UM President Mary Sue Coleman declares University Commitment to Sustainability

"We will be aggressive and relentless.
As a campus, a community, and a planet,
there is no other approach to take.

I want the message to be clear:
Sustainability defines the
University of Michigan."

- Mary Sue Coleman,
University of Michigan President

Source: http://sustainability.umich.edu/news/going-green-staying-blue-sustainability-michigan

A few observations about her speech:

1) Coleman seems to view sustainability as something specific to environmental programs only. This view ought to be updated--clearly social justice and economic issues are integral to our relationship with the world we live on. Reading "The Death of Environmentalism" might be a good way to start out: http://thebreakthrough.org/PDF/Death_of_Environmentalism.pdf

Comprehensive sustainability in Institutions of Higher Education like the University of Michigan can provide a coherent focus for educational programs to address real world problems on the local and global level, while encouraging people to understand the interconnections between the scales. Advancing sustainability with exclusive focus on environment denies the opportunity for better insight to complex issues--how does one implement solutions justly to all communities concerned (social)? What is the most prudent course of action (economics) for doing so?

2) For those wondering, her hesitation to sign the President's Climate Change Commitment in the past seems to arise solely from legal concerns:

"After seeking expert counsel, we have concluded we cannot set a date by which we will achieve carbon neutrality. There is simply no viable way forward at this time to achieve such a feat, and I will not place an undue burden on the backs of future presidents of this great institution."

It's interesting to see that some of the legal pushback regarding accelerated anthropocentric climate change was carefully considered here. Perhaps I'll have more substantial comment about this later, but I wonder what recent climate change litigation (perhaps the communities bringing suit to major petrol industries?) prompted this statement.

3) A friend said: "Wow! So what does that mean for Dearborn? She talked a lot about Ann Arbor." Maybe she forgot about Dearborn and Flint; more likely, however, I suspect she doesn't have a good feel for what's going on in the way of sustainability at these other campuses.

Either that or she relied almost exclusively on the results from the report for the Ann Arbor campus "integrated assessment" for her speech.

In any case, this is a good opportunity for all of our campuses to take the lead and demonstrate what comprehensive sustainability at a University ought to be about. It would be nice if the three major campuses got together for a meeting of the minds between interested students, faculty, and staff finally.

Juliana Goodlaw-Morris of the National Wildlife Federation offered her support to help coordinate or moderate between the three campuses so we can flesh out a comprehensive framework for sustainability as The University of Michigan, but also so as to inform our particular needs at our specific geographical locations (Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Flint).

We've invited several key individuals from U of M Ann Arbor and U of M Flint to join us at Campus Sustainability Festival and hope that they'll join us there. We'll be as politely relentless and aggressive about getting something coherent going (as aggressive and relentless as civil students can be at least). We just need some reciprocal lovin' to come from them in the form of a "yes, let's do something together".

As an aside, I've got mixed feelings about that "aggressive and relentless" statement from President Coleman--it sounds more like an angry battle cry than anything else. In any case, it certainly was fun to use in this post!


Edit [Nov. 5 2011]:  I just found a separate article outlining additional goals for "The University", which brings forth additional questions and suggestions:

How do they define "The University"?

• Protect the Huron River through best-in-class storm water control strategies and by applying 40 percent fewer chemicals to campus landscapes, and ensure that at least 30 percent of stormwater runoff does not flow into the Huron River.

Why wasn't the Rouge River watershed considered for better storm water control strategies?  The native garden/bioswale project is an excellent fit for meeting or surpassing the goal of a 40% reduction in chemical applications and 30% stormwater runoff reduction.

• Promote sustainable foods while supporting more Michigan farmers and producers. From the residence halls to the unions and hospitals, the university is introducing new purchasing guidelines and making a commitment that at least 20 percent of U-M food comes from local and sustainable sources.

How does this affect our campus?  Do these policies apply to all UM campuses?  Where can we access these purchasing guidelines?  When does this take effect, and how does our contract with Aramark get adjusted?