Encyclopedia of Sustainability, 5th Edition

Ashley Thorne

The National Association of Scholars presents our fifth edition of the encyclopedia of sustainability (updated quarterly). Our periodically updated “sustainapedia” contains key names, terms, books, colleges and organizations that NAS has observed through our research of the sustainability movement in higher education.

The entries below were compiled from publicly available information, much of which has already been synthesized in NAS articles on sustainability. New entries and information since the fourth edition (July 2010) are highlighted in blue.

While this catalog does not include every main actor in the environmental movement as a whole (we chose not to emphasize, for instance, “Climategate,” Michael Mann, Al Gore, international climate conferences, or global warming awareness groups), it does include many of the main actors in the sector of activism aimed specifically at re-centering elementary and higher education around sustainability practice.

We created this encyclopedia partly as our own database to help us keep all the players straight, but mostly as a service to the community, as a practical resource for everyone interested in tracking and critiquing the sustainability movement. As we have learned more about the principal leaders of the movement, we have been continually updating the sustainapedia. We welcome suggestions for new entries and corrections of any inaccurate information (email us). Click here to download the encyclopedia in PDF format (with extra photos), or scroll down to read it on this page.  

Sustainability in Higher Education, 5th Edition

An Encyclopedia of Names, Terms, Colleges, Organizations, and Books

Encyclopedia Contents:

Groups
Projects/Institutes
K-12 Groups and Projects
Legislation
Individuals
Media
Colleges/Universities
Conferences
Terminology
Terms Coined by the NAS
Criticism

 

Groups

“Envisioning a student affairs division that supports sustainability”
Helped found HEASC
Presidential Task Force on Sustainability (click for PPT presentation by Kathleen Kerr)
NAS: “Inside the ACPA Conference” by Peter Wood. 02/29/2008
NAS: “Hurray! We Got Noticed! ACPA’s Response to NAS Residence Life Statement” by Peter Wood and Ashley Thorne. 09/16/2008
Based in Washington, D.C.
 
Presidents can sign this contract to pledge to “accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate.”
Sponsored by Second Nature, AASHE, and eco-America
NAS: “Proven Commitment to the Climate” by Ashley Thorne. 04/09/2009
NAS: “Sustainability Education’s New Morality” by Ashley Thorne. 05/15/2009
NAS: “Tuesday Tuba” by Ashley Thorne 06/02/2009
NAS: “1% for Propaganda” by Ashley Thorne. 07/09/2009
NAS: “Unfit” by Peter Wood. 07/29/2009
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/03/2009
NAS: “Thursday Theatrics” by Ashley Thorne. 08/13/2009
NAS: “Never Waste a Good Cliché” by Peter Wood 09/24/2009
NAS: “An Elbow in the Ribs: Prof-Prodding Toward Sustainability” by Ashley Thorne. 02/17/2010
NAS: “Earth Day and Sustainability News” by Ashley Thorne. 04/21/2010
NAS: “For Goodness Sake: Sustainability Ponders Ethics” by Ashley Thorne. 07/21/2010
NAS: “The Sustainability Inquisition” by Ashley Thorne. 11/10/2010
 
“AASHE is an association of colleges and universities that are working to create a sustainable future. Our mission is to empower higher education to lead the sustainability transformation.”
Formerly known as the Education for Sustainability Western Network (EFS West)
AASHE Digest 2008 A Review of Campus Sustainability News
NAS: “Proven Commitment to the Climate” by Ashley Thorne. 04/09/2009
NAS: “Swear It!” by Ashley Thorne. 04/29/2009
NAS: “Sustainability Education’s New Morality” by Ashley Thorne. 05/15/2009
NAS: “Thursday Vert-Degree” by Ashley Thorne. 06/25/2009
NAS: “Tuesday Tuba” by Ashley Thorne 06/02/2009
NAS: “1% for Propaganda” by Ashley Thorne. 07/09/2009
NAS: “The Sustainability Movement in the American University” by Peter Wood. 07/27/2009
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/03/2009
Based in Lexington, Kentucky
NAS: “An Elbow in the Ribs: Prof-Prodding Toward Sustainability” by Ashley Thorne. 02/17/2010
NAS: “For Goodness Sake: Sustainability Ponders Ethics” by Ashley Thorne. 07/21/2010


Bioneers

“Inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations.”

Provides environmental education through a conference, a radio program, and materials for use by colleges and universities

“Our goal is to significantly increase the amount of federal funding dedicated to the EE [environmental education] community” 
Operates under a fiscal agent, Public Interest Projects
Based in Washington, D.C.
Offers training and consulting to “assist current and future green professionals and businesses”
“Dedicated to education for a sustainable living” 
“We provide information, inspiration, and support to the vital movement of K-12 educators, parents, and other members of the school community who are helping young people gain the knowledge, skills, and values essential to sustainable living.”
Project/Book: Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability
Based in Berkeley, California
Co-sponsored the School Lunch Initiative: “Changing Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior in Relation to Food”
 
“If their schools are green, children will learn to live that way.” 
Helps K-12 schools become “green” by providing curriculum and guidance
 
