Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/133387
the bookshelf Book Review Editor: Theodore J. Weidner, Ph.D., P.E., CEFP, AIA The topic of sustainability I'll reread the parts focused on facilities several times so I b become an expert i my own right; in I' reread the I'll no non-facilities parts so I understand ho I can help how oth on campus others in m role as facilmy ity o y officer. APPA mem members who read this book will receive similar simil benefits. is not new to APPA members, but it continues to grow as a topic for both APPA members, others in higher education— and in society in general. The two books reviewed this month look at implementation of institutional-wide sustainability, as well as personal sustainability. In order to continue with the sustainability focus, if you are reading this online, don't print; if you're reading the print version, share it. THE SUSTAINABLE UNIVERSITY: GREEN GOALS AND NEW CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERS James Martin, James E. Samels & Associates, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 2012, 352 pages, $45 hardcover, $37.80 Kindle. T he American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment started in 2006 with 12 founding signatories. Now there are about 675 campuses that have signed on to the commitment. The commitment is a big one for both campus operations and academics. It is such a big commitment that campuses need some help to get started. That's why James Martin and James Samels wrote and incorporated the recommendations and observations of other authors to create The Sustainable University. The Sustainable University is more about the academic implementation, but there's also plenty of information for administration. Energy conservation, facility conservation, and rethinking the entire resource consumption cycle (low-bid, delivery, distribution, use/consumption, disposal, repeat) are addressed. Many of these issues are not new to APPA members, but they will be new to procurement agents. Where higher education administrators, including facility officers, will benefit is the discussion about the total life-cycle cost, and articulating it to others. The Sustainable University is also about the campus mindset. How can the academic program become more sustainable? Is sustainability a single, academic area, or is it really something that pervades all academic programs? If it is the latter, what techniques can be used to implement it when some faculty members don't see how to incorporate sustainability into their courses? And what about the student life side? It's not about events like Recyclemania, but rather about creating a campus environment where sustainable living and actions are natural or encouraged to be natural. My interpretation from the book is that a sustainable campus is like any other: the search for knowledge includes the search for sustainability. Said another way, one gets a higher education because of a desire to become a continuous learner, either by studying the ideas of others or by studying the facts and developing one's own ideas. One becomes sustainable by doing the same thing. Again, this book is not focused on facilities; it has a much broader audience. NO IMPACT MAN Colin Beavan, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY, 2009, 258 pages, $25 hardcover, $15 softcover, $9.99 kindle. I t's one thing to commit to sustainability, it is another thing entirely to live it and live it to such an extent that "you leave only footprints and take only photographs." But that's what Colin Beavan did when he undertook an experiment with his family to live so sustainably so as to leave no impact. What is no impact? Simply put, it's no trash; but there's more to it, and that's what's interesting, and humorous. No Impact Man is a book about a oneyear experiment for three people, living in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan (that's New York City, not the Little Apple in Kansas.) Imagine trying to live off the grid and not generate any trash in Kansas? It's pretty difficult. Now imagine trying to do it in a city with 7 million other people; it's not easy. But that's what Beavan, a keynote speaker at the April 2012 Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference, did. This narrative, a summary of events, blog posts, and philosophical musings, Facilities Manager | may/june 2013 | 45