Time to Talk the Walk: GreenEd

The debate on global warming and pending climate change is all but moot now, and so we now come together in a common sense of obligation and responsibility to preserve our environment. As students attending universities, we have the unique opportunity to learn, experiment, and share ideas in fields that we otherwise would not be invested in or exposed to.

We have experienced strong leadership for the system from Chancellor Kirwan in the area of climate change initiatives. The system's Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Initiative is designed to promote leadership in the state through USM practices, programs, and policies. The Chancellor has also appointed Dr. Don Boesch, current President at UMCES, to also serve as the USM Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability.

My post today, though, focuses on the lack of knowledge and understanding that we as average students hold about energy use and consumption and its effect on environmental sustanilbility. It's taken me an entire summer rooming with an "eco-warrior" to develop a cursory understanding of these issues. If we want to make sure that we preserve our world, we must get in the hearts and minds of our generation--and that is our mission.

Our colleges and universities are on track in terms of green practices, although there is always room for improvement. I want to focus on the programs. The brightside of this story is that we have outstanding research and programs across the system from UMCES to the various programs at the degree-granting institutions. The downside is that the programs are siloed, and too many students pass through our institutions without what I call "GreenEd."

I believe that we should work to move "GreenEd" into the general education requirements of our schools--no I am not saying that we should propose more general education requirements. Yet, I believe that we should work to reform some of our general education requirements to include GreenEd. Possibly non-lab sciences or social science courses would be required to include GreenEd principles.

What do you think? Have you recieved enough information about environmental sustainability and climate change in your education? Would you like to learn more?