Faculty start new environment project

by Logan Jaffe

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 00:48

Beginning spring semester, the University of Wisconsin will launch an initiative to promote environmental sustainability on campus, UW administrators announced Monday.

The Gaia Project is designed to help UW professors incorporate eco-friendly ideas into classrooms, according to Ann Hoyt, a professor in the School of Human Ecology.

Through "learning action groups," which could be study groups, lectures or discussions, participants are encouraged to explore ways to make their own lives and the lives of others more sustainable.

"The point of the project is to get campuswide discussion going on all types of issues related to global warming," Hoyt said. "We're hoping that in the long run we'll become a campus noted for responding to a major challenge."

UW surveyed faculty on what they believed to be the most significant environmental issues during a Faculty Senate meeting last fall. Based on their responses, the Gaia Project organized subject-based meetings like campus conservation and stability and water issues.

Sustainability 101, another meeting topic, is considered an introductory lesson in defining the meaning of sustainability and evaluating individual ways to become more environmentally efficient.

"Last fall's survey directly asked the staff what their main issues were in the classroom," Hoyt said. "It's really designed to be faculty-driven, not so they can control how the program works, but to help create this environment in the classroom and address sustainability."

According to Hoyt, the Gaia Project is similar to UW's "WE Conserve" campaign because both promote sustainable ideas and raise awareness, holding the university community accountable for the campus environment.

The project will not only partner with WE Conserve, but also the UW Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Sustain Dane, a citywide initiative to make Madison greener.

"I always see room for improvement, but I did want to see more students and faculty working together in WE conserve program," WISPIRG vice chair Gabrielle Hinahara said. "We just formed a brainstorming group to help plan a student advisory board, and we're excited about that."

Hinahara called the move "an important step" toward the university's main sustainability initiative.

There are already a number of faculty members who wish to participate in the Gaia Project, Hoyt said. Once the program kicks off, participants can make a username on the Gaia website and log in to discussion boards and access readings suggestions. There is also room to add more discussion topics to the project as they arise.

"Students have also been very interested in sustainability," Hoyt said. "We hope they will share that same excitement with us in this initiative."

According to Hinahara, the Gaia Project will help different departments incorporate sustainability, not just the Nelson Institute.

If a professor from the business school is involved with the Gaia Project, it is more likely the school will become a more sustainable community, she added.

"I definitely think that faculty care a lot about this issue, and I know that students care about sustainability so much," Hinahara said. "I think that having faculty reach out to students in that way, and incorporating sustainability into classrooms, is a good way to connect with students."