Draft Proposal to Cal Poly Academic Senate

in support of signing the Talloires Declaration

Steven Marx

February 17, 2003

Introduction

The Talloires Declaration [pronounced “Tal-wahr”] is a ten-point statement of University commitment to promoting Sustainability signed by more than 300 college presidents worldwide. [see Appendix 1 complete text]

In spring 2002, a delegation from the Cal Poly Campus Sustainability Initiative (CSI) consisting of ASI president Angie Hacker, Associate Provost Linda Dalton and Professor Steven Marx met with President Warren Baker to encourage him to sign the Declaration. Dr. Baker stated his willingness to do so, but only with the support of the Faculty Senate, whose agreement would be required on two of the ten provisions of the Declaration dealing with curriculum and instruction.

The text of these provisions is as follows:

We… agree to take the following actions….

3. Educate for Environmentally Responsible Citizenship

Establish programs to produce expertise in environmental management, sustainable economic development, population, and related fields to ensure that all university graduates are environmentally literate and have the awareness and understanding to be ecologically responsible citizens.

4. Foster Environmental Literacy For All

Create programs to develop the capability of university faculty to teach environmental literacy to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

A committee of the faculty was formed to weigh the costs and benefits of such support. After extensive research and discussion, the committee has agreed that a strong argument can be made for Senate support of these two provisions and that therefore a resolution should be introduced backing them and urging President Baker to go forward with signing the Talloires Declaration.

This proposal will 1) provide a brief description of the growing movement known as “Higher Education for Sustainable Development” or “Greening the Campus,” 2) offer reasons why signing the Talloires Declaration is an appropriate step for Cal Poly at the present time, 3) answer objections to this step, and 4) suggest a program of follow-up action once the step has been taken.

1

Though the meaning of the term remains problematic, the most popular definition of “Sustainability” was formulated by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987: "sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Amory Lovins equates sustainability with awareness that "the environment is not a minor factor in production but ‘an envelop containing, provisioning and sustaining the entire economy.’"(Natural Capitalism, p.9)

Universities worldwide play a crucial role in issues of Sustainability—they are either part of the problem or of the solution. As agents of production and dissemination of knowledge, Universities determine the future direction of society. As powerful stewards and consumers of resources, their practice creates immediate environmental consequences and also teaches by example.

University scholars and administrators are organizing to act upon this responsibility in organizations like “Education for Sustainability,” “Campus Ecology,” and “University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.” They sponsor websites, publications, conferences and consulting services, and they receive support from governments, foundations, private industry and individual and institutional memberships.

The Talloires Declaration is one means to strengthen the Campus Sustainability movement, at individual Universities and on the national and international level. Drafted at a 1990 meeting under the auspices of Tufts University in Talloires France, it pledges the institution to a ten-point program of reform. The signatory institutions include Brown, Tufts, William and Mary, Occidental, Rice, Colorado State, Ball State, Universities of Maryland, Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin and California at Santa Barbara.

2

Becoming a signatory to the Talloires Declaration would place Cal Poly on record as institutionally committed to promoting Sustainability. This gesture would be appropriate at the present time for a number of reasons.

Sustainability should be highlighted as mission of this University both to benefit society and to attract the most talented and responsible students and faculty. As a Polytechnic institution with notable programs in Agriculture, Engineering, Architecture among others, sustainability is our special business. As opposed to the strictly theoretical, our emphasis is on applied research and education, where issues of efficient resource use, conservation, and waste reduction are central.

Cal Poly is the beneficiary of an endowment of ten thousand acres of resource-rich land which it uses for instructional and research purposes. The university needs to gather and devote significant resources to stewardship and management of its land. Success in this endeavor will put it into a position to collaborate with local governments and conservation organizations to acquire and manage more land.

Becoming a signatory to the Talloires Declaration will highlight, link and strengthen many existing instructional and administrative programs already committed to sustainable development at Cal Poly. These range from the College of Architecture’s Renewable Energy Institute and the student-initiated Campus Sustainability Initiative to the College of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium, Facilities’ energy conservation and recycling efforts, and the Master Plan Implementation program. To those with competing priorities—e.g. indiscriminate use of poisons, erosion-causing grading practices, excessive paper consumption--becoming a signatory will send the message that they are not conforming to institutional standards.

