With the United Nations warning that humanity has less than 11 years to prevent climate change from causing irreversible damage to the planet, immediate and accelerated climate action is necessary. 

The upcoming decade is “the most pivotal decade in human history,” said Fiona Wilson, the director of the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire. And although she admits that sounds a bit “grandiose,” she’s not alone in that proclamation. 

Across the United States and throughout the world, colleges and universities have focused on becoming more environmentally sustainable. They’ve set ambitious goals to reach carbon neutrality and are actively developing strategies to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. But for humanity to mitigate climate change successfully, these schools must expand their efforts beyond their own campuses and into their greater communities.

UNH, named one of the five most sustainable colleges in the United States by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), understands this. 

As a public land-grant institution, advancing sustainability in surrounding communities is part of UNH’s DNA, Wilson explained. “Land-grant institutions were envisioned from the very beginning as contributing to the public good,” she said.

And that’s exactly what UNH is doing. Through multiple initiatives, the university is sending students out into surrounding communities, helping companies and organizations become more sustainable and preparing students with the real-life experience they need to be effective thought leaders in a future shaped by climate change. 

One such initiative is called the B Impact Clinic. Modeled after a program at North Carolina State University, this initiative connects UNH students with local businesses, helping businesses understand how they are operating with respect to sustainability and preparing them to eventually become B-corp certified. 

“Love it or hate it, the for-profit business sector is one of the most powerful forces that shapes our economy today,” Wilson said. “And so, helping those businesses figure out how they can operate in a way that is less harmful to the environment, that is better for human beings — whether it’s their employees or people in their supply chain — is a significant and tangible way that we can make progress.” 

Through a separate program, called Semester in the City, students can gain real-world experience by living a semester in Boston and working side by side with sustainability experts at some of the city’s most sustainable companies and organizations. 

After work and on Fridays, students head back to the classroom where they reflect on what they’ve learned and further discuss the many theories and approaches to advancing sustainability. 

The program was developed and is run by the non-profit College For Social Innovation. UNH was the founding university partner, and over 100 students have now gone through Semester in the City. UNH is now the national university of record, making this program open to all students pursuing a four-year degree at any U.S. college or university. Those who participate earn 16 credit hours through UNH, which are then transferred back to their home school.  

“This is a generation of students whose values and career opportunities are very much in line with sustainability,” Wilson said. “This is a generation that wants to use their careers for positive change in the world.”

And for students to be capable of making positive change after they graduate, real-life experience is essential, Wilson explained. Classroom learning, on its own, is not sufficient. 

Both UNH programs are mutually beneficial for the individual students and for the greater community, Wilson explained. “It’s a win-win.”

Teaching the younger generation 

In addition to working with companies and organizations, a big part of making communities more environmentally sustainable comes through educating their young people, as they are the future thought leaders.   

Although, nationally, colleges and universities could do a much better job at this, there are some schools taking action. 

The Hydropics Club at the University of Pittsburgh, for example, works with middle schoolers at the nearby Community Day School, teaching them the environmental benefits of hydroponic farming and helping them design and construct their own unique hydroponic system, which can be moved from classroom to classroom. 

Soon, the students will even get the chance to grow their own crops, explained Molly Muffet, Community Day School’s sustainability coordinator. First, they’ll start with lettuce, but in the spring, she predicts it will be used to grow parsley for Passover. And, maybe, they’ll eventually use it to grow cherry tomatoes as snacks.

Columbia University’s Teachers College, too, actively tries to educate youth. It works with local New York City schools to help them further engage with sustainability and environmental education. 

“It’s not only about teaching the content of sustainability sciences or talking about the values of what it means to protect the planet but also to model this kind of behavior and encourage students to take action in their private sphere at home and in the public sphere as citizens,” Oren Pizmony-Levy, associate professor of international and comparative education, said in an interview with Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity. “The goal is that what kids are doing in schools will trickle out to their families and communities.”

On the other side of the country, Stanford University has also implemented programs to help educate youth in its surrounding community. The first, called the Geokids program, introduces second graders from local schools to the work of a geologist. Although they aren’t directly focusing on climate or sustainability, these kids are developing an understanding of our planet at a young age. A separate program, called Stanford Earth Young Investigators, gives local high school students an opportunity to work one-on-one with scientists in environmental research groups. 

At Louisiana State University, a program called EnvironMentors pairs underserved students from the local Scotlandville Magnet High with LSU student mentors for a year-long scientific research project. The goal is to help high school students develop a better understanding of the workings of the natural environment and prepare them for any future STEM courses they may take.  

Overall, youth in the United States and throughout the world deserve credit for the passion they’ve already exemplified towards mitigating climate change and improving the overall health of the environment. More than 4 million people showed up for the recent youth-led climate strikes. 

However, to successfully prevent irreversible damage to the planet, everyone must be on board. Businesses must adjust to become more environmentally sustainable, individuals must consider their actions and youth must be better educated and more driven than the generations before them. And to help all of this come to fruition, colleges and universities have a big role to play.