(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)January 7, 2002

(Mahwah) – The Spring 2002 Ramapo Lecture Series, World Sustainability: Realities and Strategies, will begin Wednesday, January 30 and continue weekly through May 8 at Ramapo College of New Jersey. All lectures are at 6 p.m. The series offers lectures on various topics by keynote speakers such as global activist Ward Morehouse; Ruth Caplan of Alliance for Democracy; Kristin Dakwins from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Joan Gussow, author and professor of nutrition at Columbia University; and Wolfgang Sachs, author of Greening the North and president of German Greenpeace. Topics will include global crime, corruption and corporate responsibility; creating sustainable agriculture and economies; sustainable design; and how the media can help awaken a radical sustainability movement. The lecture series is open to both the public and students and is free to those not participating in the credit course held in conjunction.

Since the Earth Summit in 1992 the world’s nations have been committed to reconciling economic growth with environmental preservation by promoting “sustainable development.” Sustainability has emerged, worldwide, as a consensus-building framework for bringing together neighbors who share a common interest in making their communities work socially and environmentally. Sustainability has become the term people now most often use in discussing the shift toward a society where people neither overtax the environment nor shift risks to others, both in the short run and in the future. Many experiments have already started at the local and regional level to spur experimentation in how to actually achieve the goal of sustainable communities.

Ultimately the concept of sustainability is a historical concept that requires a new understanding of how we have arrived at an interrelated ecological and socio-economic crisis that is unique to the late 20th century. “Only when we understand how we have become trapped in ever higher levels of material consumption, together with a growing polarization of rich and poor, will we be able to motivate people to experiment with new lifestyles and act to implement the more efficient and self-reliant socio-economic forms that already exist,” explains Dr. Trent Schroyer, professor of sociology at Ramapo College and coordinator of the lecture series. “Thus a strong program for sustainability,” says Schroyer, “means we transform our own levels of overconsumption and domination of other nation’s environmental resources so that there is a just balance in international equity.”

Increasingly Ramapo College has served as a regional center promoting movement toward a sustainable society. Ramapo College has offered degree programs in environmental studies and environmental science since the early 1970s. Ramapo’s environmental programs have long been recognized for their inherent interdisciplinarity, reflecting integration across boundaries.

Lectures scheduled January 30 through March 20 will take place in Friends Hall (SC-219). Locations for later lectures in the series will be announced at a future date. There will be no lecture on March 27. For further information please contact Wayne Hayes, (201) 684-7751.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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