Dal launches College of Sustainability

New program prepares students for a greener future

Dr. Tarah Wright, associate director of undergraduate programs at Dalhousie. Photo: Shannon Fay

Students at Dalhousie University will soon learn how to develop solutions to one of the world's biggest challenges -- environmental sustainability.

"By giving a comprehensive program in sustainability and allowing students from all over the university to take it, I feel we are doing our part to help create a sustainable future," the associate director of undergraduate programs said.

More than 200 people celebrated the launch of Dalhousie's College of Sustainability Wednesday.

Starting in September, students will be able to take classes in the 'Environment, Sustainability and Society' program as part of a double major or combined honours degree.

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Alison Koper, a fourth-year environmental sciences student at Dalhousie. Photo: Shannon Fay

Grassroots idea grows

The program started as part of a grassroots movement involving both students and teachers.

"People have been thinking about it for probably about the past 30 years but we realized that now is really the time to act," Dr. Tarah Wright said.

The university realized that "if we wanted to remain current, and we wanted to remain relevant to students, we would need to embrace this and develop a program that students are really demanding."

The program, which is the first of its kind in Canada, offers students from different disciplines a chance to work together to find solutions to environmental problems.

During the first year of the program, students will take two core classes in sustainability.

"These classes are team taught," Wright said. "The first class will be taught by an architect, a historian and an earth scientist. The second class will be a computer scientist, a biologist and a community planner."

Students will have tutorials and lab exercises that take them out of the classroom on a weekly basis.

'Challenging ideas and developing new ones'

The college will also offer a night lecture series which will be open to the public. The series will include speakers from different backgrounds, including a professor from the Classics department at Dalhousie, an installation artist, the president of Shell Canada and a sustainability officer from Xerox Canada.

"We're going to have lots of different people coming in, sharing their perspective and being challenged by other people's perspectives, and that's really what the program is about -- challenging ideas and developing new ones," Wright said.

About 150 students will enrol the first year, with the program eventually expanding to about 300 students, says Wright.

When students reach their third year of the program they will have to take a "greening the campus" course, which is also already open to students in other disciplines.

"Students will work in small groups to identify environmental problems on campus, to do some research and propose solutions. So the campus will actually act as a living laboratory for our students," said Wright.

Students helped create new program

Alison Koper, a fourth-year environmental sciences student at Dalhousie, was one of the students who helped develop the new program.

"Our world is so interdisciplinary. We have so many different areas of understanding, areas of expertise," Koper said. "The problems that we're facing as a society can't be solved by one group. We need to collaborate with other people."

Koper is finishing her undergraduate degree this spring and plans on going into environmental nature resource law after she completes law school.

Students who participate in the new program will have an advantage when looking for a job because many companies now look for people with experience in environmental sustainability, says Wright.

"Every municipal government must have sustainability plans now," said Wright.

Students who are pursuing careers in business or education may also find having a background in environmental sustainability useful, says Wright.

'We're trying to practice what we preach'

The university is implementing promotion of environmental sustainability through both academic and physical operations.

Dalhousie is developing an environmental master plan for its own campus, says the co-ordinator of the 'Environmental, Sustainability and Society' program.

"We're taking a look at ‘what do we want this campus to be like in 25 years?' and it's a very consensus-based process," Jared Kolb said. "Within that plan there are ideas emerging about green building design, energy efficiency and renewable energy."

Dalhousie recently committed to an office of sustainability, which focuses on physical ways to be environmentally sustainable on campus. This office is concerned with campus operations such as energy efficiency, water use, garbage disposal and green building design, says Kolb.

"Universities play a leadership role in society with respect to generating new and innovative ideas, so it's crucial that universities take a really strong and bold stance towards confronting these issues," Kolb said.

"We're trying to practice what we preach," Wright said. "You can't just talk about sustainability, you have to live it."

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