Four program areas: the Greening of Academia, Religion and Ecology, the Earth Charter Initiative, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities
“Promotes a humane and sustainable future for all members of the earth community.”
ULSF is part of CRLE
Venerates Thomas Berry


Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI)

Funded by the William J. Clinton Foundation
Mission is “to create and advance solutions to the core issues driving climate change”
 
Provides curriculum “makeovers” to “cultivate deep instructional change” in elementary, higher, and adult education 
“Our mission is to provide and promote innovative education that helps create a sustainable world: a healthy environment, a fair economy, and a just and equitable society for current and future generations.”
Based in Ypsilanti, Michigan
 
A network of associations (such as the AAA, APA, and APSA) that promote sustainability in various academic disciplines
 
“Through Earth Force young people get hands-on, real-world opportunities to practice civic skills, acquire and understand environmental knowledge, and develop the skills and motivation to become life-long leaders in addressing environmental issues. Earth Force achieves these results by training and supporting educators as they implement our unique six-step model for engaging young people.”
 
Co-sponsors the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment
Worked with Princeton Review to create criteria for Princeton Review’s Green Rating
EcoAmerica is an organization not specifically focused on higher education that espouses a startlingly frank program of attempting, by means of “psychographic research” and “engagement marketing,” to “shift personal and civic choices of environmentally agonistic Americans.” It is, in other words, devoted to propaganda and manipulation. 
NAS: “The Sustainability Movement in the American University” by Peter Wood. 07/27/2009
 
An alliance that supports and strengthens the student and youth clean and just energy movement in North America 
Sponsors “Define Our Decade” project, a campaign to get Congress to vote for “clean energy” towards the goal of having a “world powered by 100% clean electricity” by 2020.
 
Held climate change teach-ins on January 31, 2008 at over 1500 campuses
Barack Obama at FTN 2008 kick-off, Clemson University: Focus the Nation is going to have the largest campus teach-in in United States history…This is an important issue, I want everybody to be involved with it, everybody to be paying attention.”
Based in Portland, OregonGo Green Students
A social network for students to connect with other students from around the world on how to go green and reduce the effects of global warming
 
GreenerU partners with colleges and their students to solve the campus sustainability and energy management challenges of today and tomorrow. GreenerU believes colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to lead the world in mitigating climate change and accelerating sustainability.
 
An informal network of higher education associations dedicated to advancing sustainability in the higher education system, coordinated by Second Nature
 
“The Sustainable Campus Network aims at enhancing universities' commitments to construct, redesign, and organize their campuses in an exemplary and sustainable way and to include the experiences in their education. The ISCN and its members commit to continuous improvement through learning and innovation on all aspects of sustainability on campus. Key goals in this respect are summarized in the ISCN Charter.”
 
Historically important leader of the campus sustainability movement 
Founded by John Kerry and Teresa Heinz in 1993
“Second Nature's mission is to accelerate movement toward a sustainable future by serving and supporting senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just, and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.”
Sponsors the ACUPCC
Based in Boston, Massachusetts
NAS: “1% for Propaganda” by Ashley Thorne. 07/09/09
NAS: “The Sustainability Movement in the American University” by Peter Wood. 07/27/2009
NAS: “Unfit” by Peter Wood. 07/29/09
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/03/09
NAS: “Sunbeams for Indigenes: The New Discipline of Cultural Sustainability” by Peter Wood, Glenn Ricketts, and Ashley Thorne. 08/05/2009
NAS: “Sustaina-Summits” by Peter Wood. 08/20/09
NAS: “Changing the Norms: Sustainability at Penn State,” by Ashley Thorne 12/14/2009
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
SEAC (pronounced "seek") is a student run national network of progressive organizations and individuals whose aim is to uproot environmental injustices through education and action. SEAC defines the environment as including the physical, economic, political, and cultural conditions in which we live. By challenging the power structure which threatens these conditions, SEAC works to create progressive social change on both the local and global levels.
 
Decade for Education on Sustainable Development: “seeks to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century”
NAS: “UNESCO-topia: Sustainability’s Big Brother” by Peter Wood. 07/31/09
 
Created the Talloires Declaration
“ULSF supports sustainability as a critical focus of teaching, research, operations and outreach in higher education through publications, research, and assessment.”
Is the higher education branch of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE)
 
Campaign vision: Green campuses for every college and university within a generation.
 
“The U.S. Partnership consists of individuals, organizations and institutions in the United States dedicated to education for sustainable development (ESD). It acts as a convener, catalyst, and communicator working across all sectors of American society.” 
VISION: Sustainable development fully integrated into education and learning in the United States.
MISSION: Leverage the UN Decade to foster education for sustainable development in the United States. 

