Andrea, AASHE’s Newest Staff Member, Introduces Herself
posted by Andrea Webster on September 26th, 2007 Go to comments
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Hello all you faithful bloggers. My name is Andrea Webster and I am the latest addition to the AASHE staff. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to all of you. In order to cover the bases, here is my bio that was recently posted on the AASHE website: http://www.aashe.net/about/andrea.php
The last sentence in my bio states that I currently live in Lexington, Kentucky. To tell you all the truth, I don’t actually live in Lexington as of yet. I am currently staying with a friend in Frankfort, Kentucky. (And by the way, the house in which I am temporarily staying is super eco-cool…but more on that to come). However, I have spent the last month endlessly searching for a house with a six month lease, and, from the looks of it, I will have a Lexington home rather soon.
I promise you all that everything else in my bio is true, including the fact that I recently graduated from Indiana University where I was actively involved in advancing environmental causes on campus. Out of all of my environmental projects, I must choose the “Go Green Challenge” as 
my favorite. It all started from a conversation that I, as the Director of Environmental Management for the Residence Halls Association (RHA), had with the then coordinator of the Council for Environmental Stewardship (CFES). (N.B. CFES ceased existence when the Indiana University (IU) administration decided to cut its funding at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. However, IU has recently made up for this with the formation of the Sustainability Task Force.) We decided that it would be a great idea to convince Residential Programs and Services (RPS) to allow us to purchase reusable bottles that students, faculty, and staff could use in the food courts to purchase drinks at a reduced price. As it turns out, RPS was very excited about the program and supported our project 100%. Eventually, the IU student union, library, and several local restaurants agreed to the same conditions. My next step was to design a bottle. I racked my brain several times to come up with a catchy slogan, but as is usually the case, my ideas were all pretty lame. So I brought my predicament to a former RHA president who remains a very good friend of mine, John Palmer. He gave me the idea to use the “I give a sh*t” slogan (which he invented) that had previously been used on pins that were handed out during one of IU’s voting campaigns, only this time, we would attach “about the environment” to the catchy phrase. We decided to make the bottles green just for good measure. The slogan caught on very quickly and soon, bottles were all over campus reducing waste one disposable cup at a time. Last I heard, over 5,000 bottles were in circulation.
What I like most about this project is that it attracts the “environmentally conscious” and the “environmentally unconscious.” Now that’s something. As a former college student actively engaged in environmental activism on the IU campus, I witnessed many more passive projects than active projects. While both are important, I believe we need to focus on more tangible ways to protect the environment, especially on college campuses.
So those of you looking to start an environmentally fun project on your campus, try this one! Looking back, I would suggest that you make one major change to my design. Try convincing your campus’ staff to allow students to use their own reusable bottles. There is no need to use energy to create more when the majority of students already carry around their own bottles!
Now I feel as though I should return to where I started…introducing myself. Here at AASHE, I spend most of my time on membership. Anytime your campus sends in a membership application or renewal, it comes directly to me. So, if you ever have questions regarding your campus’ membership or how to create an account on our webpage, feel free to call and ask for me (or send an email if you prefer.) I am also involved in various other AASHE projects. I help out with bulletin subscriptions, coordinate Sustainability Across the Curriculum Workshop applications, and assist other staff members whenever they need a little extra support.
For now, I am signing off, but I promise there will be more. For all you French speakers out there…à la prochaine.
September 30th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Hello, Andrea, Welcome to AASHE. I read AASHE emails all the time. Thanks to AASHE’s time and efforts.
Can you give me a definition of ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY? I see several definitions. But I like to hear from you or someone in AASHE. Thanks.
Thomas Yang
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:40 am
Dear Thomas,
Thank you for your post and for your question. I am glad to hear that AASHE’s efforts are serving you well.
As our website states (http://www.aashe.org/about/about.php ), “AASHE defines sustainability in an inclusive way, encompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.”
This definition may seem convoluted, so in order to better understand the concept of sustainability, let me start with the term, “sustainable development.” The most well known definition of sustainable development was published by the Brundtland Report in 1987, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htm). However, this definition, too, remains rather ambiguous. I recently found a great article on the International Development Research Center website (http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/) entitled, “Beyond Catch Phrases: What Does Sustainable Development Really Mean?,” published in October of 1990 by David Brooks, which explains the concept quite well. In the article, Brooks points out,
A better understanding of the idea of sustainable development can be found in a report by the World Conservation Strategy, which actually predated the Brundtland Report: “The emerging paradigm of sustainable development… seeks to develop strategies and tools to respond to five broad requirements:
• Integration of conservation and development
• Satisfaction of basic human needs
• Achievement of equity and social justice
• Provision for social self-determination and cultural diversity
• Maintenance of ecological integrity
These challenges are so strongly interrelated that it is difficult, and indeed unhelpful, to arrange them in hierarchical order. Each is both a goal itself and a prerequisite to the achievement of the others.” This definition…does not rely on one specific axis for explanation. It points to the many implications and interconnected aspects inherent within the term sustainable development.” (http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/Archive/ReportsINTRA/pdfs/v18n4e/108930.pdf).
I really like the World Conservation Strategy’s (WCS) definition for the exact same reason as Brooks. Sustainability encompasses so many factors that it is hard to truly understand the concept. A society (or even a single campus!!) must respond to each of the above bullet points in order to become a truly sustainable entity.
Thomas asked how I would describe “Environmental Sustainability.” Sustainability is oftentimes described as encompassing 3 aspects: economic, social, and environmental. Environmental sustainability is only a portion of the overall goal and is, therefore, difficult to describe by itself. In fact, I would say that one cannot describe environmental sustainability without venturing into the world of the economic and social because, just as the WCS’s definition shows, they are all interconnected.
(The most interesting definition of sustainability I have ever heard came from a close friend of mine, who described it as begin equivalent to the first law of thermodynamics. You might (or might not, as in my case) recall that the first law of thermodynamics states, “The increase in the internal energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the amount of heat energy added to the system minus the work done by the system on the surroundings.” I am still trying to figure this one out. Anyone got any ideas?)
In conclusion, I believe the first step is to understand the theory of sustainability; the second step, and, in my opinion, the most difficult, is to implement a concrete plan to actually accomplish sustainability. That’s where AASHE comes in!