Sustainability is the ability to provide for the needs of the world's current population without damaging the ability of future generations to provide for themselves. When a process is sustainable, it can be carried out over and over without negative environmental effects or impossibly high costs to anyone involved. In order to achieve these goals of clean water or leaving a valuable life for future generations, the University of Texas is implementing these ideas through a number of centers, academic units, and student groups.

ESI, CEC Lead Session at National Campus Sustainability Conference

Sustainability offices, a rarity even ten years ago, can now be found in campuses of all sizes and stripes. Whether starting under the radar in abandoned offices or endowed with large revolving loan funds, it seems that sustainability offices and initiatives are beginning to be understood as an important part of campuses as they lead the way to a greener future. 

Seven UT-Austin staff and students, representing the Campus Environmental Center (CEC) and the Environmental Science Institute (ESI) traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina in November to attend the biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), held November 9-11, 2008. The Longhorns joined nearly 2000 others representing hundreds of campuses from North America, Canada, and as far away as Israel. More than 300 talks focused on leading efforts and best practices such as ride share programs, sustainability curricula, renewable energy commitments, green architectural design and campus ecology efforts. While attendance at conferences has generally been on the decline, this AASHE conference was sold out and filled the Raleigh Convention Center to capacity, attesting to the popularity of campus sustainability efforts.

ESI Program Coordinators Thais Perkins and Rob Borowski led a session involving Texas universities to begin forming a statewide sustainability alliance. Jacob Bintliff, a student in the Bridging Disciplines- Environment program, gave a presentation about the energy conservation activities in the UGS303 Sustaining a Planet signature course in a session about service learning.

ESI’s activities at this seminal event are part of its program on improving campus energy conservation, supported by the Texas State Energy Conservation Office.