 

Projects/Institutes

Sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation 
“the Campus Ecology program has been helping individuals and campuses address sustainability and climate change since 1989.”
“It takes a big step to make a smaller footprint.”
NAS: “Woven Into the Fabric...No Comment” by Ashley Thorne. 07/10/09  
 
A Second Nature initiative to advance green building in higher education  
 
Celebrated in October by over 300 colleges and universities 
Sponsored by the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), which Colleges can pay to participate in a live webcast
First CSD was in 2003: “The contributions of Anthony D. Cortese, president of Second Nature, were key in the conception and development of the first Campus Sustainability Day.”
NAS: “Happy Campus Sustainability Day” by Ashley Thorne. 10/21/09
 
Assigns grades to hundreds of colleges by assessing performance in sustainability categories (does not include teaching, research, or other academic aspects concerning sustainability)  
 
A campaign sponsored by the Energy Action Coalition to get Congress to vote for “clean energy” towards the goal of having a “world powered by 100% clean electricity” by 2020 
Marketed to college students
 
The Earth Charter is a United Nations document. It was the brainchild of the 1987 Brundtland Commission (which officially defined sustainable development) and was written in 1994 by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Secretary-General of the UN’s Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, Maurice Strong. Today it is regarded as the consensus statement of principles on sustainability and world peace. Organizations representing millions of people, including several dozen American universities, have endorsed it.   
“My hope is that this charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ that provides a guide for human behavior toward the environment in the next century and beyond," Mikhail Gorbachev stated in a 1997 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
NAS: “Swamped: Florida’s Earth Charter U” by Ashley Thorne. 01/06/2010
 
Suggestions for environmental activism on campus, including asking the president to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment 
 
Columbia University 
Aims to help “achieve sustainable development primarily by expanding the world’s understanding of Earth as one integrated system” through research and education
Directed by Jeffrey Sachs
George Soros serves on the Board of Advisors  
 
Yale University 
Publishes books and articles, organizes conferences, is creating a film on the environment and its relationship to major religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Indigenous Traditions, Islam, Judaism, and Shinto
Mission is to “identify the ethical dimensions by which the religions of the world can respond to the growing environmental crisis”
Inspired by ecotheologian Thomas Berry (see above)  
 
“Ecolonomics is a vision that sees business, government, and education working together to achieve a prosperous, sustainable future.” 
“Because ecology means business”  
 
“Established in 1974 and incorporated in 1981, the ISE is an independent institution of higher education dedicated to the study of social ecology, an interdisciplinary field drawing on philosophy, political and social theory, anthropology, history, economics, the natural sciences, and feminism...As an educational and activist organization, the ISE is committed to the social and ecological transformation of society.” 
Based in Plainfield, Vermont  
 
Emory University, Peggy F. Barlett 
Faculty workshops, curriculum development
NAS: “Enchanting Sustainability” by Peter Wood. 01/26/09 
 
Northern Arizona University, Geoff W. Chase 
The Project is “an interdisciplinary faculty group effort to incorporate environmental sustainability issues into university courses”  
 
Created by AASHE, STARS is “a voluntary, self-reporting framework for gauging relative progress toward sustainability for colleges and universities.”  
STARS is a points system that measures institutions’ sustainability initiatives in Education & Research; Operations; and Planning, Administration & Engagement.
NAS: “Dancing with the Stars” by Ashley Thorne. 09/28/09  
 
The international precursor to the ACUPCC, created in 1990 in Talloires, France, at a meeting convened by Tufts University President Jean Mayer 
Anthony Cortese has been a key promoter
College and university presidents from around the world met together and signed the declaration, pledging that their universities would, among other actions, create an institutional culture of sustainability, educate for environmentally responsible citizenship, and foster environmental literacy for all.
It has been signed by over 400 institutions worldwide.  
 
Engineered by the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, this grant program was authorized by the Higher Education Sustainability Act of 2008. It is the first new federal environmental education grant-making program authorized in 18 years. It is intended to “annually support between 25 and 200 sustainability projects at individual higher education institutions and higher education consortia/associations.” It has not yet been funded.
Goals:
Enable higher education to produce 3 million “sustainability-literate” college graduates each year
 Fully embed sustainable practices in higher education  


Yale Environment 360  

An online magazine published by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, containing opinion, analysis, reporting and debate on global environmental issues.  

 

K-12 Groups and Projects

 
Gives free multimedia presentations at U.S. high schools on climate change
Provides activism/green pledge opportunities for high school students
See “ACE Climate Propaganda,” Accuracy in Academia
 
“Critical Thinking. Global Perspective. Informed Action.”
Provides sustainability curriculum resources to teachers
Based in Seattle, Washington
 
Vision: green schools for everyone within this generation
 
Wants to “transform students themselves into agents of change” and focuses “on K-12 as formative years for shaping thinking, attitudes, values and behaviors.”
“CELF’s goal is to make sustainability education an integral part of every school’s curricula and culture, from kindergarten through high school.”
See Peter Cohee’s article
 
“A movement that activates & enlists kids to lead their families in measuring & reducing environmental impact at home & ‘challenge’ their parents to share savings with kids.”
A campaign that encourages kids to “grade their parents” and demand pay for their services. 
NAS: “Indoctrinate Our Kids and Green My Parents” by Ashley Thorne. 04/27/10 
 
A membership organization with nearly 2,000 member schools where teachers are implementing sustainability education into the curriculum.
 
Chartered by Congress in 1990 to advance environmental knowledge and action. Established to complement the EPA and teach environmental literacy, funded by the EPA’s Office of Environmental Education. Has programs for schools, the adult public, health professionals, and business managers.
 
