by Gina Coplon-Newfield, Director of Communications and Rima Mulla, Communications Associate, Second Nature

The much-anticipated Division I College Basketball Tournament is right around the corner, and we expect a high percentage of the schools competing in the men’s and women’s division I games to be ACUPCC signatories. If you and others from your school send in enough great photos, videos, and stories about sustainability and athletics on your campus, your school just might win the Green Bracket Competition. The Second Nature team will be posting the best images and stories online in the effort to generate some friendly competition and publicity for green schools as well as highlight progress on the greening of athletics programs.

The competition runs now through April 7.  You do not have to be affiliated with a school that’s in the Division I college basketball tournament or that is part of the ACUPCC to participate. And submissions can pertain to basketball or any other college sport or athletics program that incorporate sustainability. For more on the game rules, click here.

Submissions and questions go to greenbrackets@secondnature.org.  Seewww.greenbrackets.com for more information.

Good luck, and may the most enthusiastic green team win!

by Ben Lowe, Co-Coordinator, Renewal: Students Caring for Creation

Renewal, a grassroots Christian environmental network active on campuses across the United States and Canada, is proud to present the first-ever report on our growing movement: Green Awakenings: Stories of Stewardship and Sustainability from the Next Generation.

Now is a momentous time for our generation; the planet is in crisis and environmental stewardship is a biblical priority for Christians.  The purpose of Green Awakenings is to show what it looks like when Christian students and campuses come together to care for all of God’s creation.   We want to demonstrate the breadth, depth, and diversity of the growing student movement.

As I write this, I am on the way back from speaking at The Kings University College in Alberta, Canada.  Kings is one of over fifty campuses featured in the report, most of which are members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, but only a handful of which are currently signatories to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.  Signatories are identified in the report by the torch logo next to their names.

Gaby Rigaud recounts her experience as she wraps up a year of interning with Second Nature’s Advancing Green Building in Higher Education program. We’ll miss you, Gaby!

by Gaby Rigaud, Advancing Green Building Intern, Second Nature

We all have moments in our lives when we’re forced to adjust and make difficult decisions that we hope will change our lives for the best. One such moment for me came at the end of 2008. At that point, I had spent nearly four years working as a civil engineer at a Fortune 500 consulting firm in Boston, and I found myself at an impasse. Lacking both variety and a sense of purpose in my daily activities, feeling unsupported, I began to be unfulfilled in my professional life. My initial remedy was to go to graduate school to broaden my knowledge; I quickly found, though, that this would not be sufficient. I reevaluated the situation, asking myself the usual questions: “Where do I see myself in 5-10 years?” and “What am I passionate about?” This exercise resulted in a decision that most people who know and are close to me saw as irrational. My future was presented to me in a new light, and putting up new condo buildings and underground parking garages for the next 40 years was not part of it.

by Georges Dyer, Senior Fellow, Second Nature

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Unity College – “America’s Environmental College” – in Unity, ME, where I met with about a hundred of the students in the Environmental Challenge class.

My talk – part of the Lapping Lecture Series – focused on some of the national and international trends we see in Education for Sustainability (EfS) from our perspective here at Second Nature.

I emphasized how there is a strong trend in society toward making a sustainability perspective a prerequisite for competent leadership. I described some of the steps that colleges and universities across the country are taking to ensure that our graduates are equipped with an understanding of sustainability principles so they’re not left at a competitive disadvantage when they enter the global workforce.

I focused quite a bit on the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the importance of both top-level commitment from the president as well as the need for leadership to emerge from all levels of the organization if institutions are going to be successful in implementing the Commitment, achieving climate neutrality, and providing the education and research needed for the rest of society to do the same.