sustainable business project at Bronx CC

THIS IS A LOT OF MONEY! And who knew that CUNy had its own economic development corporation, I did not!


15 Million Dollars Committed to Sustainable Business and Technology Incubator in the Bronx
The Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) and the City University of New York Economic Development Corporation (CUNY EDC) will develop a Sustainable Business and Technology Incubator as part of the Bronx Community College Campus. CUNY EDC has committed 15 million dollars to help develop the incubator.

The incubator will focus on businesses that are ready to supply sustainable services and energy technology into the New York City market. The incubator will also provide opportunities for CUNY researchers and their partners with paths to test and commercialize their applied research.

lots more news and ifo on sustainability at CUNy at
http://web.cuny.edu/about/sustainable/news.html

What Country is most "sustainable"?

CUBA! totally fascinating piece. mm



02/13/2009
Viva La Revolución Energética

By Laurie Guevara-Stone

What nation is the most sustainable in the world? If you guessed Sweden or Denmark, you would be wrong. Instead, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared Cuba as the only country on the planet that is approaching sustainable development. Key to this designation is the island's Revolución Energética, an energy conservation effort launched only two years ago.

The WWF's Living Planet Report 2006 assesses sustainable development using the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) and the ecological footprint. The index is calculated using life expectancy, literacy and education, and per capita GDP.

The UNDP considers an HDI value of more than 0.8 to be high human development. According to the ecological footprint, a measure of human demand on the biosphere, 1.8 global hectares per person or less denotes sustainability. The only country in the world that meets both of the above criteria is Cuba.

From Blackouts to Efficiency

Just a few years ago, Cuba's energy situation was bleak. This communist nation of 11 million people had 11 large, inefficient thermoelectric plants that functioned less than half of the time. There were frequent blackouts and high transmission line losses. Adding to the crisis, most Cubans had inefficient appliances, 75% of the population cooked with kerosene and residential electrical rates did not encourage conservation.
In 2004, back-to-back hurricanes slammed into Cuba, leaving a million people without electr icity for 10 days. In the face of an antiquated system, violent storms, peak oil and climate change, Cubans realized that they had to make energy a priority. Thus, in 2006, they embarked on their Revolución Energética.
Only two years later, the country consumes 34% less kerosene, 37% less LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and 80% less gasoline. Cuba's per capita energy consumption is one-eighth that in the US, while Cubans' access to health services, education levels and life expectancy rival those of their North American neighbors.

Prior to the 1959 Cuban revolution, only about half of the country's population had electricity. By 1989, that number had risen to 95%. After 1991, however, food, gas and oil all became scarce as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the US economic blockade. This time came to be known as the "Special Period" because Cubans had to learn how to produce more of their food, medicines and energy locally and sustainably.
In the mid-1990s, Cuba embarked on a drive to save energy and use more renewables. All rural schools, health clinics and social centers not previously connected to the grid were supplied with solar energy, making lights, computers and educational television programs accessible to all students. This program garnered Cuba the Global 500 award from the United Nations in 2001.
However, despite 10 years of revolutionary effort, Cuba still had a crisis on its hands. So in 2006, it took some dr astic steps. Cuba's energy revolution has five main aspects: energy efficiency and conservation, increasing the availability and reliability of the national grid, incorporating more renewable energy technologies into its energy portfolio, increasing the exploration and production of local oil and gas, and international cooperation.
In an address to the Cuban electrical utility in 2006, then-president Fidel Castro said, "We are not waiting for fuel to fall from the sky, because we have discovered, fortunately, something muchmore important: energy conservation, which is like finding a great oil deposit."

