Students push sustainability ahead
I have gathered through sessions and conversations at Greenbuild that the educational sector is the next big sustainable design push. On the last day of Greenbuild I discovered a session about greening college campuses, with a unique panel—a student, an architecture professor, and a facilities manager, all from different universities. The panel moved swiftly through each of their presentations (almost too quickly for me to take notes!) so they could get to the moderator’s Q and A session, followed by an audience Q and A. Each represented university—Auburn, Carnegie Melon, and Emory—had a slightly different approach to sustainable design, but they all stressed the importance of integrating sustainability into the curriculum; the overarching idea being that students, not administrators, are driving this green campus movement. The more involved the students, the more pressure they place on the administration, and paraphrasing from one of the presenters, universities are not just there for students but because of students.