On Tuesday, October 24, Dr. Tony Cortese, a renowned expert on sustainability issues in higher education, gave a keynote address at a luncheon and networking session at the public library for local leaders in the sustainability movement. 

The event, co-sponsored by Cornell University, Ithaca College, and the Center for Environmental Sustainability, drew about forty people from the community, the colleges, and local organizations such as Level Green and Sustainable Tompkins.

While participants lunched on organic salad greens and vegetables prepared by Your Daily Soup and served on compostable plates, Dr. Cortese talked about how higher education needs to become a model of sustainability in its operations as well as tie sustainability into the curriculum at all levels.

As president of Second Nature, a consulting and advocacy group from Boston, he helps colleges and Universities around the country turn good intentions and ideas into strategic plans for sustainable change. 

"I can imagine a scenario where higher education institutions are modeling sustainability and graduating students who carry the movement forward," Dr. Cortese says.

Dr. Cortese explained a bit about how the economy and environmental preservation are often seen as being at odds with each other, but says that is "simply not true. The economy is part of the environment, not the other way around." In other words, once we use up the non-renewable resources, they're gone, and with it, the economy.

"Sustainability is about changing the way we think," Dr. Cortese says. "Ultimately we have to move away from the traditional idea of progress that says individual success is what matters and is what's good for society. We are all interdependent." To that end, he advocates for colleges and universities to be involved in their communities.

Dr. Cortese also stressed the importance of re-localizing goods and services in our communities. We rely too much on goods brought in from far away, and over-consumption exacerbates the worlds' worst problems, from environmental problems like global climate change and acid rain, to human rights abuses, poverty and hunger. 

Still, Dr. Cortese shared a vision of hope that we can change our habits and lifestyles. He sees changes all throughout the academic and business realms. Even Wal-Mart, he says, just announced plans to run all their stores in the world on renewable energy (to which everyone in the room responded with silence). But especially in higher education, where young people will both learn sustainable practices and be the leaders carrying them into their communities, Dr. Cortese sees a future for humankind, as long as we get involved and get active.

More info:

Second Nature http://www.secondnature.org

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education http://www.aashe.org