The New York City Department of Education’s effort to make schools more environmentally friendly and to teach students energy conservation, recycling, and ecology. The initiative is funded by grant and stimulus money.   
 
4 Guiding Principles: Nature is our teacher, Sustainability is a community practice, The real world is the optimal learning environment, and Sustainable living is rooted in a deep knowledge of place 
Offers schooling for sustainability seminars, website, and book (same title)

 

Legislation

 
In July 2008, the HESA was passed as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. It creates grants for colleges and universities for implementing sustainability practice and education on campus and “to integrate sustainability curricula in all programs of instruction, particularly in business, architecture, technology, manufacturing, engineering, and science programs.” It also mandates a summit on sustainability convened by the Secretary of Education no later than September 30, 2010.  
The summit was convened in Washington, D.C. in late September 2010.
 

Individuals

Economist who created the famous sustainability diagram (see “Triple Bottom Line” below) 
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Author, Boldly Sustainable (2009, published by the National Association of College and University Business Officers) with Andrea Putman
Senior Fellow, Second Nature
Staff Liaison, ACUPCC Academics Sub-Committee
 
Author, “Reason and Reenchantment in Cultural Change: Sustainability in Higher Education.” Current Anthropology
Leads Piedmont Project at Emory University
NAS: “Enchanting Sustainability” by Peter Wood. 01/26/09
Berry, Thomas (1914-2009)
Ecotheologian, wrote about ethics, religion, and ecology
Repudiated Christianity and all Western thought and culture (i.e., wrote “bible” in lower case)
Author, Befriending the Earth, 1991; The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, 1999; and Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community, 2006.
“We have a moral sense of suicide, homicide, and genocide, but no moral sense of biocide or geocide, the killing of the life systems themselves and even the killing of the Earth.”
 
Bookchin, Murray (1921-2006)
Author, “Ecology and Revolutionary Thought” (1964)
Author, The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Carson, Rachel (1907-1964)
Author, Silent Spring, 1962, a bestseller about the harmfulness of pesticides
Silent Spring precipitated a national uproar and jumpstarted the environmental movement
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Biologist 
Protested nuclear testing
Eco-socialist
Author, The Closing Circle, 1971: “The evidence is overwhelming that the way in which we now live on Earth is driving its thin, life-supporting skin, and ourselves with it, to destruction.”
Proposed policy solutions to ecological problems
Ran for U.S. president in 1980
4 laws of ecology:
1.      Everything is connected to everything else.
2.      Everything must go somewhere.
3.      Nature knows best.
4.      There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Founded the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems where he is a senior scientist
Time magazine called him "the Paul Revere of Ecology"
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
President, Second Nature 
Developed the Talloires Declaration
Said that “humans are guided by a whole set of beliefs and values, and those come from culture, from religion, from social, economic and political structure. We need to change all of those.”
Said “My belief is that sustainability must be the goal of EVERYTHING that colleges and universities do.”
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/01/09
 
Co-chair, ACUPCC steering committee
President, Arizona State University
 
Biology professor at Stanford University
Author, 
The Population Bomb, which wrongly predicted that “in the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death” due to overpopulation. Ehrlich famously lost a bet with the economist Julian L. Simon over the future prices of five commodities chosen by Ehrlich (copper, chromium, nickel, tin, and tungsten.) Ehrlich, believing that earth was running out of resources, bet that prices would rise from 1980 to 1990. He lost decisively.
Believes sustainability is an issue of population control
NAS: “What Good Are People?” by Ashley Thorne. 09/22/09
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
President and Founder, Campaign for Environmental Literacy 
Senior Fellow, Second Nature
“James Elder is a social entrepreneur who uncovers and exploits high leverage opportunities to increase the level of society’s environmental literacy.”
 
Co-founder of Second Nature with John Kerry 
Heinz foundations fund Second Nature
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/01/09
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Under secretary for U.S. postsecondary education in the Obama administration
Former member of ACUPCC steering committee, former Chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Spoke at 2009 ACUPCC climate summit
Author, Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century
On staff with the National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Project
Helped create the Higher Education Associations’ Sustainability Consortium (HEASC)
 
Director, University of Delaware Residence Life 
Serves on ACPA’s sustainability taskforce
Presentation: Myth that sustainability is "mostly about the environment"
NAS: “Ideology @ UCLA Dorms” by Peter Wood. 03/06/08
NAS: “We’ll Be Watching” by Jan Blits and Linda Gottfredson. 05/27/08
NAS: “The Communitarian ResLife Movement” by Tom Wood. 07/18/08
NAS: “Sustainabullies” by Ashley Thorne. 02/12/09
NAS: “Proven Commitment to the Climate” by Ashley Thorne. 04/09/09
NAS: “Changing the Norms: Sustainability at Penn State” by Ashley Thorne. 12/14/09
 
Co-founder of Second Nature with Teresa Heinz 
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/01/09
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
ACUPCC Program Director for Second Nature
 
