursuit of perfecting the co-existence between humans and the environment.
“‘You find that people working for a utopian future have tremendous fear about things turning out differently,’” Proctor explains in the column. ‘Utopias are often framed against a dystopian nightmare,’ he adds, producing a kind of all-or-nothing fixation on perfection and its perfect opposite.”
Proctor’s project was also the focus of a recent article in The Oregonian, detailing the survey and citing some of its initial results.
USA Today ‘The End’ as a weapon
The Oregonian Shaping dreams—and nightmares—about natural world
Jim Proctor stresses that “going green” is not enough
Jim Proctor, professor and director of environmental studies, is concerned that most colleges do not address sustainability in its fullest definition. Although many colleges focus on ecology, they have failed to address social and economic issues in regards to “going green.” According the the United Nation’s Brundtland Commission report from 1983, true sustainability is composed of all three aspects, not just ecology. “I’m actually at a point where I’m confused where we ought to go — we at Lewis & Clark and we in the larger education community. If it’s just about green campuses, that’s not at all what sustainability was envisioned to be,” Proctor said. He points out that without the social and economic legs, true sustainability cannot be achieved.
The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Colleges in Oregon get high grades for green
Alum Julian Dautremont-Smith discusses colleges’ progress toward carbon-neutrality goal
As the associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Julian Dautremont-Smith ‘03, promotes sustainability in all aspects of the higher education sector including governance, operations, curriculum, and professional development. He recently offered his perspective on the progress colleges are making toward meeting goals outlined in the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, (ACUPCC) a project designed to make the higher education sector carbon neutral.
Though less than one-half of the institutions met the September milestone for submitting reports on their greenhouse-gas emissions, Dautremont-Smith is confident that the data gathered from public reports will provide this environmental cause with a sufficient stepping stone: “Our sense of it is this is a long-term commitment, multi-decade for most schools, so we’re not going to fret about being behind a little on this particular deadline.”
See the progress Lewis & Clark is making toward its ACUPCC goals and learn about the institution’s greenhouse-gas report online.
Inside Higher Ed (Washington, D.C.) In Quest for Carbon Neutrality, Late out of the Gate
Goodstein, professor of economics, delivers climate change message at music festival
Eban Goodstein, professor of economics:
On July 5, Eban Goodstein, project director of Focus the Nation, will participate in the Rothbury Festival Think Tank project, Finding Energy Independence, an issues-based event that runs in conjunction with the famous music festival. While Goodstein is at the festival he will also pick up an “e-achievement” award from etown, an NPR radio program featuring music and people making a difference in the world.
Professor of Economics Eban Goodstein wins e-chievement award
Eban Goodstein, professor of economics:
Goodstein, project director of Focus the Nation, and Chungin Chung, communications director of Focus the Nation, won the e-chievement award from etown.org, an award that highlights individuals who strive to make a difference within their communities and beyond. In July, Goodstein will be honored in July on etown’s live national radio show from the Rothbury Festival, where he will participate in a think tank on global warming solutions.
Adjunct professor of counseling psychology links eco-anxiety to the media
Thomas Doherty, an adjunct faculty member in counseling psychology and practitioner of ecopsychology, believes that eco-anxious people can calm their nerves by limiting the amount of news they read daily, while staying informed. Doherty states that “our media diet is like our other diets,” and should be consumed in moderation.
Conscious Choice (San Fransisco, Calif.) Green is the new frazzled
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