Leading environmentalist Sara Parkin today called on Scotland's universities to put green issues at the heart of campus life to address the major environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.
The programme director of the sustainability charity Forum for the Future, and former chair of the Green Party, said universities must embrace the opportunity to develop research agendas and courses that can produce a new generation of sustainability-literate graduates.
She said: "Sustainability is a huge scientific, political and business issue. That is why we need the brightest minds and the most innovative research ideas to inform our thinking and strengthen the debate - locally and globally.
"Education has been held up as the tool to transform our environmental fortunes for almost three decades. Yet education did not even make it on to the agenda at this year's World Summit in South Africa where our statesmen were faced with the evidence that no major negative trend has been slowed or even halted."
Ms Parkin, who hails from Aberdeen, was speaking during a visit to the University of Aberdeen where she learned more about its innovative plans to address the sustainability agenda.
This has been developed in response to the Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability (HEPS) - a collaboration of 18 UK universities and colleges geared to develop best practice in sustainability management. Forum for the Future manages the three-year programme which was launched in 2000. Aberdeen is one of four Scottish universities involved in the initiative.
The plan of action is designed to: improve the sustainability of the University's business operations promote sustainable development across the student learning experience identify opportunities to work in partnership with civic and business leaders More…
Ms Parkin added: "I am delighted that Aberdeen is tackling sustainability in an innovative way. This is the kind of leadership we need to build a framework which supports new ways of working, living and learning "
Principal C Duncan Rice said: "The initiative is sending a clear signal to our community that we are determined to make this work, and I am pleased to see a number of exciting projects already taking root," he said.
"We have a portfolio of some 37 undergraduate degree programmes with environmental and sustainability themes which are now being professionally marketed to potential students. We have launched a pilot paper re-cycling initiative within our administration building. We have appointed a member of staff dedicated to the programme. We are sharing our progress through a specially-created web-site, and will soon establish a bio-diversity group to develop plans for King's College."
Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice Principal, Research and Commercialisation, added: "This initiative also provides a corporate focus for our sustainability research and we have some international players leading the way at Aberdeen.
"Jan Bebbington, an expert in environmental accounting, serves on First Minister Jack McConnell's Cabinet committee on sustainable development; Mark Shucksmith who has international recognition for his work on development and social exclusion issues; and Paul Mitchell who has led significant work on producing energy from biomass - fuel produced from vegetation."
Further details on the University's environmental initiative can be found at www.abdn.ac.uk/environment