UMCP SGA: Green Ed. for all students

Last night at its weekly Senate meeting, the UMCP SGA called on the General Education Task Force to consider Green Education as part of the general education requirement for all students.  Calling the move both intellectually and ethically engaging, the bill passed 14-2-5.  Opposition found the requirement to cumbersome for students who already struggle to graduate in four years because of the large number of required courses.  The action was highlighted in the Diamondback .

I fully support the notion, and wrote about the idea on this blog in August.  Here's a clip:

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.

 Kudos to my friend Davey Rogner, the SGA Environmetal Affairs liaison for this effort and many others at UMCP this year and in past years.

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?