9 Elements Assignment – January 31 – Energy Chapter

The main idea of this text touched upon the importance of incorporating clean energy alternatives, such as solar power to college campuses. It turns out that “if we handle the solar panels correctly, they could become one of our most important educational assets. (Tomashow, 22)” This could link smaller colleges to many energy questions around the world, and hopefully help with some of the environmental problems. Energy is the ability to do work, meaning transforming matter into producing heat and electricity “In the city, evidence of energy at work — man-made energy — is impossible to avoid: think of the roar of traffic, the bright lights, the construction sites with cranes and concrete mixers, even the din of shopping mall music. (Thomashow 24)” If we educate the public more on the issues we are facing with the environment and learn how to control energy conversion better, we could potentially live a more sustainable lifestyle. Incorporating a clean energy alternative, like solar power to college campuses will cut back on carbon emissions, and save the university money in the long run. Universities and colleges generate thousands of tons of energy every day in order to provide a livable environment for the students attending each college/university. It’s important to be able to find a common group with people who don’t share a similar perspective on the environment because it allows for a discussion on how we can give back to the planet while still living within our means. Last year, in my environmental conservation class, we would have debates on certain environmental issues. For example, “Should we allow people to live within the wilderness?” personally I believe that we are unfit to be allowed to live within the wilderness, we take resources for granted and neglect the fact that we need to also replenish. Although there are many indigenous that live within the land, they have learned and passed on to the next generation how to love and respect what mother nature has given us. A thoughtful debate, I think is the best way for people to speak up and share their opinions on what they feel is best for the environment, even though not everyone will agree with the others. An energy map is a diagram of “campuses energy production and consumption depicting inputs and outputs. (Tomashow 31)” If UNE were to mimic the idea and include it into the campus community it would need to be broken down into a technical showing. In this generation, social media and technology are almost like the other half of our brain; being able to google something rather than being lectured opens our minds a little more of whats going on in the world. An app that we could download onto our phones, and be able to pug in our daily carbon footprint, and other information (almost like a game) would be more appealing to our eyes and would get us more involved. What we don’t realize is actually how much energy we use per day, so a game-like app that we could track our progress would and level up in, even with informational popups, I believe would educate the new generations better and would get us more involved. The University of New England does a great job already with switching to a more eco-friendly lifestyle: providing carpooling transportation around the campus, composting our food, having a honey bee farm on campus, and even having water control toilets. I think a large-scale renewable energy project would look at our school and see that we are making efforts on becoming a more energy-efficient campus.

9 Elements Assignment – February 21 – Governance

• Dr. Thomashow uses the word Anthropocene.  What is your understanding/interpretation of the word and what implications do you think it represents?
  • My understanding of the Anthropocene is all negative action on the environment caused by humans overpopulating and altering the land for their own benefits. After the Industrial Revolution, we have seen some pretty drastic changes to the planet: mass deforestation for land use, mountains for trash ending up in the oceans, carbon emissions ripping apart the atmosphere, and unresponsible use of renewable resources. Humans have proven that we cannot live sustainably without interfering with our “Keeping Up With the Jones” attitude. Our new lifestyle has blocked our view of what’s important in life, which has resulted in the craving for the next best things.              
• What leadership qualities can you exhibit to spark transformational change?
  • Incorporating more education on the environment to the youth I believe will have the biggest impact moving forward with policy plans. I was included in the Maine Climate Council “Youth Day” and was able to participate and learn from other teenagers, and their opinions on the environment. Currently, the office is being dominated by the much older generations, passing around the same ideas. Allowing younger voices to express the importance, and what they think should happen to move forward could put us back on track for a cleaner lifestyle. The future is ours now, we need to live and raise our families in an environment that is clean and sustainable; teaching them ways for their generations to make a difference as well. For me walking into a conference with a bunch of concerned teenagers inspired me more to make a change in the world, rather than sitting in-class lectures. We look at environmental problems and try to tackle this biggest of problems right of the bat, even with the newest of technology we shouldn’t try to eat the whole elephant in one sitting. Passing more bills requiring people to do their part and help save the environment for future generations to come.        

What dichotomies do you most relate to on pages 95-99 and why?

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• What questions remain for you about university governance specifically, or leadership in general, after reading this chapter?  How might you find the answers to your questions?
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Investment   

On page 104, the author describes many types of capital: financial, human, natural, social, and intellectual.  When thinking about these different categories and the specific capital that UNE has in each category (some of which are described in the chapter), and applying what you know about the university through an investigation of the sustainability website and your own experience, compile lists of the following questions:

• What INTERNAL STRENGTHS does the university possess in each form of capital to assist with its sustainability and carbon neutrality goals?
  • Natural: “ the goods and services from nature which are essential to human life. (pg. 104)” The University of New England was built on the ocean, for many environmental and Marine major we have a live classroom just outside our lecture halls. The university also owns 363 acres of preserve parcel that we can learn from. Having access to two different ecosystems is what brought me to the university in the first place. I’m a very hands-on learner and having the resources that UNE provides strengthens my knowledge and allows me to focus on the importance of protecting the environment around me.   
  • Social: “a collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other. (pg. 104)”  UNE has had an increase in social capital by promoting and starting up more sports teams,   
  • Human (Intellectual): “collective knowledge of the individuals in an organization or society. (104)” The connections we have at the University of New England is amazing, for my field I have so many sources to go to when I need to start focusing on my future. My professors have connections with people all around the world that I could get in contact with to help me move forward in life.   
  • Financial: 
• What INTERNAL WEAKNESSES must the university overcome in each form of capital to achieve its sustainability and carbon neutrality goals?
  • Natural: When building up a university, you need to have the room for the students. The downside of having a super-diverse location is that you will need to continue to build on the land and disrupt the environment.     
  • Social: Tieing into natural capital the more advertising you put out to get more students to come to the university, mean the more land we would need to take over to be able to hold all of the students coming in.   
  • Human (Intellectual): 
  • Financial: This school is extremely expensive if you don’t have the funds to put forward it will be harder for the lower class to be able to get in on the experience I’m getting out of this school.  
• What EXTERNAL OPPORTUNITIES exist that the university can take advantage of to help reach its sustainability and carbon neutrality goals?
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• What EXTERNAL THREATS exist that could derail the university from meeting its sustainability and carbon neutrality goals?
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