3

Some objections have been raised to the University’s becoming a signatory to the Talloires Declaration in general, and specifically to the two provisions referred to the Academic Senate.

Committee members have reported anecdotal evidence from one institution—Virginia Tech—that signatory status has brought about no programmatic or instructional change and has lapsed with the succession of a new President. This negative impression is confirmed by some research showing that signing the Declaration has not necessarily led to effective follow-up action. However, the same research indicates in places like Ball State, Georgia Tech, and Santa Clara Universities that signing has been followed by major curriculum reform, research initiatives and facilities maintenance upgrades accompanied by extensive reporting and publicity.

Provost Paul Zingg has raised some specific questions that this proposal to the Academic Senate needs to address:

Since what you're proposing involves a significant amount of time and energy by quite a few very busy people, it would be helpful to understand why this initiative, as opposed to others.

In other words, is this the best use of time and energy in order to accomplish a certain set of objectives? And what are those objectives, what other activities can be brought to bear on them, and how does this particular initiative address them better than others?

How, e.g., is the TD supported by the University Master Plan, University Mission, strategic plans of the colleges, etc.? Where does this fit among University priorities? What are the resource implications? Especially facing a likely significant State budget reduction next year, what doesn't get supported/funded so that this does?

In response, one could maintain that signing the Talloires Declaration is means rather than end, first rather than final step in the larger endeavor to make Cal Poly a Green Campus, and that it is the least energy, time and resource consuming of alternatives mentioned below.

For Cal Poly to become a signatory, all that is required is that the President sign a copy of the declaration and send it to the Secretariat of University Leaders for A Sustainable Future. Since the President has agreed to do so with an Academic Senate Resolution supporting provisions 3 and 4, the labor here involves no more than getting Senate approval, which members of this committee have agreed to provide. Cal Poly is already in minimal compliance with all the provisions of the Declaration, though much remains to be done to strengthen and monitor progress in that compliance. For provisions 3 and 4, existing instructional programs such as those in our Natural Resource Management Department, the Cal Poly Land Project, the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium, and the Renewable Energy Institute already fulfill the criteria and will be widely publicized as a result of our mention of them. Enriching our environmental education curriculum is an ongoing project that need not be completed to fulfill these provisions.

Wynn Calder, associate director of USLF, confirms this in a recent message:

… these principles need not be taken to the letter.  They are interpretable, depending on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities at your institution.  In addition, the TD is non-binding and voluntary.  Basically, by signing the TD, a university is committing itself to incorporating sustainability into its various activities to the extent that it can.  Although we encourage institutions to develop an implementation plan when they sign, ULSF in no way polices the school's actions after signing.  The only people holding the institution accountable are those within the university who have accepted that responsibility.  At ULSF, we strive to support your efforts and provide you with information and materials to implement the TD as you see fit.

Back to principles 3 and 4: By signing the TD, we feel you are saying that you will strive to ensure that "all university graduates are environmentally literate."  …This presents a future possibility.  The only schools that should NOT be signing the TD are those that do nothing, or that make virtually no effort to live up these goals.  As noted above, an implementation plan is critical, and we should discuss that in time.

There is no fee for becoming a signatory to the Talloires Declaration.

The Declaration reinforces both the underlying principles of the University Master Plan and its specific provisions. The strong environmental outlook of the Plan, still not well enough known in the University and in the Community, would be emphasized in all publicity about Talloires.

The University’s Mission statement makes no mention of Sustainability. It should be updated to do so. Becoming a signatory to Talloires could give impetus to such a change. The same might apply to the Mission Statements of the Colleges. Generating these discussions is an illustration of one costless benefit of this process.

If the pain of becoming a signatory is minimal, so might be the gain--since it requires neither resources, nor monitoring nor change from what Cal Poly is doing. However, there is a good chance that signing is a step in the right direction. Getting Senate approval and the President’s signature is a concrete achievement for environmentalists at Poly. It will inspire more action and attract more adherents.

