Sustainability

In 2008, former SUNY New Paltz President Steven Poskanzer signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).  In 2010, the Sustainability Committee was established to develop and implement an action plan for the college to become climate neutral.  (The ACUPCC defines climate neutrality as having no net carbon/greenhouse gas emissions.) The Committee completed the Campus Sustainability Plan in Fall 2012 and in December 2012, SUNY New Paltz President Don Christian signed and submitted the college’s Campus Sustainability Plan to ACUPCC.

To facilitate the implementation of the campus sustainability plan, the College formed the Office of Campus Sustainability in May of 2013 and hired Campus Sustainability Coordinator Lisa Mitten.  The Office is housed within Facilities Management and partners with students, faculty, and staff to achieve the campus’ sustainability goals.

This guide is designed to introduce students, faculty, and staff to the interdisciplinary topic of sustainability at SUNY New Paltz and in the global community. Print and electronic holdings at the Sojourner Truth Library provide a good introduction to sustainability themes and resources.  In addition, linked resources are included to assist faculty in the integration of these themes into undergraduate curricula.

The fulfillment of the Campus Sustainability Plan is a collaborative process, one that demands not only the dedication and efforts of the Sustainability Office and committee members, but the engagement of the entire campus community.  We welcome your suggestions for this guide, as well as your participation in this process as we move closer to becoming a climate neutral college. For questions or comments, please contact Lisa Mitten, Campus Sustainability Coordinator at mittenl@newpaltz.edu or Megan Coder, Environmental Studies Library Liaison at coderm@newpaltz.edu.

Sustainability is defined in the 1987 report Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, as "a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs." Models of sustainability are often represented as a set of overlapping spheres of social, economic, and environmental issues.  The intersections of these spheres form the foundation of current sustainability research.