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Journal

2017

Sustainability

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Biology, Art And Sustainability, Linda Jolly, Jan Van Boeckel, Solveig Slåttli Oct 2017

Biology, Art And Sustainability, Linda Jolly, Jan Van Boeckel, Solveig Slåttli

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

How can the teaching of biology contribute to sustainability education? The authors of this article suggest that their approach has the potential to increase the students’ level of engagement with the natural environment. The scope of biology teaching can be widened by allowing room for more experience and art-based activities. Such a change may deepen and expand the learners’ insights in natural phenomena, which in turn might foster or enhance an attitude of care-taking for the natural environment.

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Arts-Based Education For Enchanting, Embodied And Embedded Sustainability, Hans Dieleman Oct 2017

Arts-Based Education For Enchanting, Embodied And Embedded Sustainability, Hans Dieleman

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article sketches two contrasting ideal-typical narratives of sustainability, a disenchanting and an enchanting one, and argues that current thinking in sustainability is mainly situated in the narrative of disenchantment. This narrative is based on various obsolete philosophical assumptions, and hampers the transformation process, as it distances the population from being part of this. It then sketches the narrative of enchanting sustainability and shows how this has the capacity to engage, intrigue and motivate people to be involved. It is rooted in an arts-based approach of connecting aesthetics, associative thinking, reflective practice, emotion-based working, aspiration and intentionality. The article moves …

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Best Management Practices: A Community-Based Approach To Construction And Installation, Nathanael J. La Breche Oct 2017

Best Management Practices: A Community-Based Approach To Construction And Installation, Nathanael J. La Breche

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

The Wabash River Enhancement Corporation (WREC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving both the health of the Wabash River and the surrounding terrestrial areas. In an effort to improve water quality, their urban cost-share program focuses on supporting green projects within a critical region surrounding the Great Bend of the Wabash River. In this essay, a Purdue student describes his experience as leader of a six-member group who worked with WREC to locate a suitable site within this critical area and implement a green project. They selected the Lighthouse Baptist Church, located in Lafayette, Indiana, since it was experiencing …

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University Sustainability: Assessing College Sustainability Rating Systems, James M. Albis Jul 2017

University Sustainability: Assessing College Sustainability Rating Systems, James M. Albis

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

This paper seeks to assess the three major university sustainability rating systems in the United States on their ability to drive positive sustainability outcomes. Since the mid-2000s the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Princeton Review, and the Sierra Club have attempted to rate universities on their sustainability policies and practices. A wide range of actions are rated by these organizations, from energy usage to transportation to procurement to academic offerings in the field of sustainability. This analysis shows that each organization values sustainability in different ways – for example, academics/co-curricular activities accounted for anywhere from 16%-49% …

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Nitrogen Sustainability: Impediments To Action And Communication, Eric E. Jorgensen Jan 2017

Nitrogen Sustainability: Impediments To Action And Communication, Eric E. Jorgensen

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

“Sustainability” is widely used to imply the presence of explicit consideration of environmentally friendly needs and that high societal-value is placed on those needs. However, it is abundantly clear after 30 years that talking about sustainability and achieving it are two entirely different things. The core concept underlying sustainability is that current human practices and activities be conducted so as to not degrade prospects for future generations. With nitrogen, conflicts about sustainability in-theory and sustainability in-practice are close to the surface because of nitrogen’s central role in food production and economic activity. Measures of nitrogen inputs commonly range as high …

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Eco-Cosplay: Upcycling As A Sustainable Method Of Costume Construction, Sarah West, Kathleen Smith Jan 2017

Eco-Cosplay: Upcycling As A Sustainable Method Of Costume Construction, Sarah West, Kathleen Smith

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

This research addresses sustainability in the apparel industry from the specific perspective of repurposing materials for use in costume development. Repurposing discarded materials, also referred to as upcycling, is examined as a viable approach to waste management and evaluated for its impact on sustainability in apparel and textile production, especially in relation to costume development. Current issues in sustainability in the apparel industry that are a focus for this research include waste from production as well as post-consumer waste. The project includes the design and construction of two costume pieces based on a style of costume known as cosplay. Cosplay …

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Hydropower, Oil Palm, And Sustainability, Fernando Salud '17 Jan 2017

Hydropower, Oil Palm, And Sustainability, Fernando Salud '17

EnviroLab Asia

This reflection touches on the writer’s experiences during the EnviroLab Asia Clinic trip in early 2016 to Borneo, Malaysia and Singapore. The reflection involves two events: a visit to a blockade protesting the construction of a hydroelectric dam and a meeting with the sustainability department of Wilmar, one of the world’s leading palm oil producers. The first event comments on the tension between the need for renewable energy and the destruction of the natural environment and communities due to the particular energy generation technology chosen. This event highlighted the importance of understanding the societal constraints a technology is being installed …

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What Does “Sustainable Development” Mean?, Grace Stewart '17 Jan 2017

What Does “Sustainable Development” Mean?, Grace Stewart '17

EnviroLab Asia

A recurring theme throughout the EnviroLab Asia clinic trip to Singapore and Malaysian Borneo was the concept of "sustainable development." In this essay, I explore my own thoughts and concerns regarding this phrase, such as the tension that exists between "sustainability" (the maintenance of resources) and the conventional concept of "development" (which consumes resources and can often wreak environmental destruction). I reflect on this tension within the context of environmental issues faced by the Dayak people in Sarawak--the building of the Baram Dam, and the prevalence of oil palm plantations.

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Transformation, Wallace M. Meyer Iii Jan 2017

Transformation, Wallace M. Meyer Iii

EnviroLab Asia

Prior to leaving for Claremont Colleges’ Envriolab Asia trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I was conflicted by the question: Do we have the moral authority to interfere with resource extraction and oil-palm development in SE Asia? At that time, the trip seemed imperialistic. Why should people from Malaysia, Indonesia or any developing SE Asia country listen to a group of liberal arts college faculty from a city where widespread habitat modifications have led to significant loss of native habitats, declines in biodiversity, and changes in how these ecosystems function? Many observations transformed my opinion and have inspired me to advocate …

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Institutional Responses To Pressures For Sustainable Palm Oil, Stephen Marks, Justin Lauw '18, Shivang Mehta '19, Fernando Salud '17 Jan 2017

Institutional Responses To Pressures For Sustainable Palm Oil, Stephen Marks, Justin Lauw '18, Shivang Mehta '19, Fernando Salud '17

EnviroLab Asia

As the two leading palm oil producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia have come under external pressures to limit deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions related to land use conversion for oil palm cultivation. We examine various institutional frameworks that have emerged to mediate these pressures. These frameworks can be distinguished by their geographic scope—domestic, region, and global—as well as by the nature of control—private, non-profit, and governmental. The frameworks have taken the form of sustainability certification systems from non-profit organizations or governments, corporate sustainability policies, or the setting through global or bilateral negotiations of voluntary national targets for limiting deforestation or …

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