To set up the "clip," our student, "Susie," is getting ready to go to her first class of the day:
Sustainability 101
"Susie doesn't have to go far to get to her first class, which is in one of the 25-person classrooms in the SRH (Sustainable Residence Hall). Her first class of the day is Sustainability 101, an introductory course on the principles of sustainability and the idea of working toward the triple bottom line in all aspects of life. In the class there are mostly freshmen with a few upperclassmen. As the course is required of all students per the university's Breadth of Knowledge requirement, students of all different majors are in Susie's class.
The class is taught by an Environmental Studies faculty member and also is a required course for the Sustainability Certificate, which is available to any undergraduate student. Today in class the students are having a discussion on the the principle of buying local goods versus those from other parts of the country or world.
On its face, the principle of buying locally produced items is reasonably a good one, but after some investigation, it might not always be the best option, the students learned in class. For example, it would be better to buy organic, free-range chicken that was shipped 100 miles to Cincinnati versus chicken that ate feed laced with herbicides and pesticides, was treated poorly (eg. locked up in a tiny coup) and was only shipped 25 miles to Cincinnati. The discussion gives Susie and her fellow students some good insights into determining the best choice to make when faced with such a dilemma."
So what do you think? Are we totally missing the mark or does this sound OK? Seriously, tell us! Because what we put in this document is going to influence the decisions of a bunch of Civil Engineering seniors on their capstone project this year.
Hope everyone enjoys the weekend and that you let us know what you think of "Sustainability 101"--
--Jim
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