To decrease energy demand, Cuba began changing over to more efficient appliances. In two years, residents have replaced almost two million refrigerators, over one million fans, 182,000 air conditioners and 260,000 water pumps. Compact fluorescent light bulbs were handed out for free and within six months, over nine million - or almost 100% - of the island's incandescent bulbs had been replaced. At the same time, Cubans were discouraged from cooking with kerosene. Families have consequently purchased almost 3.5 million rice cookers and over three million pressure cookers.
To encourage conservation, Cuba introduced a new residential electrical tariff. People consuming less than 100 kWh per month pay 0.09 pesos per kWh (a fraction of a cent). For every increase of 50 kWh per month the rate rises steeply. Consumers using over 300 kWh per month pay 1.30 pesos per kWh.

Cuba's national energy program implemented in 1997, teaches Cubans about energy-saving measures and renewable energy. "If we begin to insist on [energy efficiency] at the preschool age, we are creating a conduct for life," explains Teresa Palenzuela, a specialist with Cuba's energy-saving program.
The program has held energy festivals for the past three years, educating thousands about efficiency and conservation. The festivals target students, who express energy conservation through songs, poetry and theatre. In each Cuban school, the children with the best energy efficiency projects go on to the festival at the municipal level. The best of them then move on to a provincial event and from there to the national stage. The public lines up for blocks to attend the national festival. "These contests are important to the entire country; they motivate children, students and the general population to save energy in all their actions," says 15-year-old Liliana Rodríguez Peña.
Social Workers Power the Revolution

To carry out its ambitious energy conservation plan, Cuba relies on its small army of trabajadores sociales or social workers. Cuba's social workers are made up of youth who have the task of bringing social justice to the island in many different spheres, including labor, education, culture, sports and the environment ..
As well as assisting people with disabilities, the elderly and those convicted of crimes, the social workers help carry out the Energy Revolution. Since 2006, 13,000 social workers have visited homes, businesses and factories around the island, replacing light bulbs, teaching people how to use their new electric cooking appliances and spreading information on saving energy. The social workers also teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture to save energy during the sugar cane harvest and for the national bus system. Former president Fidel Castro, who founded the program, refers to the social workers as "Doctors of the Soul."

Media Promotes Efficiency Too
The media does its bit to help disseminate information about energy. Dozens of billboards that promote conservation are scattered across the country, a weekly television show is dedicated to energy issues, and articles espousing renewable energy, efficiency and conservation appear regularly in newspapers. In 2007 alone, there were over 8000 articles and TV spots dedicated to energy efficiency.
Nonetheless, in 2005, blackouts were still common as a result of an old and inefficient electrical grid. Thus began the move to decentralized energy, which involves generating electricity in smaller substations.
In 2006, Cuba installed more than 1800 diesel and fuel-oil micro-electrical plants, which now produce over 3000 MW of power in 110 municipalities. This switch virtually=2 0eliminated the blackouts. In 2004 and 2005, there were over 400 days of blackouts greater than 100 MW that lasted at least an hour. In 2006, there were three and in 2007 there were none at all.
Cuba also embarked on an impressive plan to fix its old electrical transmission network. It upgraded over 120,000 electrical posts, installed almost 3000 kilometres of cable and half a million electric meters. As a result, the nation reduced the amount of oil needed to produce a kWh of electricity by 3%, from 280 grams in 2005 to 271 grams in 2007. It is estimated that over the same period, Cuba saved almost 872,000 tons of oil through its energy-saving measures.
Cuba is also incorporating renewables into its energy mix. 100 wind-measuring stations and two new wind farms bring the island's total wind energy installation to 7.23 MW. They are also developing the country's first grid-tied 100 kW solar electric plant.
"We need a global energy revolution," says Mario Alberto Arrastia Avila, an energy expert with Cubaenergia, an energy information centre. "But for this to happen we also need a revolution in consciousness. Cuba has undertaken its own path towards a new energy paradigm, applying concepts like distributed generation, efficiency, education, energy solidarity and the gradual solarization of the country."

