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Viewing Sustainability as a Management Problem

By on January 11, 2013 in Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Beth Gray

Last week, Steven Cohen, the Executive Director of Columbia University‘s Earth Institute, published an article on The Huffington Post‘s Green Blog titled, “Educating Sustainability Professionals.” Though the title isn’t particularly eye-catching or intriguing in itself, Cohen’s perspective on the intricacies of the global sustainability problem is.

Cohen begins by citing the US Census Bureau’s most recent population numbers (released on December 23rd): 314,992,253 people in the United States and 7,060,464,677 people in the world.… Read the rest

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Degrees of Sustainability

By on November 26, 2012 in Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Kelly Wenner

We have been reading a lot about how sustainability should factor into the college experience.  The Princeton Review now has a yearly guide of green colleges, and the Review also reports that students care considerably about a college’s sustainability elements when considering colleges to attend.  Interestingly, it is not always the first-time college student that is concerned with how a college curriculum addresses sustainability.  A Q&A session at the Net Impact conference shed light on another type of student: those who have already graduated and are professionals with non-sustainability related degrees whose companies or industries are invested in sustainable business practices.  To go further with this concept, Green Biz conducted an additional survey in partnership with Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, part of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.  This survey aimed at identifying general career-related needs as well as sustainability-specific needs of a potential field of Executive Master’s candidates.… Read the rest

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What Exactly Does It Mean to be a “Green Business?”

By on June 26, 2012 in Adaptive Reuse, APUS Sustainability Efforts, Green Economy, Green-Building, Renewable Energy, Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

What is a “Green” Business? by APUS

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5 Ways to Reduce Your Environmental Impact in the Office

By on April 21, 2012 in APUS Sustainability Efforts, Earth Day, Green Building, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

In Part 2 of our series, Tatiana Sehring, Strategic Manager Environmental Leadership and Sustainability, gives us 5 quick, easy ways that we can minimize our environmental impact in the office.  As we celebrate Earth Day tomorrow, the world will turn its focus to issues related to the state of our environment.  With Tatiana’s suggestions, however, we can carry the spirit of Earth Day past tomorrow and integrate sustainable practices into our daily lives throughout the year.  Happy Earth Day!

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After Earth Day

By on April 13, 2012 in APUS Sustainability Efforts, Current Events, Earth Day, Green Economy, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Ryan Harding

I am confident that, with Earth Day on the immediate horizon, the nation’s biggest publications have begun to compose those bannerheads that will run on April 22, as the whole news media takes up its annual tradition of, for a day, fixing its gaze on environmental issues. For one day, we will collectively turn our eye to the issue of sustainability, reading retrospectives on the environmental movement, which trace its genealogy, and connect the movement’s past to its present and future, or op-eds on environmental degradation, carbon emissions, and water scarcity.… Read the rest

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Achieving a Sustainable Supply Chain

By on November 28, 2011 in Sustainability in Business, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Beth Gray

Supply chain management is an important element of any business.  Dr. Robert Handfield, Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management, notes that until recently, “few businesses understood, much less managed, the entire chain of activities that ultimately delivered products to the final customer.”  It is more common in recent years, however, that businesses are paying much more attention to their supply chains.  With the increasing awareness of the importance of corporate social responsibility initiatives, supply chains are not only being “managed,” but are also becoming more environmentally friendly. 

Institutions of higher education are incredible consumers of goods.  In most cases, these “goods” – everything from toilet paper to food and from ink cartridges to dorm furniture – come from outside vendors.  The environmentally-conscious university has to consider the methods used to create these products and the environmental impact of transporting them from manufacturer to end user when evaluating its own environmental impact.  In addition, the waste created from these goods must be considered.  Many colleges and universities are addressing the entire life-cycle of goods and services in order to create more sustainable supply chains.  Rutgers University, for example, has developed a comprehensive, “holistic” approach to supply chain management that is driven by both good and effective use of university funds and the university’s stated responsibility to the environment. 

… Read the rest

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Reverse Vending Machines – The Future of Recycling

By on August 24, 2011 in Recycling, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business

by Kelly Wenner

Imagine a vending machine that pays you for your product. For those readers living in a state with a bottle deposit law Reverse Vending Machines, or RVMs, may already be commonplace at your local public spaces.  An RVM is a device that accepts empty beverage containers and returns payment – either in money or another form of currency such as coupons or gift cards – to the user.  Businesses that are looking for ways to increase their sustainability initiatives may have found one in this incarnation of recycling.… Read the rest

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The Story of Stuff Project

By on June 30, 2011 in APUS Sustainability Efforts, Book/Resource Reviews, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business, Sustainability Resources

by Beth Gray

Recently, a coworker who is also an American Public University (APU) student (as many of our employees are) sent me a link to a YouTube video that her professor posted as part of that week’s assignment.  The video, produced by The Story of Stuff Project and narrated by Annie Leonard, is 20 minutes in length and provides a somewhat scathing look at the life cycle of our “stuff.” 

Through the use of basic yet effective animations, Leonard describes in accessible terms how all of our stuff comes to be and what happens when we are finished with it.  Through the five steps of the materials economy (extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal), our stuff requires tremendous resources, natural and human.  Along the way, the process harms many of the parties involved.  During the extraction process, for example, people living in the places where the first resources are culled often lose the lands and natural materials on which they have relied for generations.  Because their resources are lost, some 200,000 people a day (worldwide) move from environments that had previously sustained them for generations to cities in search of work, often finding it in the factories that are making stuff from the resources taken from their lands.  During the production process, workers are subjected to many harmful chemicals that are used to create the stuff.  At the same time, working conditions in many of the factories producing our stuff leave much to be desired. 

Even the consumer, who is the driving force behind the manufacturing of this stuff is harmed.  The toxins that go into making the stuff impact those who buy and use these items.  Leonard uses the phrase, “toxins in, toxics out” to make the point that many of our products are actually toxic to us.  Through all of this, the environment takes the most consistent abuse, however.  The loss of vast quantities of natural resources, toxins emitted into the environment, and the irresponsible disposal of most items leaves our planet quite vulnerable, according to Leonard.… Read the rest

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American Muscle: On the Road to Sustainability?

By on June 27, 2011 in Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business

by Shawn Skinner

Many people often do not equate auto performance with efficiency.  This is often true of many early American performance cars.  The first performance engine available to the masses was the Ford Flathead V-8 introduced in 1932.  It is often associated with bootlegging and hot rodding, but it was compact and fuel efficient when compared to larger inline six or eight cylinder engines.  Road tests were even able to achieve 20mpg fuel economy, quite remarkable for the times.… Read the rest

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Ready or Not, Here It Comes: Fracking in the Marcellus Shale

By on April 18, 2011 in Current Events, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business

by Wesley Holmes, LEED Green Associate, Environmental Policy Analyst and Sustainability Consultant

Wesley Holmes earned his Masters of Science degree in Environmental Policy and Management from APU in February 2010, graduating with honors.  For his final project, Wesley began researching the green elements associated with APUS’ new Academic Center which is anticipated to receive LEED Gold certification later this year. As part of that project, Wesley created the APUS Green Building Blog which he maintains on a regular basis.  The blog is full of information related to the APUS Academic Center, green building in general, and Brownfields sites in particular.  Earlier this month Wesley attended the National Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia and submitted the following article for publication on the APUS Sustainability Blog.… Read the rest

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