Professor of Environmental Studies, Oberlin College 
Author, Earth in Mind : On Education, the Environment, and the Human Prospect(2004)
Author, Down to the Wire: Confronting Climate Collapse (2009)
NAS: “Swamped: Florida’s Earth Charter U” by Ashley Thorne. 01/06/2010
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Higher Education co-chair of the U.S. Partnership of Education for Sustainable Development
Senior Fellow, Education for Sustainability at University Leaders for a Sustainable Future
Senior Fellow, Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
Facilitator, Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability 
Professor, renewable energies and energy management at Oakland Community College
Inside Higher Ed: “Sustainability’s Third Circle” by Peter Wood. 04/28/08
Said in a speech at the University of Connecticut 11/05/09 that the only way to ensure a sustainable future for the planet is through radical changes in education, the economy and government. Daily Campus
NAS: “Changing the Norms: Sustainability at Penn State” by Ashley Thorne. 12/14/09
 
Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University 
Professor, Sustainable Development, Columbia University
Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Author, Common Wealth (Penguin, 2008)
Author, The End of Poverty (Penguin, 2005)
See “Sustainability: More Cash and a Softer Side” by Charlotte Allen, Minding the Campus, 05/10/2010
 
Founder and executive director, Creative Change Educational Solutions
 
Founding executive director, Education for Sustainability Western Network (EFS West), which became AASHE

 

Media

2009 James Cameron film depicting a sustainable world 
 
A biannual journal produced by Columbia University students
 
A documentary film on the “World Water Crisis” and the privatization of water 
 
An online, peer-reviewed journal for academics and practitioners to share, critique, and promote research, practices, and initiatives that foster the integration of economic, ecological, and social-cultural dimensions of sustainability within formal and non-formal educational contexts. 
 
A 20-minute video on the life cycle of material goods, shown in elementary schools and businesses all over the world 
Criticizes Americans for “exploiting” natural resources to make goods

The American Family Association says that the video is anti-consumer, and even anti-American because the video implies that Americans are greedy, selfish, cruel to the third world, and "use more than our share."
Glenn Beck, host of the Glenn Beck TV program, characterized the video as an "anti-capitalist tale that unfortunately has virtually no facts correct."
 
A bimonthly journal published in collaboration with AASHE that covers sustainability in higher education 
NAS: “An Elbow in the Ribs: Prof-Prodding Toward Sustainability” by Ashley Thorne. 02/17/10  

 

Colleges/Universities

 

 

Click the name to read the NAS article about it regarding sustainability: 

 

Conferences

Convened by the United Nations in 1983 
Brundtland report Our Common Future defined sustainability/sustainable development:
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Gave birth to the Earth Charter
NAS: “The Sustainability Movement in the American University” by Peter Wood. 07/27/2009
NAS: “The Roots of Sustainability” by Glenn Ricketts. 01/19/10
 
Annual conference for ACUPCC signers, sponsors, and friends
2010 summit in Denver 10/12-10-13, R. James Woolsey keynote speaker
2009 summit in Chicago 08/13-08/14, Bill Clinton keynote speaker
 
Convened by the United Nations in 1992 
Gave birth to the Kyoto Protocol
NAS: “The Sustainability Movement in the American University” by Peter Wood. 07/27/2009
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/03/2009
 
A series of youth climate summits in Australia, sponsored by Australian Youth Climate Coalition
 
Held by NACUBO, March 21-23, 2010 at the University of Maryland 
 
2010 conference held 10/10-10/12 in Denver, CO
Hosted by AASHE and NWF Campus Ecology
“A focus on the impact of the global campus and social justice within the field of sustainability”
 
Sponsored by GreenIllinois.gov
2010 Symposium was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 
Sponsored by California State University, Chico and Butte Community College 
2010 conference held 11/04-11/06
NAS: “The Chico Romance” by Ashley Thorne. 11/06/09 

 

Terminology

 

The United Nations blueprint for sustainability in the twenty-first century 
 
CAP
Climate Action Plan, as required by the ACUPCC
 
Ecolonomics
Ecology + Economics, a term coined in 1993 by Dennis Weaver
 
 
EFS
Education for Sustainability
 
ESD
Education for Sustainable Development
 
ESG
Environmental, Social, Governance (often used in terms of investments)
 

 

Triple-Bottom Line
Describes the three parts of sustainability
People, Planet, Profit
Society, Environment, Economy
Usually illustrated with a Venn Diagram depicted by Edward Barbier (see image at right); also symbolized by holding up three fingers
NAS: “The Communitarian ResLife Movement: Part 2” by Tom Wood. 08/18/08
NAS: “Peace Plus One” by Ashley Thorne. 10/13/09 

 

Terms Coined by the National Association of Scholars

 

Justice + Sustainability 
Sustainability is almost invariably paired with the word just or justice. This is why sustainability is an all-encompassing schema that calls for the restructuring of society; it is not the same as environmentalism.
 
