Delivering on sustainability's global and local orientation

Abstract

A sustainability instructor takes her graduate-level sustainability class to an eco-village on an island off of Auckland, New Zealand. The students have the opportunity to make mud bricks for homes, visit houses powered "off the grid" from solar and wind energy, and tour community gardens that provide fresh fruit and vegetables. Rain water is collected from roofs for use in the homes. At the end of the day, several New Zealand students approach the instructor and enthuse about how inspired they are by this alternative lifestyle. Two international students also approach the instructor; one student is from China and the other from Tajikistan. And although they approach the instructor separately, they have the same message: "This is how we live at home. We don't want to live this way. We want to live the way you do here in New Zealand."