nity to link sustainability and social justice. A variety of other
community service projects, including the building of low-income houses, waste clean-up, and streamside improvements,
also provide occasions for considering the connection between
sustainability and social justice. Through community service,
students also have opportunities to examine the unintended
consequences of well-intended actions that are implemented
without consulting members of that community.
Food
The ways in which college personnel or contract food service
providers source, transport, serve, and dispose of food can
have a huge impact on the environment. Many campuses
are writing sustainability provisions into their contracts with
food vendors, which may require that certain percentages of
locally grown or organic food is served. The decision of when
and what to buy locally is a complex one with serious on- and
off-campus implications. For instance, is it better to buy lamb
raised in New Zealand or 50 miles away? Given the environmental impact of transportation costs, this would appear to be
a simple decision. But what if the New Zealand lamb is raised
on open pastures, while local providers raise lamb in feedlots,
polluting local water sources or the air quality of surrounding
communities? How are the grains used for feedlots grown and
transported? As is the case with sustainability and social justice
issues, a simple analysis does not suffice.
Energy
The manner in which we acquire and use energy on campus
can have a significant impact on our “carbon footprint.”
About two years ago, Evergreen State College began considering whether to construct on campus a biomass gasification
generator, which utilizes agricultural or forest waste as raw
biomass fuel to produce cleaner energy. Initially, it sounded
like a great idea. The biomass gasification process was reported
to be relatively clean, with wood remaining from local clear
cuts supplying the fuel. Grants were available to support the
project, and the forest industry and state officials seemed
supportive. Within a short time, a vigorous opposition to the
project arose on and off campus. Questions were raised about
the comparative toxicity of emissions from the proposed facility compared to the current facility. While not explicitly identified, some of the concerns centered around intergenerational
social justice issues. Critics of the project were worried that,
over time, locally available fuel sources would be depleted,
requiring increased transportation costs and other expenses.
The college was criticized by some for not sufficiently consulting with stakeholders who would be affected by the project.
Ultimately, the project was tabled, and its future is uncertain.
Putting theory into Practice
It is not clear how often campus practices reflect an under-
standing of the connection between social justice and sustain-
ability. One environmental writer has argued that there are
very few incorporations of environmental justice indicators
into actual sustainability work. In a 2002 issue of the journal
Local Environment, Kay Warner reports that while 40 percent
of large cities post sustainability projects on their websites, only
five cities dealt with environmental justice, arguing that equity
concerns should be “…brought in from the periphery of the
sustainable development discourse.” Another author, Michael
D. Oden, (Pragmatic Sustainability: Theoretical and Practical
Tools, Rutledge, 2010) sees little evidence that equity concerns
have moved from the periphery. He believes one reason is that
it is politically difficult to engage in such discussions. “Perhaps
a more fundamental reason why equity is an underdeveloped
component of the sustainability discourse is the deep concep-
tual and ideological divides that make serious discussions of
equity highly charged and politically problematic. At least in
the U.S. context, one could assert that discussions of equity or
existing inequality entail more trying ideological resistance than
calls for environmental improvement.”
One way to examine the extent to which the connection
between sustainability and social justice has taken hold is to
examine the processes used by campuses to evaluate its prog-
ress. Two third-party review processes are used by campuses to
assess work in sustainability. LEED certification is a process to
define and measure the degree to which a specific building is
sustainable. The LEED list of performance indicators does not
specifically include social justice measures.
an oPPortunity area
The intersection of social justice and sustainability is an
emerging area of inquiry. Definitions are contested and questions are raised about the degree to which actual practices
reflect understanding of the connection. While this is the case,
SSAOs can build on the strong theoretical basis for linking these issues and significant campus interest in them. By
addressing the connection between social justice and sustainability, we can deepen our understanding of both, contribute
to an emerging line of inquiry, and better prepare students to
create a more just and sustainable society. LE
Art Costantino is vice president for student affairs at The Evergreen
State College. He is a member of the NASPA Sustainability Knowledge
Community, serving as chair of the Greening of NASPA.
