Campus-Sustainability Conference Is the Biggest Ever

From Scott Carlson at The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Buildings & Grounds" blog, comes this post: (He could also have mentioned that in late November of 2006, only three years ago, AASHE did not exist; and we will mention that SCUP has meaningfully supported the AASHE startup and growth from its inception.)

Among higher-education conferences, the one that got underway here Sunday is unusual. In the exhibit hall, vendors show off $15,000 composters as if they were sports cars. The registration clerk asks you if you require a vegan meal plan. People calculate the environmental impact of taking the stairs versus the escalators to conference sessions.

It’s the national conference of the Association for the Advancement for Sustainability in Higher Education, and thanks to the popularity of sustainability these days, the conference is bigger than ever. This year’s event drew about 1,750 attendees from more than 400 institutions. Compare that to the association’s conference two years ago at Arizona State University, which drew about 600 people.