Breaking silos for sustainability

The challenge of achieving socio-economic and environmental sustainability is arguably the most important issue of our generation. Sustainability at its core is about creating a world where everyone can thrive within the resources allotted to us, while also ensuring the viability of future generations. It requires us to deal squarely with the impact of our human wants versus needs and not burden someone else, especially the less fortunate, with the consequences, both now and in the future.

Universities are positioned to be change agents in this noble endeavor. Higher education, especially public universities, is in a particularly precarious situation today grappling with how to provide a relevant education in the face of a perfect storm of an ever increasing cost of education, dwindling funds and aggressive competition.

At the same time, their intellectual rigor, commitment to train up a generation of learned and engaged citizens and their sheer economic influence, make them one of the best “laboratories” of sustainability thinking and action. However, this requires new ways of thinking and working together. Taking lessons from unexpected sources, inspiration from overlooked places and experimentation with unlikely partners.

The establishment of Florida A&M University’s Sustainability Institute was a rallying call to the academics, as well as our extended capital area community to break our comfortable silos and partner to address some of these tough issues together.

One particularly vexing issue, both locally and internationally, is the dynamic interdependence of energy, water and food security. Arguably, these three sectors are at the outset of nearly every socio-political crisis, and will be felt even more acutely over time.

For this reason Florida A&M is embarking on a new science enterprise, the EnergyWaterFoodNexus (EWFN), where we believe the university and this region has a great potential of demonstrating leadership and growing a green economy. FAMU is well positioned to create the environment for technologies that promote advancements in EnergyWaterFoodNexus solutions and there’s no better region than northern Florida, with a wealth of natural resources, to examine the intersection of these three.

Solutions begin with dialogue and idea hacks, unconventional brainstorm sessions that disrupt notions of who is an “expert.” So this March 27, we invite the community to join us in the inaugural EnergyWaterFoodNexus Summit, where industry leaders, technical experts, entrepreneurs, academics, public agencies and non-profit organizations, locally and from around the world, will convene at Florida A&M.

Participants can learn about emerging ideas in energy, water and food systems and how communities and decision making agencies can apply more nexus-informed policies. In order to arrive at effective solutions for an increasingly complex society, we need everyone at the table: scholars, public servants, business owners, activists and concerned community members. We invite you to join the conversation and be a part of nexus solutions — visit www.famu.edu/nexus.

Abena Ojetayo is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Florida A&M University and the Executive Director of the FAMU Sustainability Institute. FAMU is a member of the Capital Area Sustainability Council, which brings you “Greening Our Community” articles. Learn more at www.SustainableTallahassee.org/CASC.