Sustainability Action Plan 2022

Student and Curriculum Programs and Projects

4.11 Student and Curriculum Development

The purpose of the California Community Colleges system is to educate students and foster their success by preparing them to be engaged members of society and to be ready for the careers of tomorrow. As economic, environmental and social sustainability becomes increasingly important in all facets of society, the California Community College system has a responsibility for moving the current and future generations toward a sustainable future.

Greening educational curriculum — using campuswide infrastructure as a pedagogical tool to inform students about systems thinking and develop a holistic view of education for sustainable development — is a priority in achieving this goal. By embedding social responsibility and sustainable development strategies into existing courses and encouraging new curricula with an environmental and sustainability focus, the community college system can play a crucial role in developing an environmentally sustainable future.

The district should strive to create opportunities for student involvement, so that on-campus sustainability initiatives are transparent, accessible, and have a visible focus. Through this process, students, faculty, staff and administrators would be able to work together to become effective agents for positive change.

4.11.1 Provide Professional Development and Create a Faculty Forum

Since much of the change in the curriculum will be driven by faculty, providing opportunities for professional growth for individual faculty members will increase the success of sustainability integration. Flex hours can be used to hold workshops on sustainability in the curriculum and start the discussion among faculty. In addition, forums and seminars could be held throughout the year for faculty to learn more about sustainability and to create conversations and partnerships between departments to foster the development of sustainability in the curriculum. The district should also provide recognition for faculty that take leadership in integrating sustainability into the curriculum.

4.11.2 Highlight Climate Action and Sustainability in Various Venues — Priority

The BOG Framework recommends that districts highlight climate action and sustainability in various venues such as convocation, student orientation and professional development. ESAC should explore ways to introduce sustainability issues into these and other campus venues, which can serve student education and outreach to the larger community.

4.11.3 Establish Climate Change and Sustainability Education as an Immersive Experience

Another BOG Framework recommendation is for districts to explore partnerships that allow climate change and sustainability education to be an immersive experience for students, such as community-engaged learning and continued learning. Students could engage in immersive learning strategies through the use of campus landscapes, buildings and systems, food service, waste and recycling, energy, water and wastewater and other campus operations. The district should explore adopting Campus as a Living Lab initiatives to help test, accelerate and scale sustainability solutions as well as other immersive sustainability educational strategies.

4.11.4 Training Opportunities for Students — Priority

By engaging and recruiting students for participation in energy and sustainability projects, the district can provide a critical training opportunity. For example, students could assist in data gathering, analysis, project scoping, and following projects through design, installation, startup and commissioning. Students could augment their classroom learning with hands-on experience by applying what they have learned to the real world. Career pathways that lead to

good jobs in the emerging green economy should be supported, and students should be given opportunities to learn about those career pathways.

4.11.5 Curriculum Development — Priority

ESAC should reach out to the college academic senates to explore learning opportunities related to energy and sustainability activities for students. One option could be to invite a member of each college academic senate to participate in ESAC meetings and then report back to the full senate for consideration. This strategy and possibly others should be evaluated and will require leadership from the faculty for adoption.

4.11.6 Research True Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of Energy and Sustainability Activities — Priority

Many energy efficiency and sustainability projects have some negative impacts that are often overlooked when making plans and decisions designed to improve sustainability. While these technologies' life cycle environmental benefits may outweigh the status quo fossil fuel energy system, the tradeoffs should be understood so informed decisions can be made.

The district should work to ensure energy and sustainability activities consider economic constraints, actual environmental and social impacts (including material, manufacturing, and disposal impacts), equipment maintenance considerations and lifecycle analysis. This should be an evaluated, quality control process, using data and information as a basis for decisions. Students should be engaged as a resource for research and reporting findings to ESAC and district administration.

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