Did someone say “electric car charging stations”?  Onto goal 12 of the 2010 Decatur Strategic Plan…

Goal 12: Foster environmental, social, and economic sustainability in all aspects of city life and government practice

Task 12A: Develop a citywide sustainability plan with the assistance of the environmental sustainability board to address issues such as the creation of a climate action plan, initiatives such as an ordinance to limit motor vehicle idling, and roof color standards to reduce the heat island effect.

Task 12B: Encourage the construction of sustainable buildings in commercial districts.

Task 12C: Support the expansion of urban gardening opportunities.

Urban gardening benefits the community by promoting physical activity, bringing neighbors together, improving food quality, and keeping dollars local. In addition, it begins to change society’s relationship to food in a positive, sustainable way. Efforts to expand urban gardening could include increased community garden sites, creation of a neighborhood tool bank,

information sharing, removing regulatory barriers, material support, or expanded farmer’s markets.

Task 12D: When building public facilities, design them to achieve LEED or equivalent certification and to assure quality construction that will serve the community for 50 years.

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From Agnes Scott’s communications office…

Agnes Scott College is the top-ranked college in Georgia and No. 35 nationally in this year’s RecycleMania Grand Champion Division.

RecycleMania is a national college and university recycling competition. About 600 colleges and universities signed up for the 10-week competition, which pits institutions all over the country against each other in several categories to see which school can recycle the largest portion of their waste.

…“What was different for 2010? This year Agnes Scott has a closed loop policy – simultaneously encouraging green purchasing and aggressive waste reduction,” said Susan Kidd, director of sustainability at Agnes Scott. “The campus community’s support of this policy, along with the initiation of a food composting program, gave our numbers a real boost in the competition.”

Photo courtesy of Agnes Scott College

We’ve had our fun with the word “sustainability” over the months (uh, years), but I’ve recently come to suspect that it’s much more than just a blue-state buzz word.  In many ways, it’s a new (or REnewed way) of thinking about all aspects of living .  Where once “sustainability” was an uncompromising mandate to all, today it seems more like a mere option among many.

And Emory University may just agree with me.  (A more modest and slightly less ridiculous person would probably say “I with it”.) Judd points to an article in the Emory’s student newspaper “The Emory Wheel” announcing a new minor at the university…

Emory will introduce a sustainability minor this fall, the culmination of growing student and faculty interest throughout the last several years.

The sustainability minor, which will be an undergraduate program offered through the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts (ILA), requires the completion of two core courses and four electives. The courses that count toward the sustainability minor will be interdisciplinary; requirements can be satisfied through several departments, including anthropology and economics.

Peter Wakefield, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies for the interdisciplinary studies major, said sustainability is an “emerging” subject that has to be defined in part by students.

Emily sends along this email from Agnes Scott College’s Michelle Hall announcing the return of “a pioneer of the campus sustainability movement”, David Orr.

According to a press release sent along with the email, Orr’s visit “is the inaugural event for Agnes Scott’s Environmental and Sustainability Studies program created in 2009. In addition to his lecture to the wider community on January 26th, Orr “will teach an introductory environment and sustainability studies class and have a roundtable discussion with faculty.”

After the jump, read Michelle’s full message, which includes the date and time of Orr’s lecture along with a brief bio.

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I’m not sure whether to laugh, raise an eyebrow, or nod warily at this.

Recently, Wal-Mart has been rolling out plans for what it calls a sustainability index — a measure of how green the products it sells really are. It is asking each of its suppliers, an enormous list of businesses, 15 questions about the life of their products from manufacturing through disposal: questions about greenhouse gas emissions, social responsibility, waste reduction initiatives and water use.

…Wal-Mart has already created a Sustainability Index Consortium, which will include environmental groups and other nonprofits, universities and businesses. The consortium will create the criteria for the index, and will share with Wal-Mart the task of building a product-by-product database measuring the environmental impact of each product’s life cycle.

Oh god!  Guilt-free consumerism is almost here!  Thank you skillful marketing, thank you!