2008 Woodie Awards
Sustainability class proposed by management students
Alyssa Stevenson
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
Management 408 has inspired University of Wisconsin - La Crosse students, Anthony Schmidt, Nicole Alderman, Amber Ross, and Amanda Dedenhardt to raise awareness about sustainability in hopes of educating students and faculty members alike of our campus about why a class on sustainability on campus would be beneficial and how other school campuses have already begun the process.
Schmidt states that, "while the definition of sustainability varies by what a person's own view of the subject is, the general idea behind the topic is that we must be doing something that helps our community, nation, or globe."
Classes on this matter would then be able to examine businesses and their sustainability efforts, or lack thereof. Schmidt states that one example of sustainability would be companies and restaurants dealing with environmentally safe local farms and businesses. In hopes to further explain why sustainability is necessary, he mentions that, "to strictly do business without worrying about the consequences of one's actions can produce catastrophic events, even events as large as the Enron scandal."
Sustainability would allow students to be economical while using ideas that would also be environmentally friendly. UW - La Crosse would not be the first university to have a course on the issue. In fact, some schools have signed a pledge which states that they will take steps to both reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and to become more carbon neutral.
One of these schools is Oberlin College, which is located near Cleveland, Ohio. The college has begun to involve students in sustainability by having a competition among the residence halls to see which can have the lowest energy consumption. This type of competition hopes to show students how much energy they really use, because quite often they do not always realize how much they really consume. While living in residence halls, students are even less likely do know how much energy they are really using, because they do not receive monthly bills for energy, heat, or electricity. The competition at Oberlin College posted the results online to allow everyone to check how much energy had been used.
Overall, sustainability helps to both save energy and promote the general health of the environment and the Earth. Schmidt believes that both UW-L and the environment would prosper from sustainability efforts. He states that, "the University of La Crosse can make a large impact in our world by training its business people to learn how to become more sustainable; and this is why a class on the subject needs to required and taught here on campus."
Schmidt states that, "while the definition of sustainability varies by what a person's own view of the subject is, the general idea behind the topic is that we must be doing something that helps our community, nation, or globe."
Classes on this matter would then be able to examine businesses and their sustainability efforts, or lack thereof. Schmidt states that one example of sustainability would be companies and restaurants dealing with environmentally safe local farms and businesses. In hopes to further explain why sustainability is necessary, he mentions that, "to strictly do business without worrying about the consequences of one's actions can produce catastrophic events, even events as large as the Enron scandal."
Sustainability would allow students to be economical while using ideas that would also be environmentally friendly. UW - La Crosse would not be the first university to have a course on the issue. In fact, some schools have signed a pledge which states that they will take steps to both reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and to become more carbon neutral.
One of these schools is Oberlin College, which is located near Cleveland, Ohio. The college has begun to involve students in sustainability by having a competition among the residence halls to see which can have the lowest energy consumption. This type of competition hopes to show students how much energy they really use, because quite often they do not always realize how much they really consume. While living in residence halls, students are even less likely do know how much energy they are really using, because they do not receive monthly bills for energy, heat, or electricity. The competition at Oberlin College posted the results online to allow everyone to check how much energy had been used.
Overall, sustainability helps to both save energy and promote the general health of the environment and the Earth. Schmidt believes that both UW-L and the environment would prosper from sustainability efforts. He states that, "the University of La Crosse can make a large impact in our world by training its business people to learn how to become more sustainable; and this is why a class on the subject needs to required and taught here on campus."
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