Last modified: Monday, August 30, 2010
IU class and lecture series on 'living a sustainable life' is open to public
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 30, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Members of the greater Bloomington community are invited to join Indiana University students for a fall 2010 class and lecture series that will explore the topic of sustainability.
T-200 Living a Sustainable Life will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in Woodburn Hall 100. The team-taught class, part of the College of Arts & Sciences Themester: "sustain•ability: Thriving on a Small Planet," will feature lectures by highly regarded IU faculty members, including Nobel Prize laureate Elinor Ostrom, and other campus and Bloomington sustainability experts.
"We've got great people coming to talk, and it's shaping up as a really fantastic class," said Christine Barbour, senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, who designed and is coordinating the class. "There's often an artificial divide in Bloomington between campus and community, but this should be an opportunity for both sides to come together."
The class will encourage students and other participants to think critically about sustainability and introduce them to a broad range of sustainability issues with regard to substantive subjects such as food, transportation, energy, architecture, recreation and computing.
Community members are invited to attend and sit near the rear of the lecture hall for any sessions that they find interesting. No reservations are needed. Visitors are asked to be "silent observers," reserving class participation for students. A schedule of lecturers will be posted and updated on the class website.
The class will explore such questions as the meaning, philosophy and scientific case for sustainability; what it means to live a sustainable life for the planet, nation, community and individual; and how the goal of sustainable living influences decisions about home, work, travel, play and consumption.
"Students make countless decisions, using lots of criteria, about how they live their lives," Barbour said. "This class will help make sustainability one of the things they think about in making those choices."
Scheduled lecturers include Indiana University faculty members Russell Hanson and Marjorie Hershey from the Department of Political Science, Scott Russell Sanders from the Department of English, Heather Reynolds from the Department of Biology, Mary Embry from the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design, Rick Wilk from the Department of Anthropology and Charles Chancellor from the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
Elinor Ostrom, Distinguished Professor and Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, will speak Sept. 16 on "Institutional Robustness."
Benjamin Schulz from the Kelley School of Business and Jeff Mease of One World Enterprises will speak about sustainable business practices. Bruce Jacobs, executive director of the Indiana Memorial Union, and Bill Brown and Emily Rex of the IU Office of Sustainability will speak about campus issues. Dave Rollo of the Bloomington City Council is also scheduled to speak.
For more information, see https://www.polsci.indiana.edu/sustain. Paid parking for visitors is expected to be available at the Indiana Memorial Union lots and the Jordan Avenue Parking Garage.
