George Washington University Reinvigorates Sustainability Conscientiousness

by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) Coinciding with Earth Week, The George Washington University announced the launch of its new Sustainability Minor, a preview of degree and graduate programs to come; and, hosted “GW Moving the Planet Forward: An Innovation Summit,” a symposium highlighting solutions to power/heat challenges of a changing planet.

For me, the best part of the summit was the session featuring the mayors of Washington, DC; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Huntsville, Alabama. It was encouraging to hear these cities implementing ideas that I proposed in my campaign for Alderman of a small city in Maryland in 2005 and that Advanced Biofuels USA board member, Bob Kozak, urged in his campaign for Congress in this same area the next year. The panelists all affirmed that incorporating sustainability into all aspects of government decision-making results in improved economics that override any short-term initial investment.

For example, Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati described the financial and PR success of solar panels installed over the parking lots of the local zoo, not only providing power for the zoo operations, but earning their keep from sales to the grid; and pleasing zoo visitors by shading their cars.

Mayor Mallory also talked about Cincinnati’s court-ordered improvements to separate runoff from sewage. He didn’t mention that the grease obtained from cleaning up that waste water was to be used to produce biodiesel. Again, investment in sustainability that includes an element of payback.

A theme that was repeated throughout the summit was the importance of education. Again, Advanced Biofuels USA has been on that bandwagon for more than four years; it's core to our mission. As the mayor of Huntsville said over and over, education and training in practices and values of sustainability has to begin in elementary school. The Green Team concept in his city extends from elementary students to all parts of society. It begins with teaching children not to litter, to pick up trash, to turn off lights to conserve use of water and to generally develop sensitivity to better stewardship of resources. This not only provides a foundation for understanding the value of investment in sustainable infrastructure and conscientious decision-making, but, as echoed by moderator and Planet Forward creator Frank Sesno, it becomes shared with parents and other family members.

GWU president Steven Knapp’s participation on this panel and through the entire event showed his commitment to improving sustainability throughout the GWU community as do his plans to have all new construction LEED certified, to use multimedia events such as this summit to educate and engage an extended community; and to encourage students, whom he sees as sustainability “missionaries” to bring him ideas to expand sustainability on campus and in the world.

The later was exemplified by a group of GW students who won the Clinton Global Initiative University Challenge with their “Panda Cycles” made from bamboo.

Vincent Gray, Washington, DC’s mayor, has an easier time than most with the live/work/play idea. The Office of Planning oversees his 9-area plan (Built Environment, Waterways, Food, Waste Recycling, Transportation, Green Economy, Government, etc.) to avoid the “silos” problem which also got extensive attention at the summit. Panelists in all sessions remarked that sustainability can’t be pigeonholed as just an environmental issue, or just a transportation issue, or just an energy issue, not just a food issue. It encompasses all those and more. Implementation requires cutting across all disciplines of government.

That concept also drives the new Sustainability Minor launched this week at GWU. Intentionally not a new “school” and not housed with an existing school (law, engineering, arts & sciences, international affairs, etc.) the Sustainability program lives in the Provost’s Office of Sustainability, reinforcing the value of academic pursuits' impact on practical implementation and visa versa. In addition to a foundational course, students must take courses in three different tracks: Environment/Earth Systems; Society and Sustainability; and Policy, Organization and Leadership. Recognizing that cross-cutting nature of work with sustainability projects, Academic Program Director for Sustainability, Lisa Benton-Short encourages those who have majors in one of the tracked areas to choose to focus on the other areas to enhance the value of this multidisciplinary minor.

Dr. Debra Rowe, President of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, presented one of the challenges of providing relevant education at all levels from K-12 through community colleges and academic institutions. Teaching skills and knowledge for work in “green jobs,” means nothing if those jobs aren’t there. For example, knowing how to install solar panels has no value if people are not installing them. Panels also discussed the related issue of jobs in America. Even if policies, incentives and social attitudes supported the installation of solar panels or windmills, unless the components are manufactured here, training for those component manufacturing jobs—from research, development, engineering and project management to installation and operations—is useless.

Again illustrating the importance of all aspects of society working together toward common goals.

Other discussions at this event concentrated on ideas related to creating a “smart grid” as a means to improve conservation of energy use and on corporate policies and practices in this regard. And on discussion of questions such as “How can we be a catalyst for innovation?” and on whether the current low price of natural gas due to fracking extraction will prove a “bust” to investment in renewables (“Why should we put any tax or policy incentives to support renewable if natural gas is so inexpensive?” For a biofuels-based response to this question, see Biofuels Digest's article: Falling natural gas prices and the bio-based opportunity)

In that regard, Reed Hundt, CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital illustrated the value of consensus on energy policy issues, consensus that clearly does not currently exist. His questions, drawn from the above discussions were, “If inexpensive natural gas is such a “blessing for the United States,” why not keep it in the US?” Or, he wondered, will the pressure of high prices paid in the EU and Asia lead to putting government-supported and private investment into creating export infrastructures resulting in increasing prices in the US as the market becomes global as it is for oil?

Many want domestic energy feedstocks to be exploited now; but it is not clear if the intent is to create policies and incentives to use them here; or to make them available to the broader global markets.

One speaker wondered if we were living in a “post-policy” world. If so, it makes it difficult for professionals and students alike to focus on solutions to our sustainability challenges because although they may solve a pressing problem; that economic element of the sustainability triad (economic, environmental and social) may prove the default factor determining the chances for success and the ability to effect the environmental and social values of the solution.

The summit and other Sustainability efforts at GWU and elsewhere this Earth Day Week are today’s steps in the direction of tomorrow. Let us hope that we are creating the clearer heads that we need to prevail if we want to avoid a Mad Max future of struggle for essentials and instead enjoy a truly sustainable renewable future. Photos by J.Ivancic