Arizona State University President Michael Crow has been named to the Time100 Climate list of the hundred most influential climate leaders of the year. He’s the only university president on the list and one of only three people associated with higher education to make the cut.
What role do colleges and universities play in trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change? Could higher education have an impact — both inside the classroom and out?
Hailey Campbell is an ASU alum who’s now co-executive director of Care About Climate and an organizer for the National Youth Climate Conference. Campbell joined The Show to talk about what she thinks the role of higher education is when it comes to dealing with climate change.
Full conversation
LAUREN GILGER: ASU President Michael Crow has been named to the time 100 climate list of the 100 most influential climate leaders of the year. He's the only university president on the list and one of only three people associated with higher education to make the cut.
What role do colleges and universities play in trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change? Could higher education have an impact both inside and outside of the classroom?
My co-host Mark Brodie talked about this with Hailey Campbell, an ASU alum who's now co executive Director of Care about Climate and an organizer for the National Youth Climate Conference. And they started with what she thinks the role of higher ed is when it comes to dealing with climate change.
HAILEY CAMPBELL: Yeah, universities play a really significant role when it comes to managing and responding to but also leaning on tackling climate change because they not only have an opportunity to shape and research and policies and students that are really going to be taking on these leadership roles that have to really deal with this crisis in the future.
But they're also a small model of what it's like to be in a community that has the potential to really be acting and showing up by example, as what it means to live a climate resilient lifestyle.
So they really play an important role on transforming what future readers will be thinking, but also transforming how the communities that they're in are seeing and acting in a climate resilient way.
MARK BRODIE: So how much of that to you comes in the classroom and how much of that happens outside the classroom?
CAMPBELL: It's a really amazing question as someone who actually chose my university based solely on the fact they offered one of the oldest and first ever degrees in sustainability. For me, it was outside the classroom that inspired me to start my degree.
And inside the classroom where I was able to further my interest area for learning about climate change and the intersections of all the different social justice issues and really find my career, not just a passion because I love, you know, problem solving, but really something that's a call to action.
But then outside the classroom is really where you're able to do most of that hands on learning to really see how taking charge on climate change can actually work and so I think it's a combination of getting students excited in the classroom to work on climate, for those that never saw themselves playing a role in that field.
But then also the opportunity to experience what it's like to work on that outside the classroom and put their critical thinking and system thinking skills to the test, to create a better future that we all want to live in.
BRODIE: It's interesting how you described a university is kind of like a miniature city, almost like a, a test case for how maybe larger entities, larger places can try to deal with some of these issues.
What kinds of maybe spreading ideas spreading from universities to their surrounding communities or, or to other places have you seen in terms of the kinds of things that a university might try to do to, to deal with climate change?
CAMPBELL: Yeah, there are quite a lot of opportunities at various universities to actually work on real life projects. For example, a lot of universities that are bigger and larger cities tend to have, you know, research centers or Capstone projects that work with their local city and their community to help store whether it's climate action plans or sustainability plans or further research to understand how a potential solution might work in the real world, real world.
And I think it's really important because they have those resources and also the ambition to say, wow, we really wanna figure this out. We're seeing a lot of amplifying disasters that are getting more intense because of climate change. And universities often have some of the newer, more modern technologies or safeguards in place.
So they can also be a place for a community to come together in a time of need but also for a community to come together to learn.
BRODIE: I also wonder about sort of the flip side of that and if you've seen examples of universities or colleges where they have courses or even maybe degrees about sustainability, climate change, things like that.
But maybe their practices aren't really keeping up, like, maybe they're not doing the kinds of things on campus to, to try to tackle climate change. Yet the information is being taught and the research is being done in the classrooms, in the laboratories.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, it's a really important point. And I really like what she mentioned about students learning in school.
Something I was really excited about is my alma mater, Arizona State University is one of the first institutions to actually require a three credit sustainability course for all students as part of general education. So now it's there, it's on the forefront of everyone's minds.
But if you look at institutions, not just ASU but across the nation and even perhaps the world, there's also practices like zero waste living and getting rid of plastics that are part of this fossil fuel industry, that's perpetuating the climate crisis that are still existing within schools.
And there's also disparities in how schools are adopting these sustainable practices themselves. So I definitely think there's more to be done on kind of walking the talk as you're kind of mentioning.
BRODIE: So when you look at sort of the overall picture and think about all the various entities that have a role in trying to get a handle on climate change. Where do you see universities and higher education relative to any other organization, company entity that might also have a role here?
CAMPBELL: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, higher education, at least in the United States is also a business. And so I think from that perspective, the university is as important as an institution as any company, but almost more important because whatever they're not just teaching, but showing in practice as we discussed earlier as best practices for living a sustainable life will stay with anyone who is a professor, a student, a staff member, a partner of these institutions. It really has the potential to transcend the way that we adopt sustainable practices.
So I would say in a sense, they're more important than a lot of companies and other institutions.
BRODIE: All right. And since we are talking about education, I will ask based on your experiences, your observations, what grade would you give higher education so far in trying to do this?
CAMPBELL: Wow, that's really interesting. This is a tough question because I think, you know, from one institution to the next, it's really hard to say, you know, we all deserve an a and I know there's tons of different ranking platforms around the world on this.
And so I think higher education gosh, from what I know of higher education right now, I would say they're probably in that b plus range of growing potential for immense change. But of course, they're still held back by their own level of bureaucracy and politics and it could be, you know, one, universities doing a really good job.
It doesn't mean all universities are adopting that and of course, within their own context, within which they sit. Right, universities are also beholden to different rules right, in the area that they come or norms even.
And so I think that plays a big role, they're not all going to be the same and they shouldn't, but I'm optimistic that education is going in the right direction.
But there is definitely work to do to also make these opportunities more accessible and affordable, at least in the United States context.
That was my co-host, Mark Brodie, speaking with Hailey Campbell, co executive Director of Care about Climate and an organizer for the National Youth Climate Conference about the role of Higher ed in the fight against climate change.