People who use coercion, peer pressure, or intimidation to persuade others to alter their behavior in favor of sustainability 
 
Sustainability advocates who want to create utopia on earth, no matter the cost to mankind 

 

Criticism

 

Publication of the National Association of Scholars, special issue on sustainability
Articles by Glenn Ricketts, Stanley Trimble, Adam Kissel, Austin Williams, Daniel Bonevac, and Terry Wimberley 
 
Operation Green Out
Led by Holly Swanson, author of Set Up and Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means
NAS: “A First Look at Second Nature” by Ashley Thorne. 08/03/09
NAS: “An Interview with Holly Swanson” by Ashley Thorne. 10/15/09
Williams, Austin
Author, Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainability
NAS: “Wartime Thrift” by Ashley Thorne. 06/04/08
 
Wood, David
Chairman, Harris Ranch Beef Company
Wrote a letter to California Polytechnic University with concerns about Cal Poly’s focus on sustainability
NAS: “Sustainability Skepticism Has Arrived” by Ashley Thorne. 10/23/2009

 

Books

 

This extensive bibliography, compiled by NAS’s John Irving, is a work in progress. It includes both books on sustainability’s place in higher education and books more broadly focused on environmentalism and climate change, many of which are used in the college classroom to teach sustainability. The listings in bold are books on which the NAS has commented.
Aber, John, Tom Kelly, and Bruce Mallory, eds., The Sustainable Learning Community: One University's Journey to the Future, Lebanon, NH: University of New Hampshire Press, 2009
Ackerman, Frank, Why Do We Recycle? Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997
Adelson, Glenn James Engell, Brent Ranalli, and K.P. Van Anglen, eds., Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008
Alley, Richard, The Two-Mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002
Anderson, Ray, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model, Atlanta, GA: Peregrinzilla Press, 1999
Astin, Helen and Alexander Astin, Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change. Battle Creek, MI: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2000
Bardaglio, Peter and Andrea Putnam, Boldly Sustainable: Hope and Opportunity for Higher Education in the Age of Climate Change, Washington: DC: National Association of College and University Business Officers, 2009
 
Barlett, Peggy R., and Geoffrey W. Chase, Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004
 
Beckerman, Wilfred. A Poverty of Reason: Sustainable Development and Economic Growth, Oakland, CA: Independent Institute, 2002. 
Begg, Kathryn, Frans van der Woerd, and David Levy, The Business of Climate Change: Corporate Responses to Kyoto, Sheffield, UK; Greenleaf, 2005
Berry, Thomas, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, New York: Bell Tower, 1999
Blatt, Harvey, America's Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004
Blewitt, John and Cedric Cullingford, Sustainability Curriculum (The): The Challenge for Higher Education, London, UK: Earthscan, 2004
Bookchin, Murray, The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism, New York: Black Rose, 1990
Brower, Michael and Warren Leon, The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999
Brown, Lester R, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. Rev. ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 2008
Burton, Ian, Elizabeth Malone, and Saleemul Huq, Adaptation Frameworks for Climate Change: Developing Strategies, Policies, and Measures, New York: United Nations Development Programme/Cambridge University Press, 2005
Carmody, John, Stephen Selkowitz, and Lisa Heschong, Residential Windows, New York: Norton, 1996
Carson, Rachel, The Edge of the Sea, New York: Mariner Books, imp. Houghton Mifflin, 1998
Carson, Rachel, Silent Spring, New York: Mariner Books, imp. Houghton Mifflin, 2002
Chechile, R.A., and S. Carlisle, eds, Environmental Decision Making: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991
Clark, Robert and Jennifer Ma, Recruitment, Retention, and Retirement in Higher Education: Building and Managing the Faculty of the Future, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005
Claussen, Eileen, Vicki Arroyo Cochran, and Debra P. Davis, eds., Climate Change: Science, Strategies, and Solutions, Boston: Brill, 2002 

 

Colborn, Theo, Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?--A Scientific Detective Story, New York: Plume, imp. Penguin, 1997 
Collett, Jonathan and Stephen Karakashian, eds., Greening the Curriculum: A Guide To Environmental Teaching In The Liberal Arts, Island Press, 1995.
Collins, Jim, Good to Create: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't, New York: Harper Collins, 2001
Coleman, Kate, The Secret Wars of Judi Bari: A Car Bomb, The Fight for the Redwoods, and the End of Earth First! San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2005
 
Commoner, Barry, The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology, New York: Knopf, 1971
Creighton, Sarah Hammond, Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998
Crosbie, Michael J., Steven Winter Associates, Inc., ed., The Passive Solar Design and Construction Handbook, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 1997
Davenport, Thomas H., Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performance and Results from Knowledge Workers, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2005
Dauncey, Guy and Patrick Mazza, Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2001
Dawson, Jonathan, Ecovillages: New Frontiers for Sustainability, White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2006
DeCanio, Stephen, Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
deBettencourt, Kathleen B., Matthew Feeney, A. Nicole Barone, Keith White, Environmental Connections: A Teacher's Guide to Environmental Studies, Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2000
Dernback, John, ed., Stumbling toward Sustainability, Washington, DC: Environmental Law Institute, 2002
Dernbach, John C., Agenda for a Sustainable America, Washington, DC: Environmental Law Institute, 2009
Diamond, Jared M., Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: Viking Press, 2005  
Dynes, Robert C., University of California Policy on Green Building Design and Clean Energy Standards, Oakland, CA: University of California, Office of the President, 2004
Eagan, David, Julian Keniry, and Justin Schott, Higher Education in a Warming World: The Business Case for Climate Leadership on Campus, Reston, VA: National Wildlife Federation, 2008
 
