Connections to Sustainability at USU

A presentation by the USU Sustainability Council

August 2009

What’s the “Connection?”

• What is Sustainability?• Why do we care?

"We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to."- Terri Swearingen

Sustainability

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Meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

Example

• You have a trust fund of $1,000,000• It is invested in stable securities that pay

out 5% interest each year• How much money can you spend in a year

without compromising next year’s ‘income’?

• Answer: $50,000

Your annual income & spending

• Year 1: $1 Million X 0.05 = $50,000• Spend $50,000• Year 2: $1 million X 0.05 = $50,000• Spend $50,000• Year 3: $1 million X 0.05 = $50,000• Spend $50,000• Etc. ad infinitum

What if you ‘live beyond your means” spending $100,000 each year?

Year 1: $1,000,000 X 1.05 = $1,050,000

- $100,000 = $950,000

Year 2: $950,000 X 1.05 = $997,500

- $100,000 = $897,500

Year 3: $897,500 X 1.05 = $942,375

- $100,000 = $842,375

Your Trust Fund Endowment

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 1

0

Year 1

1

Year 1

2

Year 1

3

Year 1

4

Year 1

5$0

$200,000

$400,000

$600,000

$800,000

$1,000,000

Endowment Value

What if instead of money, we monitor fish in an ocean fishery?

• 1,0000,000 fish, with a population growth rate of 50,000 fish per year

• If you harvest 50,000 fish per year, how long can you harvest fish?

• Is that a ‘sustainable’ fish harvest?

• If you harvest 100,000 fish per year, what will happen?

Declining Fish Stock

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Year 1

0

Year 1

1

Year 1

2

Year 1

3

Year 1

4

Year 1

50

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

Fish Population

The ‘Flip Side’ of Using Resources

• Each year, we consume more and more resources• Each year we also produce more and more waste • Most of our waste is emitted from smokestacks,

flushed or thrown ‘away’• But where is this magical ‘Land of Away’?• The “Magical Land of Away” is somewhere on the

same planet we live on:– The air– The water (lakes, streams, oceans, aquifers)– The land

How many earths do you require? http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator

We’re going to need 5 earths if everyone in the world lived as we do…

Example: Plastic Bottles

• Recycling one can

save enough energy

to power a 60-watt

light bulb for six hours

• Only 20% are ever

recycled; the rest are

thrown ‘away’

• Americans buy 29 billion water bottles a year

• Making them takes17 million barrels of crude oil – enough to keep a million cars going for a whole year

Commoner’s 4 Laws of Ecology

1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else

2. Everything Must Go Somewhere

3. Nature Knows Best

4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

The Closing Circle

If sustainability is employed as a method of examining the relationship between environmental limits and the human values, decisions, and actions that shape the future, it will transform not only what we do on campus, but also how we think.

Daniel Sherman

What is USU Doing?

Water

Student Engagement

Recycling

Outreach

Transportation

Energy

Education Research

Wellness

www.sustainability.usu.edu

Education

• Existing and new curriculum offered– http://www.sustainability.usu.edu/htm/sustaina

bility/education/usu-courses• New faculty and programs• Future: mandatory curriculum requirements

Research

• Sustainable agriculture & ag byproducts

• Alternative, renewable energy• Carbon sequestration• Sustainable living• Landscape & environmental

planning• Urban forestry• Climate research• Nutrition• …and much more

Recycling

• Since 1990• Recycles 26% of waste stream• Join Aggie Recyclers or volunteer at the

recycling center • http://www.usu.edu/recycle/index.html

Energy & Water

• Retrofitting existing buildings• Xeriscaping and efficient irrigation• New efficient natural gas central energy

plant• Small hydro-electric system• LEED standards for new buildings• Wind power study

Transportation

• 47% of USU’s carbon footprint is from vehicle travel

• Fleet will be 20% more efficient by 2015• Aggie Blue Bikes

– FREE loaner bikes for students! http://www.usu.edu/ucc/bikes/index.htm

• Car free Fridays• Walking Club• FREE bus system on campus

Wellness

• Fitness programs• Nutrition programs• Wellness programs

• USU organic farm – become a volunteer!

http://www.usu.edu/wellness/

Make a difference at USU!• Take the “USU Sustainability Challenge”• Find your voice, participate, be heard

– Network on the “sustainability wiki”– Join a Club: ECOS, Aggie Recyclers, Organic

Farm, Sustainability Student Outreach Committee, etc.

• Consider a “green career”

“Great problems call for many small solutions.” Wendell Berry