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Laurie Guevara-Stone is the international program manager at Solar Energy International, a non-profit renewable energy education organization based in Colorado.

summary of feb 25th meeting by BB

Readings on the definition (in very broad terms) of sustainability were distributed by Michael Rawson and Brett Branco to stimulate a discussion on the following points:

1. Do the participants in the seminar need to reach a consensus on the definition of sustainability? If so, what is it?
2. Do the participants want to specify the attributes of sustainability? If so, what are they?

The first hour of the discussion was open and was highlighted by some of the following themes (as interpreted and generalized by Brett):

• Is society ready, willing and able to break free of the capitalist economic paradigm? What are the alternatives? What are some concrete examples from around the world?
• Where is the sustainability movement leading us, and what does the destination look like?
• Is a sustainability education based solely on principles of the natural sciences and quantitative assessment sufficient to meet all the needs of Brooklyn College and society in general?
• If humans are within a closed system only on the global scale, can sustainability be taught and practiced at the local level?

An attempt was then made to place the discussion within a conceptual diagrammatic framework to assist in achieving synthesis of themes and a tangible product from the seminar:



[Explanation of above figure (Brett’s vision): A comprehensive sustainability education includes identifying unsustainable conditions, defining the attributes, principles and laws of a sustainable destination for society in the future, identifying and enabling the changes in society (individuals as well as local and global community). Since the ecological utopia (sustainability) is difficult to define and societal changes can often be difficult to affect, we must often aim for smaller changes in order to make progress.]

The discussion then turned to the following themes:
− How specific do we need to be about the attributes that define the desired destination? Some were of the opinion that the attributes could be vague or undefined as long as we are teaching students how to fill in the box themselves. Others thought that without specific attributes, there are no tangible measures of progress towards the goal. We should be able to agree upon some attributes as a group. Others rejected the model that human interactions and the mechanisms of societal change are necessary for a holistic sustainability education.
− A few members strongly disagreed with some argument of the Wals and Jickling paper, which suggested a loose definition of sustainability empowers students to explore the issue unfettered by prejudices. The group seems to be in agreement that tangible goals must be set for a sustainable society.
− We mostly agreed to think about the attributes, principles or natural laws of a future sustainability society before the next meeting. It is possible that these may serve to define sustainability with respect to creating a comprehensive sustainability education for Brooklyn College students (and faculty).

ny times articulate on immiment demise of humanities

I'm fascinated how our sustainability five year plan might address the nexus among jobs, civic education and the linking together of the sciences and humanities as hinted at in various spots in the essay below. mm



February 25, 2009
In Tough Times, the Humanities Must Justify Their Worth
By PATRICIA COHEN

One idea that elite universities like Yale, sprawling public systems like Wisconsin and smaller private colleges like Lewis and Clark have shared for generations is that a traditional liberal arts education is, by definition, not intended to prepare students for a specific vocation. Rather, the critical thinking, civic and historical knowledge and ethical reasoning that the humanities develop have a different purpose: They are prerequisites for personal growth and participation in a free democracy, regardless of career choice.

But in this new era of lengthening unemployment lines and shrinking university endowments, questions about the importance of the humanities in a complex and technologically demanding world have taken on new urgency. Previous economic downturns have often led to decreased enrollment in the disciplines loosely grouped under the term “humanities” — which generally include languages, literature, the arts, history, cultural studies, philosophy and religion. Many in the field worry that in this current crisis those areas will be hit hardest.

Already scholars point to troubling signs. A December survey of 200 higher education institutions by The Chronicle of Higher Education and Moody’s Investors Services found that 5 percent have imposed a total hiring freeze, and an additional 43 percent have imposed a partial freeze.

In the last three months at least two dozen colleges have canceled or postponed faculty searches in religion and philosophy, according to a job postings page on Wikihost.org. The Modern Language Association’s end-of-the-year job listings in English, literature and foreign languages dropped 21 percent for 2008-09 from the previous year, the biggest decline in 34 years.

“Although people in humanities have always lamented the state of the field, they have never felt quite as much of a panic that their field is becoming irrelevant,” said Andrew Delbanco, the director of American studies at Columbia University.

