A Closer Look | University Partners for Developing Alternate Ecological Futures

Social movements tend to sweep through college and university campuses in the United States, and environmental sustainability is no exception. Countless colleges today are making major efforts to reduce their carbon footprints (take UNC, Yale, and University of Florida for example). Many institutions even house their own sustainability offices, which focus on immediate “greening” strategies such as constructing carbon neutral buildings and providing biodegradable eating utensils.

However some schools, like the University of Minnesota, deserve special attention as their initiatives go beyond the traditional sphere of the college community and work to influence state policies. The Minnesota 2050: Pathways to a Sustainable Future Project focuses on long-term planning, involving the creation and analysis of potential future environmental scenarios. The campus team is drafting plans to cope with these possibilities and prevent the realization of the worst case scenarios. Project results will ultimately be passed on to local legislatures for consideration. To read more about Minnesota 2050, please click here.

Other institutions, like the University of Michigan, are using similar scenario techniques in their campus planning. Please share with us if you have information about other programs of this nature.