Education for Sustainable Development

Leading by example, making teaching and institutions more sustainable

Colleges and Universities are large institutions which use a wide range of resources, employ many people and can be an integral part of a town or city. It may be difficult to discuss the virtues of sustainability in an institution that is wasteful of paper, energy and other resources however many institutions are now becoming increasingly conserving of resource and energy use. You may have an environmental management department or service who work within the institution, for example:

• University of Bradford Ecoversity
• University of Leeds Environmental Management
• University of Hertfordshire Environment Team
• Bristol University Energy and Environmental Management Unit

Is your institution a member of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges and if so, who is your local contact? Does your institution have an environmental group or committee? Many institutions do and you may be very aware of the changes to your environment as a result of this, for example:

• recycling bins on campus;
• facilities to arrange car shares;
• schemes to encourage cycling to work alongside bike lockers and showers; and
• the introduction of fair trade tea and coffee

There are a number of national organisations working with Universities and Colleges across the UK to improve sustainability;

• Heepi (Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement) runs the Green Gown Awards which aim to recognise and reward sustainability initiatives in institutions
• Good Campus, a HEFCE funded project, has information and support on making higher education more sustainable with a focus on labs and lab work
• The EAUC (The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges) provides training for staff in sustainability issues
• People and Planet’s Go Green initiative aims to reduce the environmental impact of UK schools and universities, they also produce a league table of green universities
• In the USA organisations such as Second Nature and Greening the campus help to promote on-campus sustainability.
  

Teaching practices

There are also opportunities to make your teaching practices more sustainable.

"How to" sheets written by Alzena Wilmot and produced by the Centre give hints and tips on making your lectures, tutorials, practicals, fieldtrips and office more sustainable. They also give some ideas on introducing sustainability to students.

Towards the sustainable teaching of bioscience, a project by Dylan Gwynn-Jones, funded by the Centre aims to address the nature and method of teaching and the implementation of sustainability integrated both into the delivery and subject of teaching.

Some of the CETLS had a sustainability focus and worked within their institutions and the wider teaching and learning community to improve sustainability and raise awareness of sustainability issues, these include CSF (the Centre for Sustainable Futures) and CRUCiBLE (Centre for Human Rights Education).

More on making teaching sustainable:

• In 2003 Rolf Jucker and Steven Martin set out their vision of a sustainable University.
• Labs21UK works to improve the sustainability of the design and operation of labs across the UK
• The sustainable use of resources and waste management in chemical laboratories
  

How could I be more sustainable?

If you are interested in making your home life more sustainable there are many changes that could make a difference, you may also wish to pass on information to your students.

• Calculating your carbon footprint could give you an insight into your resource use; a number of online calculators are available: Directgov calculator produces an action plan to help reduce your carbon footprint, Carbon Footprint looks at the carbon footprint generated by energy use and travel
• The Ecological Footprint website calculates how many planets needed to sustain a particular way of life
• The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) produce information sheets with hints and tips on being more sustainable
• Recycle Now have information on recycling and composting your household waste

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