Integrating sustainability into curriculum, Montana State University, carbon cycle literacy, resources

1. UM Green Thread 2013
Workshop Report &
Recommendations
Tony Hartshorn
Land Resources & Environmental Sciences
soildoc@gmail.com
3 June 2013

2. Outline
Why integrate sustainability into
curriculum?
Green Thread
Workshop report & recommendations
Some of my favorite sustainability
resources
A
B
C
D

3. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
A

4. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
• Because we (MSU: Gamble) made this commitment?
• I attended a sustainability workshop in Missoula last week. One point of my
attendance was to strategize here at MSU about how to meet our institutional
(MSU) commitment to integrating sustainability (conceptually, practically) into
our curriculum.

5. Our 2008 commitment

6. Our 2008 commitment
What’s this?

8. These numbers are years
These numbers are metric tons of
carbon dioxide equivalents or Mg
(short for megagrams, i.e. millions
of grams) CO2e…

9. Can you visualize 50,000 Mg (50,000,000 kg)
of CO2e? Hint: Each of you exhales ~1 pound
(~0.5 kg) of CO2 every day (see
http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/math-how-much-co2-is-emitted-by-human-on-earth-
annually/ for an excellent example of our broader societal need for carbon literacy). UM’s Cherie
Peacock noted carbon cycle illiteracy likely contributed to UM’s failed biomass plant experiment.
• 1 100-car coal train, with each car carrying 100 tons of coal is the equivalent of
10,000 Mg CO2e… so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 1 day (5 coal
trains’) worth of CO2
• Record attendance in stadium = 20,767
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_Stadium_(Montana_State_University)), so that’s ~10,000 kg of CO2
per game, so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 5000 games worth of
football fans
• 1 acre-foot of water (approximate annual rain input to a Manhattan wheat field) represents a
volume of 43,560 cubic feet, and because water has a density of 62 pounds/ft3, would weigh 2.7
million pounds or 1.2 million kg or 1200 Mg… so 50,000/1200 ~ 42 acre-feet of water.
(Our campus is ~1800 acres.)

10. Can you visualize 50,000 Mg (50,000,000 kg)
of CO2e? Hint: Each of you exhales ~1 pound
(~0.5 kg) of CO2 every day (see
http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/math-how-much-co2-is-emitted-by-human-on-earth-
annually/ for an excellent example of our broader societal need for carbon literacy). UM’s Cherie
Peacock noted carbon cycle illiteracy likely contributed to UM’s failed biomass plant experiment.
• 1 100-car coal train, with each car carrying 100 tons of coal is the equivalent of
10,000 Mg CO2e… so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 1 day (5 coal
trains’) worth of CO2
• Record attendance in stadium = 20,767
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_Stadium_(Montana_State_University)), so that’s ~10,000 kg of CO2
per game, so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 5000 games worth of
football fans
• 1 acre-foot of water (approximate annual rain input to a Manhattan wheat field) represents a
volume of 43,560 cubic feet, and because water has a density of 62 pounds/ft3, would weigh 2.7
million pounds or 1.2 million kg or 1200 Mg… so 50,000/1200 ~ 42 acre-feet of water.
(Our campus is ~1800 acres.)

11. Can you visualize 50,000 Mg (50,000,000 kg)
of CO2e? Hint: Each of you exhales ~1 pound
(~0.5 kg) of CO2 every day (see
http://micpohling.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/math-how-much-co2-is-emitted-by-human-on-earth-
annually/ for an excellent example of our broader societal need for carbon literacy). UM’s Cherie
Peacock noted carbon cycle illiteracy likely contributed to UM’s failed biomass plant experiment.
• 1 100-car coal train, with each car carrying 100 tons of coal is the equivalent of
10,000 Mg CO2e… so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 1 day (5 coal
trains’) worth of CO2
• Record attendance in stadium = 20,767
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_Stadium_(Montana_State_University)), so that’s ~10,000 kg of CO2
per game, so MSU in 1 year generates the equivalent of 5000 games worth of
football fans
• 1 acre-foot of water (approximate annual rain input to a Manhattan wheat field) represents a
volume of 43,560 cubic feet, and because water has a density of 62 pounds/ft3, would weigh 2.7
million pounds or 1.2 million kg or 1200 Mg… so 50,000/1200 ~ 42 acre-feet of water.
(Our campus is ~1800 acres.)

13. Goals: 20% reduction in 2009 CO2e
emissions by 2025

14. Reality #1?: “Business as usual”

15. Reality #2?: Increased enrollment
plus increased per capita emissions
(consistent with “American
exceptionalism”?)

17. Ultimate goal: carbon neutrality

18. “You-pick” sustainability future!
?
?
?

19. IPCC 2007
AR4

21. “Plans to make sust a part of the
curriculum for all students…”
• How is IoE plugged into this effort?

22. “Plans to make sust a part of the
curriculum for all students…”
• How is IoE plugged into this effort?

23. “Plans to make sust a part of the
curriculum for all students…”
• How is IoE plugged into this effort?
• 16 2011-2012 incubation grants
2/4 “sust” ’s

25. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
• Because we (MSU: Gamble) made this 2008 commitment?
• Tony Hartshorn attended a sustainability workshop in Missoula last
week. One point of my attendance was to strategize here at MSU about how
to meet our institutional (MSU) commitment to integrating sustainability
(conceptually, practically) into our curriculum.
• Because it supports our current strategic plan?

29. Stewardship of what?

30. Stewardship of what?

31. Beyond how much faculty get paid per
hour, what about the number of hours?

32. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
• Because we (MSU: Gamble) made this 2008 commitment?
• Tony Hartshorn attended a sustainability workshop in Missoula last
week. One point of my attendance was to strategize here at MSU about how
to meet our institutional (MSU) commitment to integrating sustainability
(conceptually, practically) into our curriculum.
• Because it supports our current strategic plan?
• Because it recruits students to STEM fields?

33. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
• Because we (MSU: Gamble) made this 2008 commitment?
• Tony Hartshorn attended a sustainability workshop in Missoula last
week. One point of my attendance was to strategize here at MSU about how
to meet our institutional (MSU) commitment to integrating sustainability
(conceptually, practically) into our curriculum.
• Because it supports our current strategic plan?
• Because it recruits students to STEM fields?
• Because we owe it to current and future generations of Bobcats?
(Insert President Cruzado’s enthusiastic closing: “Go Bobcats!” *Go
where? Go how—petrodiesel or biodiesel? Why go?])

34. Why integrate sust into
curriculum?
• Because we (MSU: Gamble) made this 2008 commitment?
• Tony Hartshorn attended a sustainability workshop in Missoula last
week. One point of my attendance was to strategize here at MSU about how
to meet our institutional (MSU) commitment to integrating sustainability
(conceptually, practically) into our curriculum.
• Because it supports our current strategic plan?
• Because it recruits students to STEM fields?
• Because we owe it to current and future generations of Bobcats?
(Insert President Cruzado’s enthusiastic closing: “Go Bobcats!” *Go
where? Go how—petrodiesel or biodiesel? Why go?])
• Because it can do all the above and cultivate productive collegiality…
thereby improving the sustainability of our craft—higher education?

35. Green Thread, 2013
B

37. Green Thread 2013 Workshop Report
• 2 day workshop, $400 fee; co-convened by Steve Schwarze (Env Comm), Lisa
Swallow (Business). Objective: team exercise in course revision
• ~20 attendees, mostly UM non science (humanities); 1 biologist, 1 economist
from Gonzaga; 1 architect from Univ Western Idaho
• Structure: (3 pre-workshop readings)
- Evening get-together catered Thai dinner
- Intro PPT by Schwarze—what is sustainability, and how can it be integrated into higher ed?
- Place-based exercise… how can Feature X of a campus be integrated into one of your classes?
- Group projects: syllabus revision (I proposed upgrading ENSC245, “Soils”)
- Dinner on our own (I dined with a UM mathematician and Gonzaga biologist)
- Green Thread 3-alumni panel presentation: mostly humanities (rubrics shared)
- Panel disc.: Cherie Peacock (Sust Coord.), Robin Saha (Env. Studies), Ian Finch (Dining Services)
- Tour of campus sustainability icons—Payne Native American Center (LEED), Dining Services
- Overview of UM PEAS farm (Josh Slotnick http://www.gardencityharvest.org/peasfarm.html )
- Overview of sustainable transportation (Bob Giordano http://www.strans.org/ )
- Group presentations, remarks by President Engstrom
- Happy hour
C

38. “Ten ways to integrate sust into the
curriculum”

39. How many calories
expended, ultimately
fueled by __ and how
many calories avoided,
ultimately fueled by __?
Inquiring minds want to
know.

40. 5 team presentations: Tao Te Ching “Ways of Knowing”,
x, “Interconnectedness of Insects”, “Carbon/Water/Ecological
Footprint Overlays for Demographic Pyramids”, “Jelly Rubber
Dil-No’s”

41. Green Thread 2013 Workshop Report
• 2 day workshop, $400 fee; co-convened by Steve Schwarze (Env Comm), Lisa
Swallow (Business). Objective: team exercise in course revision
• ~20 attendees, mostly UM non science (humanities); 1 biologist, 1 economist
from Gonzaga; 1 architect from Univ Western Idaho
• Structure:
- Evening get-together catered Thai dinner
- Intro PPT by Schwarze—what is sustainability, and how can it be integrated into higher ed?
- Place-based exercise… how can Feature X of a campus be integrated into one of your classes?
- Group projects: syllabus revision
- Dinner on our own (I dined with a UM mathematician and Gonzaga biologist)
- Green Thread alumni: mostly humanities (rubrics shared)
- Panel discussion: Cherie Peacock, Robin Saha, Finch (Dining Services)
- Tour of campus sustainability icons—Payne Native American Center (LEED), Dining Services
- Overview of local farm (Josh __)
- Overview of sustainable transportation (xx)
- Group presentations, remarks by President Engstrom
- Happy hour

42. Green Thread 2013 Workshop Report
Recommendations
1. Launch a curriculum revision workshop, where faculty and admin. are paid to
participate. Focus? Systems thinking… … “Lifestyle Project”
2. Non-financial incentivization of oversubscribed faculty through promise of
“turn key” assessments (pre-, post-surveys via D2L) of student learning
outcomes (knowledge, attitudes, skills, aspirations, behaviors). How do you know if your sust
integration has been successful? Apply same assessments to workshop participants, to see to what extent workshop “moves the needle.”
3. Integrate Western and non-Western (e.g., Native American) perspectives as
well as science and non-sciences frames on sustainability.
4. For tripartite approach, strengthen non-core elements.
i. Humanities corestrengthen environmental and economic science
ii. Env science corestrengthen humanities, social, econ science
iii. Econ corestrengthen humanities, social, env science

43. Tony recommends 2 books, 1 article, and 1 website… and can share TTETD chapters if interested.
This book has lots and lots of great numbers. New Zealand perspective.
D

44. Gentle introduction to ‘Fermi’ problems and the value of scientific notation.
There is a 2nd edition too, with more worked examples.

46. This table is blue&gold. You
could recycle everything for
80 years and your CO2
savings would amount to 17
metric tons, which is great.
But contrast those savings
with those from having one
fewer American kid (~9500
metric tons)!

47. http://visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/co2/