The Education Imperative

Once again this year, I was fortunate to attend the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio Conference in Columbus. This conference has grown over the last three years and has become more inclusive in that there now are larger numbers of attendees from more diverse organizations that reach well beyond the borders of Ohio. There were, of course, many at the conference representing the engineering side but there were also a fair number of us who were from equally important fields such as urban planning, economics, various science disciplines, and architecture. This shift is a positive move in the right direction, as Scott Johnston pointed out in discussing the interdisciplinary, collaborative design team approach used by The Energy and Sustainable Design Studio (E+SD) at Miami University. The resulting discussions were far reaching, covering topics related to the environment, alternative and renewable energy and green building, including research in these areas and the role of universities in the development of these resources.



The pivotal role of education in this arena was a very interesting thread of conversation I engaged in with several presenters and attendees. We need to have more conversations about using complex, real world interdisciplinary approaches to solving energy and environmental problems. As one economics professor, Allen Prindle, pointed out and some of us will recall, the overriding reason that the energy policies and environmental movement of the 1970's failed was that the economics of the situation did not work – energy remained cheap. One other shortfall was that the general public was not educated as to the global climate impacts of our increased energy consumption. Some of us heard the messages, "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute", "Don't be a Litterbug", etc. but we were not informed, not educated as to why not, what were the long term consequences if we did pollute, if we did over consume -- so why not? And therein lays the mandate this time for informing and educating the public as to what to do and why. This requires the inclusion of the social sciences as well as engineers, scientists and others to help with the attitudinal and behavioral changes that must take place in our lives and our workplaces.



The problems that are confronting us are complex and multi-faceted. They involve more than the application of technical solutions. These energy and environmental challenges require all of the bright minds and innovative solutions we can engage. What I like to think of as education in the broadest sense, an inclusive approach is sorely needed to get feasible, real world solutions. Let us dispense with the silo-thinking approach. Let us tackle these problems using the best thinking of designers, economists, social scientists, urban planners, and more in implementing the necessary change. And let us invite those who understand the crucial role of education to then take shape this information so that the general public, policy makers, and the next generation understand the problems, the thinking and reasoning, the proposed solutions and the outcomes of research findings so that this time they are implemented.