Unity College to Send Contingent to Largest Climate March in History

UNITY, Maine, Sept. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A contingent from the first institution of higher education in America to divest from investments in fossil fuels will be noteworthy participants in the largest climate march in history.

At the People's Climate March on September 21 in New York City, Unity College faculty, staff and students will share their perspectives, witness their own personal struggles to address global climate change, and provide details about a new path for higher education that will address global climate change.

Participation in the Climate March is a natural alignment between Unity's core mission of using sustainability science in higher education and its history of taking action as a demonstration of those values.

A new video entitled The Environmental Century details how sustainability science provides a new path for American higher education.  It is a vision embodied in the curriculum, environmental mission, and social activism of Unity College, the first institution of higher learning in the United States to adopt sustainability science – the leading-edge of 21^st century transdisciplinary (collaborative) environmental problem solving, including the mitigation of global climate change -- as a framework for teaching and learning.  The video feature Unity College President Stephen Mulkey, an internationally regarded scientist and a national leader in the growing divestment movement.  It is online here.

"At Unity College we realize that much of your education and learning takes place not only in the classroom, but that some of your most monumental life moments will happen outside of the classroom, Mulkey told incoming students during his convocation address in August. "Institutions of higher learning should lead the way in energy efficiency and sustainable design but this barely scratches the surface of this critically important area of learning and research."     

Mulkey noted that the purpose of higher education is not operational sustainability – it is teaching, learning, and research.  Sustainability must be universally developed in the classroom and the field.

The full text of Mulkey's Finding Hope Through Action address to incoming Unity College students is here.

Unity College Assistant Professor of Environmental Communications James Spartz sees the historic climate march event in New York City as an important experience for students. 

"These are some of the most motivated students I've met," said Spartz.  "Individually and collectively they will be able to participate, document, and share what it means to be part of the people's climate movement – one that attempts to speak truth to power through a very large but peaceful demonstration of collective strength."

SOURCE Unity College