Edwards, Andres R., The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Press, 2005
 
Edwards, Andres R.,Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways To A Resilient Society, New Society, 2010
Ehrlich, Anne H., The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008
Ehrlich, Paul, The Population Bomb, Ballantine Books, 1968
Esty, Daniel C., and Andrew S. Winston, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006
Flannery, Tim, The Weather Makers; How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005
Freestone, David and Charlotte Streck, eds, Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms: Making Kyoto Work, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005
Friedman, Thomas L, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America, New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008
Friedman, Thomas L., The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Rev. ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006
Gale, Fred P. and R. Michael M'Gonigle eds., Nature, Production, Power: Towards an Ecological Political Economy, Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2000
Gelbspan, Ross, The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription, Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1998
Gelbspan, Ross, Boiling Point, New York: Basic Books, 2004
Haglund, Brent M. and Thomas W. Still, Hands-On Environmentalism, San Francisco, Encounter Books, 2005
Hall, C. Michael and James Higham, eds., Tourism, Recreation, and Climate Change, Buffalo: Channel View, 2005
Harris, Cole, Making Native Space: Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2002
Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review on Green Business Strategy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2007
Hawken, Paul, et al., Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, Boston, MA: Back Bay Books, imp Little Brown, 2008
Hawken, Paul, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, New York: HarperBusiness, 1994
Hawken, Paul, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, New York: Viking, 2007
Heller, Chaia, The Ecology of Everyday Life: Rethinking the Desire for Nature, Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1999
Helm, Dieter, ed. Climate-Change Policy, Oxford, Eng: Oxford University Press, 2005
Homer-Dixon, Thomas F., The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, Washington DC: Island Press, 2006
Houghton, John T., Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, and C.A. Johnson, eds., Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001
Huber, Mary Taylor and Pat Hutchings, Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain, Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2004
Hunt, Julian, ed. London's Environment: Prospects for a Sustainable World City, London: Imperial College Press, 2005
Jacobs, Francine and Jennifer Papuscik, Making It Count: Evaluating Family Preservation Services, Medford, MA: Tufts University, 2000
Jacobs, Jane, Dark Age Ahead, New York: Random House, 2004 

 

Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York: Vintage Books, 1961

Jones, Van, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix our Two Biggest Problems, New York: Harper Collins, 2008
Kempton, W., J.S. Boster, and J.A. Hartley, Environmental Values in American Culture, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
Keniry Julian, Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century, Washington, DC: National Wildlife Federation, 1995
Kirp, David L., Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 2003
Kolbert, Elizabeth, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, London: Bloomsbury, 2006
Komp, Richard, Practical Photovoltaics: Electricity from Solar Cells, Ann Arbor, MI: Aatec Publications, 2002
Kutscher, Charles, ed. Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.: Potential U.S. Carbon Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 2030, Boulder, CO: American Solar Energy Society, 2007
Leff, Enrique, Green Production: Toward an Environmental Rationality, Margaret Villanueva, trans, New York: Guilford Publications, 1995
Leopold, Aldo, A Sand County Almanac, New York: Oxford University Press, 1949
Lerner, Richard M. and Lou Anna Kimsey Simon, eds, University Community Collaborations for the Twenty-First Century, New York: Garland Publishing, 1998
Lewis, Martin W., Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995
Lichter, S. Robert and Stanley Rothman, Environmental Cancer–A Political Disease, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999
Linden, Eugene, The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006
Lovins, Amory B., Winning the Oil Endgame, Snowmass, CO: Rocky Mountain Institute, 2004
Lynas, Mark, High Tide: The Truth about Our Climate Crisis, New York: Picador 2004
Lyons, Kevin, Buying for the Future: Contract Management and the Environmental Challenge, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999
Makower, Joel, Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008
Markvart, Tomas, Solar Electricity, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
Masika, Rachel, Gender, Development, and Climate Change, Oxford: Oxfam Publishing, 2002
Maslin, Mark, Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004
McDonough, William and Michael Braungart, The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability, Charlottesville, VA: William McDonough & Partners, 2003
M'Gonigle, Michael and Justine Starke, Planet U: Sustaining the World, Reinventing the University, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers, 2006
McKenzie Mohr, Doug and William Smith, Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing, Gabriola Island, BC Canada: New Society Press, 1999
McKibbin, Warren J. and Peter Wilcoxen, Climate Change Policy after Kyoto: Blueprint for a Realistic Approach, Washington, DC: Brookings Institute Press, 2002
Miller, G. Tyler, Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions, Brooks Cole, 2003.
Moll, Gary and Sara Ebenreck, eds., Shading Our Cities: A Resource Guide for Urban and Community Forest, Washington, DC: Island Press, 1989
National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America's Promise, College Learning for the New Global Century, Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2007
O'Hare, Greg, John Sweeney, and Rob Wilby, Weather, Climate, and Climate Change: Human Perspectives, New York: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005
Ometeca Institute, Ometeca Journal, vol. 14 & 15: Educating for Ecological Sustainability, 2010
Orr, David, Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, Albany: State University of New York, 1992
Orr, David W., The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002
Orr, David W., Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, 10th Anniversary ed., Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004
Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind; Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, New York: Riverhead Books, 2006
Pollan, Michael, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, Penguin, 2009
 
