Seminar for Sustainability

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Seminar for Sustainability

• Beyond Efficiency
• Designing for Success

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Hi, Im Don Scherer

• Emeritus Professor of Applied Philosophy
• Environmental Ethicist
• VP, Green Energy Ohio
• Project Developer

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Seminar on College Campus Sustainability

• Several BGSU administrators are committed to
  sustainability
• Design and Construction
• Operations and Maintenance
• Residential Life
• Finance
• Provost

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But how to get good data on how to improve campus
sustainability?

• Data collection involves expense.
• Design, construction, operations and maintenance
  dollars are tight.
• Time demands are substantial.

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The Status Quo Answer

• Do the best with the resources you have.
• Justify that you did what you could.
• Call it a day.

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That is

• Be as efficient as you can be
• With the (scarce) resources available to you.

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Common Sense or Fallacy?

• Dollars are perennially tight.
• Efficiency is mandated.

• Inadequate resources mean ineffectiveness.
• We dont achieve our mission.
• The institution suffers.
• The state suffers.

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But what is the alternative?

• Resource creation
• Alleviates scarcity
• May improve effectiveness
• Takes us away from low-hanging fruit

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Can faculty be the resource?

• They are professionals in the knowledge-disseminat
  ion and knowledge-creation business.
• And the administrators have a scarcity of
  knowledge about improving university
  sustainability.

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Can faculty be the resource?

• They are the teachers with the responsibility to
  prepare their students for successful careers.
• They are the developers of new knowledge the
  society requires.

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Can faculty be the resource?

• Department curricula include advanced courses,
  capstone seminars and graduate seminars where
  appropriate goals include
• Synthesizing ones major
• Demonstrating skills
• Applying ones knowledge to real-world problems

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Faculty can guide students

• To collect
• To develop
• To synthesize
• To present

• Desired information

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Faculty can guide students

• To collect
• To develop
• To synthesize
• To present
• Desired Information

• For clients
• With real projects
• On the cutting edge
• Ready to share
• Ready to consult
• Often with internships
• And paths to post-graduation jobs

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What is the model?

• Wind Power
• A Clean, Renewable Energy Source in Northwest Ohio

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What is the prospect?

• What is a model sustainable campus parking lot?
• How can BGSU make the purchase of 30
  post-consumer recycled paper feasible?
• What is a model bike path for the campus?

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What is the prospect?

• How can the campus be educated to the value of
  its recycling program?
• In what campus maintenance settings can internal
  combustion engines be replaced with cleaner power
  sources?

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And then what?

• What can BGSU learn from
• University of Cincinnatis experience with green
  buildings
• Cleveland Green Building Councils experience of
  construction waste reduction

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And then what?

• More projects line up
• As students move in and out of campus jobs,
• And the nature of the work evolves,
• How will BGSU sustain the value of the job
  descriptions?

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And then what?

• More projects line up
• How can the spaces between university buildings,
• Remind students and faculty
• Of the character and value of the work undertaken
  in various areas of the campus?

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For example

• If sustainable parking lots dont have the look
  of a conventional parking lot,
• Could a parking lot in the arts area of the
  campus be the home of an arts installation bought
  with arts faculty grant money?

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The need for environmental education increases

• Educating students
• To the purpose and value of campus spaces
• To be aware of the inter-dependences that mark
  sustainable environments
• To learn the cues that guide sustainable behavior
• To blur the boundary between respect for the
  campus environment and respect for the value of
  ones higher education
• To learn how to evaluate claims of sustainability
• To appreciate ones role as citizen of a
  sustainable natural and social system

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The need for environmental education increases

• Educating faculty
• To the educational opportunities that campus
  sustainability presents
• To the implicit research opportunities
• To how sustainability projects make BGSU a better
  community member
• Facilitating local businesses as contractors to
  the university
• Preparing students for promising internships and
  careers
• Encouraging local businesses to think of faculty
  for RD leadership

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The need for environmental education increases

• Educating staff
• Good staff work does not simply create a setting
  for the educational mission of the university
• Good staff work provides questions for
  investigation
• Well designed investigations
• Educate students
• Improve the ability of staff to create a setting
  for the universitys educational mission

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The need for environmental education increases

• Educating the community
• To the Universitys commitment to sustainability
  on the campus
• To the sustainability offerings from the
  University to the community
• Better prepared students
• Stronger job opportunities
• More competitive businesses
• Stronger Ohio tax base

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Sustainability for Ohio

• Hiring faculty prepared for
• Sustaining a climate of opportunity for graduates
• Regenerating profitable business directions for
  Ohio industry

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Sustainability for Ohio

• The Broader role of Education
• If Owens can offer a course to certify solar
  installers, it can offer a course for recycling
  construction waste
• FFA at BGHS can learn farm wind prospects
  facilitated at a municipal park

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Energy is KEY

• The Wind Resource in Ohio
• The renewable energy tax credit is back
• ( over .018 kwh for 10 years)
• The cost to BGMU of electricity produced by its
  wind turbines is under .042 kwh to yield a
  payback in 12 years
• (including warranty and maintenance)

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Energy is KEY

• With the renewable energy tax credit,
• The cost is under
• .024 kwh

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Energy is KEY

• And such clean energy can help urban Ohio
  counties escape
• non-compliance with
• EPA Clean Air standards

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Energy is KEY

• My conclusion
• Sustainable wind energy is key
• to a prosperous, sustainable OHIO

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Energy is KEY

• Second Ohio Wind ConferenceNovember 9,
  10Sheraton Cleveland City Centre Hotel
• Downtown Cleveland

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The Heart of the Seminar

• Team faculty looking to teach project-based
  courses
• with
• Administrators needing data to undertake
  projects that improve university campus
  sustainability

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The Heart of the Seminar

• And you get
• First-rate learning opportunities
• Professional consultant reports
• Research opportunities for faculty
• Support for Ohio businesses

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What you can do

• Develop a network of shared information and
  practices
• Mandate sustainability
• Encourage administrative-faculty collaboration
  (even across institutions)
• Characterize and model appropriate standards of
  sustainability