With additional painful cuts across the board a near certainty even as millions of federal stimulus dollars may be funneled to education, the humanities are under greater pressure than ever to justify their existence to administrators, policy makers, students and parents. Technology executives, researchers and business leaders argue that producing enough trained engineers and scientists is essential to America’s economic vitality, national defense and health care. Some of the staunchest humanities advocates, however, admit that they have failed to make their case effectively.

This crisis of confidence has prompted a reassessment of what has long been considered the humanities’ central and sacred mission: to explore, as one scholar put it, “what it means to be a human being.”

The study of the humanities evolved during the 20th century “to focus almost entirely on personal intellectual development,” said Richard M. Freeland, the Massachusetts commissioner of higher education. “But what we haven’t paid a lot of attention to is how students can put those abilities effectively to use in the world. We’ve created a disjunction between the liberal arts and sciences and our role as citizens and professionals.”

Mr. Freeland is part of what he calls a revolutionary movement to close the “chasm in higher education between the liberal arts and sciences and professional programs.” The Association of American Colleges and Universities recently issued a report arguing the humanities should abandon the “old Ivory Tower view of liberal education” and instead emphasize its practical and economic value.

Next month Mr. Freeland and the association are hosting a conference precisely on this subject at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. There is a lot of interest on the national leadership level in higher education, Mr. Freeland said, but the idea has not caught on among professors and department heads.

Baldly marketing the humanities makes some in the field uneasy.

Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard and the author of several books on higher education, argues, “The humanities has a lot to contribute to the preparation of students for their vocational lives.” He said he was referring not only to writing and analytical skills but also to the type of ethical issues raised by new technology like stem-cell research. But he added: “There’s a lot more to a liberal education than improving the economy. I think that is one of the worst mistakes that policy makers often make — not being able to see beyond that.”

Anthony T. Kronman, a professor of law at Yale and the author of “Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life,” goes further. Summing up the benefits of exploring what’s called “a life worth living” in a consumable sound bite is not easy, Mr. Kronman said.

But “the need for my older view of the humanities is, if anything, more urgent today,” he added, referring to the widespread indictment of greed, irresponsibility and fraud that led to the financial meltdown. In his view this is the time to re-examine “what we care about and what we value,” a problem the humanities “are extremely well-equipped to address.”

To Mr. Delbanco of Columbia, the person who has done the best job of articulating the benefits is President Obama. “He does something academic humanists have not been doing well in recent years,” he said of a president who invokes Shakespeare and Faulkner, Lincoln and W. E. B. Du Bois. “He makes people feel there is some kind of a common enterprise, that history, with its tragedies and travesties, belongs to all of us, that we have something in common as Americans.”

During the second half of the 20th century, as more and more Americans went on to college, a smaller and smaller percentage of those students devoted themselves to the humanities. The humanities’ share of college degrees is less than half of what it was during the heyday in the mid- to late ’60s, according to the Humanities Indicators Prototype, a new database recently released by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Currently they account for about 8 percent (about 110,000 students), a figure that has remained pretty stable for more than a decade. The low point for humanities degrees occurred during the bitter recession of the early 1980s.

The humanities continue to thrive in elite liberal arts schools. But the divide between these private schools and others is widening. Some large state universities routinely turn away students who want to sign up for courses in the humanities, Francis C. Oakley, president emeritus and a professor of the history of ideas at Williams College, reported. At the University of Washington, for example, in recent years, as many as one-quarter of the students found they were unable to get into a humanities course.

As money tightens, the humanities may increasingly return to being what they were at the beginning of the last century, when only a minuscule portion of the population attended college: namely, the province of the wealthy.

That may be unfortunate but inevitable, Mr. Kronman said. The essence of a humanities education — reading the great literary and philosophical works and coming “to grips with the question of what living is for” — may become “a great luxury that many cannot afford.”