The average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste each year, including 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper. Thankfully, The University of Texas at Austin is a pioneer in not just in its its sustainability practices (thanks to the Campus Environmental Center and the Office of Sustainabilty), but through outlets such as the annual campus-wide sustainability symposium (co-sponsored by ESI) and the sustainable design symposium, UT, ESI bring together faculty research, student practice, and public outreach to promote a sustainable world.
UT has also compiled information about sustainabilty-related academic offerings into a single Sustainability Directory. The Directory contains nearly 1,000 records on everything from climate change to green building, and is growing every day.
 Sustainability Research
From the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources to the Center for Sustainable Development, researchers at UT are bringing science to the practice of sustainability. For example, Richard Corsi in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, has been researching the unintended chemical consquences of going green, the impact of the green products upon indoor air quality, and truly sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. To the left, Dr. Richard Corsi, whose expertise include indoor air quality and human exposure to toxins in indoor environments. For more about ESI faculty and their research, visit ESI's affiliated faculty page. |
 Sustainability Outreach
Sustainability takes many forms, and ESI is dedicated to helping the public, and in particular K-12 students and teachers, understand how to embrace sustainable practices in all aspects of their lives. For example, last spring ESI hosted a panel discussion featuring Brewster McCracken (Pecan Street Project), Michael Webber (Center for International Energy & Environmental Policy) and Karl Rabago (Austin Energy) discuss smartgrid technology and Austin's Pecan Street Project before hundreds of interested citizens, students, and teachers. To the left, the Pecan Street Project panel discussion enlightenes the crowd. For more information on the Hot Science – Cool Talks Outreach Lecture Series, visit the series' website at www.hotsciencecooltalks.org |
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Sustainability Education
Austin has long led the way on sustainable development, and at UT-Austin the School of Architecture and its Center for Sustainable Design is helping to make sure that UT-Austin is leading the way. On September 23, the Center for Sustainable Design will be hosting its second annual Sustainabilty on the UT-Austin Campus. And, of course, the fall 2011 course offerings are rife with courses that explore sustainability from a variety of perspectives, includig Sustainable Development (GRG 346C) with Dr. Rebecca Torres of the Department of Geography and the Enviroment.. For more environmental science courses being offered, visit ESI's featured courses page. |
Didn't find what you were looking for? Click here for a list of all sustainability-related articles on the ESI website, or visit the university's sustainability portal to search a comprehensive database of sustainability-related efforts at UT.
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