50 Shades of Green: An Examination of Sustainability Policy on Canadian Campuses

Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, asserts that education is one of the most effective instruments that society can employ in the effort to adopt sustainable development. This paper is a first effort to explore the degree to which Canadian institutions of higher education, including colleges and universities, have embraced this assertion. It includes the first census of the existing environment/sustainability policies and/or plans of Canadian postsecondary institutions (n = 220), and an examination of the relationships between the existence of an environment/sustainability policy/plan and the presence of other sustainability initiatives on campus. The focus on policies and plans is timely because in public institutions like colleges and universities, actions and practices are determined by policy. The results reveal a number of patterns and insights, including, for example, the influence of provincial legislation on the uptake of policies.  Koichiro Matsuura, directeur général de l’UNESCO, affirme que l’éducation est l’un des instruments les plus puissants que la société puisse utiliser dans un effort de développement durable. Ce document constitue un premier effort pour explorer à quel point les institutions canadiennes d’enseignement supérieur ont mis cette affirmation en pratique. Cet effort comprend le premier recensement des politiques actuelles sur l’environnement et le développement durable, et des plans des établissements canadiens d’enseignement postsecondaire (n = 220), ainsi qu’un examen des relations entre l’existence d’un plan/d’une politique sur l’environnement/de développement durable et la présence d’autres initiatives de développement durable sur le campus. L’accent sur les politiques et les plans se fait à point nommé parce que dans les établissements publics, tels que les collèges et les universités, les actions et les pratiques sont déterminées par la politique. Les résultats révèlent un certain nombre de motifs et de découvertes incluant, par exemple, l’influence des lois provinciales sur l’adoption des politiques

Sustainability assessment and indicators: tools in a decision-making strategy for sustainable development

Recognizing the urgent need for sustainability, we argue that to move beyond the rhetoric and to actually realize sustainable development, it must be considered as a decision-making strategy. We demonstrate that sustainability assessment and sustainability indicators can be powerful decision-supporting tools that foster sustainable development by addressing three sustainability decision-making challenges: interpretation, information-structuring, and influence. Particularly, since the 1990s many substantial and often promising sustainability assessment and sustainability indicators efforts are made. However, better practices and a broader shared understanding are still required. We aim to contribute to that objective by adopting a theoretical perspective that frames SA and SI in the context of sustainable development as a decision-making strategy and that introduces both fields along several essential aspects in a structured and comparable manner

Stimulating a Canadian narrative for climate

ABSTRACT: This perspective documents current thinking around climate actions in Canada by synthesizing scholarly proposals made by Sustainable Canada Dialogues (SCD), an informal network of scholars from all 10 provinces, and by reviewing responses from civil society representatives to the scholars' proposals. Motivated by Canada's recent history of repeatedly missing its emissions reduction targets and failing to produce a coherent plan to address climate change, SCD mobilized more than 60 scholars to identify possible pathways towards a low-carbon economy and sustainable society and invited civil society to comment on the proposed solutions. This perspective illustrates a range of Canadian ideas coming from many sectors of society and a wealth of existing inspiring initiatives. Solutions discussed include climate change governance, low-carbon transition, energy production, and consumption. This process of knowledge synthesis/creation is novel and important because it provides a working model for making connections across academic fields as well as between academia and civil society. The process produces a holistic set of insights and recommendations for climate change actions and a unique model of engagement. The different voices reported here enrich the scope of possible solutions, showing that Canada is brimming with ideas, possibilities, and the will to act

Impact of Optimized Breastfeeding on the Costs of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants

To estimate risk of NEC for ELBW infants as a function of preterm formula and maternal milk (MM) intake and calculate the impact of suboptimal feeding on NEC incidence and costs

Examining the Scholarly Literature: A Bibliometric Study of Journal Articles Related to Sustainability and the Arts

The Arts shows great promise in working toward a sustainable future as they can have a significant influence on the development of cultural norms. Using bibliometrics, this study uncovers the current body of scholarly literature related to the intersection of sustainability and the Arts. The results show that while there are very few articles (n = 77) published in scholarly journals related to this area, the number of manuscripts and the number of journals publishing manuscripts related to this subject area is increasing. Further, while there is no one individual who stands out to date as a leader in this field, the results show that Australia and Canada have produced the most published articles. Finally, this study demonstrates that scholarly articles related to the Arts and sustainability are mostly being published in well-established interdisciplinary sustainability-related journals and journals associated with the field of education for sustainable development. The results of this study give a more definitive answer to the question: what scholarly literature resources currently exist on the intersection of the Arts and sustainability and offers the scholarly community a better idea of what and how those involved in this area are publishing and mobilizing knowledge regarding their work

How to walk the talk? Developing actions for sustainability in academic research

Sustainability in higher education is a growing field of reflection and practice, yet integrating sustainability and academic research (as a distinct pillar of academia - next to education, societal service and campus operations) is still considered a challenge. This study: i. Proposes a conceptualization of sustainability in academic research based on an explorative literature review; ii. Suggests a range of actions fostering sustainability in academic research based on an expert-based workshop; and iii. Critically reflects on a case study entailing a university-wide sustainability transition initiative. The proposed conceptualization of sustainability in academic research is shaped by the diversity of perspectives in the scientific literature and focuses on the degree of disciplinary integration within and outside academia. Actions to foster sustainability in academic research include actions with regard to: i. Research funding; ii. Research & career evaluation; iii. Research organization; iv. Capacity building and v. policy. The emerging range of possible actions as designed by research managers as well as the early experience of individual higher education institutions in experimenting with sustainability in academic research contribute to the translation of sustainability into a range of tangible and realistic research actions for higher education institutions

Feeling Green: Linking Experiential Learning and University Environmental Education

While university education about the environment has existed for centuries, it has been criticized for being reductionist and empirical. Subjects such as biology, chemistry and geography have instructed students with regard to the fundamental principles of nature, but have failed to promote an understanding or appreciation for the environment as a whole. Experiential learning, or learning by doing and reflecting, is an excellent tool that can facilitate this process. This paper will present a brief review of environmental education, discuss experiential learning literature and illustrate how the two can be linked. The argument underlying this conceptual paper is that environmental studies and science courses in institutions of higher education can be enhanced through experiential learning, and that such an approach to education would better prepare students to address the environmental problems of the future