James Madison University - Index

James Madison University - Madison Magazine - Summer 2009 - Index

DIRECTIONS
Solutions for planet Earth
Addressing sustainability through education, research and stewardship
F
ew would argue that the condition
of our planet is vital to
our future, just as few would
argue that obtaining food and
shelter and making a living
are vital to our well-being.
But scientists warn that our children and
their children will live in a world of increasing
energy needs, worsening environmental degradation
and economic instability. Thomas
Friedman in his bestselling book, Hot, Flat
and Crowded, puts this conundrum into perspective:
“How we address these interwoven
global trends will determine a lot about the
quality of life on Earth in the 21st century.”
It is impossible to understate the critical
need to act responsibly on behalf of our environment;
it is equally impossible to understate
the complexity of the problems we face and
their solutions. As an institution of higher education, I believe James
Madison University not only has a compelling moral obligation to
address these issues, but that JMU also holds the key to the solutions
Friedman and others are warning us we need.
For that reason I elevated a campus working group to the President’s
Commission on Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability in 2007.
During its yearlong investigation, the commission found that likeminded
employees and students are the norm on our campus and that
many serious environmentally conscious efforts have been under way
for quite some time. Recycling has been an integral practice for 20 years,
for instance. In many cases, our academic program and our professors’
research have been driven by the quest to do right by our planet. The
commission also found that those individual and operational sustainability
efforts could be more effective with an administrative structure.
In September, I implemented the commission’s recommendation
and announced the establishment of the Institute for Stewardship of
the Natural World to coordinate environmental stewardship efforts
across campus, advocate for priorities and challenge all members of
the university to think critically about their role in achieving the longterm
stewardship of Earth.
After a months-long search, I appointed integrated science and
technology professor Christie-Joy “C.J.” Brodrick Hartman as the
institute’s director. With degrees in transportation technology and
policy from California Polytechnic and the University of California
at Davis, her research specialty has evolved through transportation
and energy efficiency to focus on life cycle analyses that include the
environmental, economic and social impacts of vehicle design and
use. Today we are fortunate as she takes an even broader scientific
perspective on environmental stewardship and sustainability.
In addition to Dr. Hartman’s leadership, cross-curricular committees
advise the institute. The awareness committee is raising the level
of understanding among employees and students. The policies and
practices committee looks at what administrative changes will enhance
and support ongoing stewardship efforts. The operations and campus
JMU President Linwood H. Rose has established
a new institute to challenge the JMU
community to be stewards of the Earth.
accessibility committees examine the physical
plant for ways to make our facilities and transportation
more environmentally friendly.
The final committee, education and
research, is just beginning to get its arms
around the vastness of JMU’s ongoing academic
and scholarly work related to sustainability.
The committee is identifying the
majors and minors, and even individual academic
courses, with implications for the environment
and stewardship that range throughout
the academic program.
In research our faculty — often with the
participation of our undergraduates — is
monitoring, improving and reporting on the
environment for the direct and immediate
benefit of society. Research into the Shenandoah
River fish kill, the liming of mountain
streams, the JMU-RMH Collaborative, biofuel
research and innovations in water conservation are examples.
It is through education and research in particular that JMU and
other institutions of higher learning, given sufficient resources from
state funding, grants and private gifts, will continue to provide solutions
for our planet. JMU is preparing the science teachers who will
improve the quality of K-12 science education of our nation’s youth.
JMU is preparing scientists whose investigations will offer innovations
and increase society’s knowledge about Earth’s condition. JMU is preparing
future citizens and decision makers whose choices will determine
the success of sustainability and ultimately our quality of life.
It is choice, after all, that lies at the heart of sustainability. Sound
individual choices and subsequent behavior translate into responsible
stewardship, which is the distinct contribution JMU will be making
toward environmental sustainability.
This approach is more sophisticated than “being good or being
bad.” It means having the knowledge and framework to think critically
about the planet. In the lifecycle of a product or service, for
instance, what ingredients or byproducts are created? Are they toxic?
Is one less optimal choice actually better than a so-called green option?
How do we weigh alternatives? I named the Institute for Stewardship
of the Natural World with this fundamental approach in mind.
I believe that JMU will help lead the way toward a fundamental
shift in the consciousness of the modern world by fostering a sense
of responsibility for our planet and our collective well-being. In stepping
up and taking the lead, JMU follows the example of President
James Madison, himself an early advocate of environmental stewardship.
What better footprint to follow.
Linwood H. Rose
President
James Madison University
PHOTOGRAPH BY KATHY LAM
SUMMER 2009 7