 
Ponting, Clive, A Green History of the World, New York: Penguin, 1991
Putman, Andrea and Michael Philips, The Business Case for Renewable Energy: A Guide for Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC: NACUBO, 2006
Rabe, Barry, Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004
Rappaport, Ann and Sarah Hammond Creighton, Degrees that Matter: Climate Change and the University, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007
Ravindranath, N.H. and Jayant A. Sathaye, Climate Change and Developing Countries, Boston, MA: Kluwer, 2002
Reynolds, Heather L., Eduardo S. Brondizio, and Jennifer Meta Robinson, Teaching Environmental Literacy: Across Campus and Across the Curriculum, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009
Roaf, Sue, David Crichton, and Fergus Nicol, Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change, Oxford: Architectural Press, 2005
Romm, Joseph J. Cool Companies, Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999
Romm, Joseph J., The Hype about Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2004
Rubin, Charles T. The Green Crusade: Rethinking the Roots of Environmentalism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998.
Saul, John Ralston, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West, Toronto: Penguin, 1992
Savitz, Andrew W., The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success -- and How You Can Too, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006
Schneider, Stephen H. and Terry L. Root, Wildlife Responses to Climate Change: North American Case Studies, Washington, DC: Island Press
Schneider, Stephen H., Armin Rosencranz, and John O. Niles, eds., Climate Change Policy: A Survey, Washington, DCL Island Press 2002
Senge, Peter et al., The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World, New York: Doubleday, 2008
Sevier, Robert A, Building a Brand That Matters: Helping Colleges Capitalize on the Four Essential Elements of a Block-Buster Brand, Hiawatha, IA: Strategy Publishing, 2002
Simpson, Walter ed., The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability, Alexandria, BA: APPA, 2008
Smith, Anthony and Frank Webster, eds., The Postmodern University? Contested Visions of Higher Education in Society, Bristol, PA: Taylor and Francis, 1997.
Speth, James G, Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of Global Environment, Chicago, IL: R.R. Donnelly & Sons, 2004
Spiegel, Ross and Dru Meadows, Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification, 2nd ed., Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006
Stefanovic, Ingrid Leman, Safeguarding Our Common Future: Rethinking Sustainable Development, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000
Sterling, Stephen, Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change, Dartington, Devon, UK: Green Books Ltd., 2001
Sterling, Stephen, Field Guide to Sustainable Packaging, Chicago, IL: Summit Publishing, 2007
Stibbe Arran, ed., The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy, Dartington, Totnes, Devon UK: Green Books 2009
Stone, Michael K., Smart By Nature: Schooling for Sustainability, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (Watershed Media), 2009
Stone, Michael K. and Zenobia Barlow, eds., Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a  Sustainable World, Sierra Club Books, 2005.
Sullivan, William M. and Matthew S. Rosin, A New Agenda for Higher Education: Shaping a Life of the Mind for Practice, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008
Suozzo, Margaret, Jim Benya, Mark Hydeman, Paul Dupont, Steven Nadel, and R. Neal Elliott, Guide to Energy Efficient Commercial Equipment, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, 2002
Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, Green Buildings Guidelines, Washington, DC: SBIC, 2002
Swanson, Holly, Set Up & Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means, 3rd edition, White City, OR: CIN Publishing, 2003
 
Swisher, Joel, The New Business Climate: A Guide to Lower Carbon Emissions and Better Business Performance, Snowmass, CO: Rocky Mountain Institute, 2003
Timpson, William M., Brian Dunbar, Gailmarie Kimmel, Brett Bruyere, Peter Newman, and Hillary Mizia, 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Sustainability: Connecting the Environment, the Economy, and Society, Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing, 2006
Toor, William and Spense Havlick, Transportation and Sustainable Campus Communities: Issues, Examples, and Solutions, Portland: Island Press, 2004
Townsend, A.K., The Smart Office: Turning Your Company on Its Head, Olney, MD: Gila Press, 1997
Walker, Liz, EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture, Gabriola Island, BC Canada: New Society Publishers, 2005
Williams, Austin, The Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainability, Exeter, UK: Societas, 2008
Wilson, Alex, Jennifer Thorne, and John Morrill, Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, 8th ed., Washington, DC: American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, 2004
Wilson, Alex and Nadav Malin, eds, GreenSpec Directory, 5th ed. Montpelier, VT: Capital City Press, 2005
Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World, Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 2009
Wulfinghoff, Donald, Energy Efficiency Manual, Wheaton, MD: Energy Institute Press, 1999
Young, Stephen C., ed., The Emergence of Ecological Modernization: Integrating the Environment and the Economy? London: Routledge, 2000
  • Share

Most Commented

November 19, 2024

1.

Lee Zeldin Should Reform EPA Science Policy

NAS welcomes the nomination of Congressmen Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency....

October 29, 2024

2.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

September 25, 2024

3.

NAS Statement on University of Pennsylvania Sanction of Amy Wax

The National Association of Scholars is outraged—but not surprised—by Penn's decision to penalize Wax for exercising her academic freedom. ...

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....