First Generation EFS Leadership
Ball State University’s sustainability leadership began with 1979 creation of the university-level Center for Energy Research, Education and Service (CERES) and its program of CERES Research Fellowships that triggered BSU’s first generation EFS leadership. The 1990 Green Committee set BSU’s sustainability direction and programs to promote sustainability across campus. In 1996, the first Greening of the Campus Conference was held. TheLandLab was proposed at the 2nd Green of the Campus Conference in 1997, as was the Cluster of Interdepartmental Minors in Sustainability. The Land Design Institute (LDI) was created in 2000.
Second Generation EFS Leadership
Ball State’s education for sustainability (EFS) leadership was expanded with University signing (1999) of the Talloires Declaration of universities committed to sustainability. In 2000, the Green 2 Committee (92 people from the faculty and communities served by BSU) developed the BSU Action Agenda to help lead each of the communities served by BSU to a sustainable future. The BSU Council of the Environment (COTE) was created in 2001 with representation from each unit of the university, In 2002, LDI began networking with regional LandLabs globally to better understand how to live sustainably in specific bioregions, and with regional LandLabs in the U.S. to translate the national desire for sustainability into regional agenda. In 2002, the FSEEC-LandLab (including LDI’s LandLab green technology demonstration lab and FSEEC’s environmental education building and the site’s resource balance management system was proposed on the near-campus Cooper-Skinner site.
Third Generation EFS Leadership
In this crucial time of global change, the University is in the process of taking its sustainability leadership to the next level. This includes the University’s President signing the Presidents Climate Commitmentas one of 20 university presidents committing to attain carbon neutrality. It includes Sustainability Strategic Planning whereby COTE, as part of the university’s 2007-2012 Strategic Plan works with each unit of the university to develop the sustainability dimension of the Unit’s Strategic Plan.
Work to take the University to the next level also includes the NSF-funded master planning of field sites and implementation of theResource Balance Site Management System. It includes this EPA P3 Award Project as pilot project of the LandLab and the Cooper-Skinner Resource Balance Site Management System. It includes the role that is being played by this P3 Award project in early-adopter departmental adopting of The 2010 Initiative. It includes current FSEEC discussions about the Cooper-Skinner site as a carbon-neutral design campus. It includes a current COTE motion to recommend University adoption ofThe 2030 Challenge.
BSU: Leading Society to a Sustainable Future
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