Learning Resources

Abstract: Statistics demonstrate that our present land use and consumption patterns present the challenge of meeting contemporary needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Higher education has a special obligation to answer this challenge because it plays a role in producing the leaders, policy makers, and citizens of the world, and it uses a large share of resources to do so. To meet this challenge, sustainable practices and paradigms must permeate colleges and universities, from curricula to physical plant to leadership and institutional policies. This overview of the articles in this theme issue discusses methods for incorporating sustainability into higher education across a wide array of institutional realms.

Abstract: The natural resource planning theory of Walter Firey is examined as conceptual base for planning efforts aimed at achieving sustainable policies and practices on university and college campuses. Sustainable policies and practices are those that, according to Firey’s theory, are simultaneously ecologically possible, economically gainful, and ethnologically adoptable. Successful planning for sustainability must take all three criteria fully into account in order for sustainability to be achieved. While Firey’s theory may not identify specific policies and practices that are universally applicable in pursuing sustainability, it does provide robust and flexible general principles useful for planners.