Publicity about the signing, hopefully at an occasion when a strong outside speaker like David Orr, author of Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment and the Human Prospect is invited, would make sustainability advocates at Poly gain a stronger voice, especially in situations where environmental standards are violated.

4

There is no problem in locating people at Cal Poly who agree with the principles of the Talloires Declaration and would like to Green the Campus. The problem is to get them organized and supported to bring about long-term change. Becoming signatories will lead to some next steps requiring more commitment and resources, a few of which can be suggested here:

Create committees to move forward with long term and short term action programs to implement each of the provisions of the Declaration—as has been done at Ball State University.

Establish contacts with nearby institutions that have moved beyond us in Sustainability programs, such as the Bren School at UCSB and the Environmental Studies Institute at the University of Santa Clara.

Find ways to assure that all new building at Cal Poly conforms to LEED standards

Encourage student projects to focus on environmental problems, activities and reforms at Cal Poly.

Set specific targets that can be recognized by organizations like Campus Ecology and aim for international recognition for success in reaching them.

Send university representatives on a regular basis to Sustainable Education conferences—e.g. http://www.bsu.edu/provost/ceres/greening/

Join University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (USLF)[http://www.ulsf.org/about.html] This is the Secretariat for the Talloires Declaration, with a full time staff of six, housed in Washington, D.C. A $375.- yearly membership provides multiple subscriptions to their biannual newsletter, “The Declaration,” their refereed “International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education,” books they publish, like one titled Stumbling Toward Sustainability,” questionnaires, monitoring guides and consulting with experts who visit the campus.

Join the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology [http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/index.cfm], which offers

· Case studies and valuable information to help you avoid "reinventing the wheel."

· Networking with other campus greening practitioners.

· Guidance and assistance on project design.

· Training on campus sustainability issues.

· Documentation and recognition of the work you have done on your campus.

· Information on campus greening issues ranging from purchasing to transportation.

Appendix

Talloires Declaration

Universities have a major role in the education, research, policy formation, and information exchange necessary to make these goals possible. Thus, university leaders must initiate and support mobilization of internal and external resources so that their institutions respond to this urgent challenge.

We, therefore, agree to take the following actions:

1. Increase Awareness of Environmentally Sustainable Development

Use every opportunity to raise public, government, industry, foundation, and university awareness by openly addressing the urgent need to move toward an environmentally sustainable future.

2. Create an Institutional Culture of Sustainability

Encourage all universities to engage in education, research, policy formation, and information exchange on population, environment, and development to move toward global sustainability.

3. Educate for Environmentally Responsible Citizenship

Establish programs to produce expertise in environmental management, sustainable economic development, population, and related fields to ensure that all university graduates are environmentally literate and have the awareness and understanding to be ecologically responsible citizens.

4. Foster Environmental Literacy For All

Create programs to develop the capability of university faculty to teach environmental literacy to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

5. Practice Institutional Ecology

Set an example of environmental responsibility by establishing institutional ecology policies and practices of resource conservation, recycling, waste reduction, and environmentally sound operations.

6. Involve All Stakeholders

Encourage involvement of government, foundations, and industry in supporting interdisciplinary research, education, policy formation, and information exchange in environmentally sustainable development. Expand work with community and nongovernmental organizations to assist in finding solutions to environmental problems.

7. Collaborate for Interdisciplinary Approaches

Convene university faculty and administrators with environmental practitioners to develop interdisciplinary approaches to curricula, research initiatives, operations, and outreach activities that support an environmentally sustainable future.

8. Enhance Capacity of Primary and Secondary Schools

Establish partnerships with primary and secondary schools to help develop the capacity for interdisciplinary teaching about population, environment, and sustainable development.

9. Broaden Service and Outreach Nationally and Internationally

Work with national and international organizations to promote a worldwide university effort toward a sustainable future.

10. Maintain the Movement

Establish a Secretariat and a steering committee to continue this momentum, and to inform and support each other's efforts in carrying out this declaration.