Bulletin

Issue: January/February 2008

News

Call for greater role by universities in sustainability education

Professor Flannery addresses staff and students during a multi-campus lecture hook-up.

How do we find ways over the next 50 years for nine billion people — most aspiring to a western standard of living — to co-exist on this planet with dignity and sustainability?

Speaking at La Trobe University in February, environmental scientist and author Professor Tim Flannery said universities were a core element in the social response to climate change and sustainability. Their role in effecting such change today was as important as that of the social justice movement in the 19th century, when slavery and child labour were considered the norm.

Universities helped build future generations of leaders, and young people were very aware of the need for sustainability, he said. 'Governments should also rank universities on the basis of sustainability audits, and I believe students will look very closely at that as a key performance indicator.'

Professor Flannery said teaching sustainability was central not only to science education and the training of technocrats. 'It is also about a philosophy of life, a change in philosophical orientation and our place in the world.'

La Trobe University, Professor Flannery said, provided him with a broad and liberal education. 'It was an enriching and wonderful experience. The 21st century is about building a sustainable society, and it is good to see this University, my old alma mater, taking that challenge seriously and, perhaps, it could be a leading institution for this Australia.

'It is up to places like this University and its alumni to produce people who can rise to the great challenges of this century and produce truly revolutionary and wonderful outcomes.'

See 'How green is your campus?'.

Alumni Award for Tim Flannery

Former 'Australian of the Year', conservationist Professor Tim Flannery, and Australia's Ambassador to China, Dr Geoff Raby, are among winners of the 2007 La Trobe University Distinguished Alumni Awards, which will be presented at a ceremony in March.