MCC Goes Green: Being "Green" Smart

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MCC Goes GreenBeing "Green" Smart

• Fred Hills
• Joy Evans
• Bill Matta
• Professional Development Day

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The Issue

• Sustainability a hot topic across Higher
  Education
• However, curriculum the area least addressed to
  date in comprehensive sustainability initiatives
  across college campuses
• Various individuals addressing issue but not
  consistent across campus
• Session seeks to share what is being done and
  develop ideas on how to expand curriculum to
  address sustainability issues

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Background

• In June 2007, Dr. Michaelis signed the American
  College University Presidents Climate
  Commitment.
• Pledge for MCC to become climate neutral
• Sustainability Committee created in January 2008
• promote sustainability practices across campus
  and the community
• MCC Committed to moving the campus towards
  becoming more eco friendly and climate neutral

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Sustainability Initiatives on MCC

• LEEDs project design in new buildings
• Recycling initiative
• Use of alternative energy to provide MCC a
  percent of power requirements
• Move to Green Energy sources
• Reduce unnecessary waste and travel
• Bicycles for students and staff/faculty
• Adding hybrid vehicles to MCC vehicle pool
• Move to recycled paper for printing

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What about the Curriculum?

• Teaching and promoting sustainability principles
  and practices across the campus and the community

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Big Questions for Educators

• Why be Green?
• Global Warming
• Economically Makes Sense
• Global Dynamics
• Stewardship
• What objectives/behavior do we seek to achieve?
• How to make it real to students, faculty, staff,
  administrators and the community?

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Integrating Green into the Curriculum

• Purpose teach and encourage students, faculty,
  staff, administrators and community to be aware
  of the issues and be more eco friendly
• Curriculum includes in class and extracurricular
  activities

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Ongoing InitiativesIn Class

• Environmental Science Class Initiatives
• Economics of Green by Business
• Recycling initiatives for IT equipment in CIS
• Others??

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Ongoing Initiatives Better Stewardship in the
Classroom

• Limit copying and encourage digital formats
• Double sided printing
• Incorporate sustainability concerns in textbook
  selection
• Increased use of Blackboard and the Internet in
  supplementing class materials
• Others???

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Ongoing InitiativesExtracurricular

• PTK service theme Keep America Beautiful
• Tartans commitment to cleaning College Drive
• Campus continuing participation in Keep Waco
  Beautiful
• Others?

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Why be Green?Global Warming

• Issues
• Scientific concerns
• Social concerns
• Ethical concerns
• Curricular interests
• Scientific pros and cons in the debate
• Historical background to the issues
• Political implications of Global Warming debate

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Why be Green?Economics

• Issues
• Limited resources
• Better utilization of our resources
• Goodwill benefits
• Curricular opportunities
• Economics of Green
• Cost/benefit analysis of recycling over new
• The Green Economy
• Calculating costs and process flows
• Green Accounting

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Why be Green?Stewardship

• Issues
• Just makes sense
• Better utilization of what we have
• Moving from consuming to sharing with others
• Curricular Opportunities
• Social/Psychological impact of eco-stewardship
• Ethical dimension of Stewardship
• Political dimensions of Stewardship
• Theological dimensions of Stewardship

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Ideas for Green Assignments

• Eco projects
• Research paper on Green topic
• History of recycling
• Is Global Warming a Concern?
• Case Studies
• Develop a cost/benefit analysis in using recycled
  goods over new resources

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Ideas for Green Assignments

• Presentations
• Debate on the Pros and Cons of going Green
• Is Global Warming an issue?
• Does recycling help?
• Ideas Generation

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Community Activities

• Service Learning Projects
• Learning Communities
• Integrating Distance Learning Community
• Community Outreach

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Green Resources for Teaching

• Websites
• MCCs Sustainability Web Site
• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability
  in HE - http//www.aashe.org/
• Blogs
• Wiki
• Library
• Others?

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MCCs Sustainability Committee

• Sid Ross
• Theresa Sparks
• Elaine Alexander
• Kristy Cook

• Fred Hills
• Bill Matta
• Joy Evans
• Paul Hoffman