Charles Sturt University (CSU) has committed to encouraging global environmental sustainability by signing the Talloires Declaration together with 330 universities and higher education institutions worldwide.

 

“CSU is committed to work locally, nationally and globally to demonstrate that our research and teaching promote environmentally sustainable practices and that our operations address the sustainability challenge. Signing the Talloires Declaration provides an impetus and framework for CSU to demonstrate that it is a sustainable institution,” CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Lyn Gorman said.

 

 “At CSU, we show by doing. We have goals in our University Strategy 2007-2011 that specifically address making our campuses sustainable, resulting in a set of targets that reduce global warming and waste and increase water, energy and biodiversity conservation.” [see CSU targets]

 

The Talloires Declaration was created in 1990 when university leaders met in Talloires, France, to voice their concerns about the state of the world. They created a document that spelled out key actions universities must take to create a sustainable future and address issues of environmental degradation and the distribution of wealth amongst nations.

 

According to the Declaration, “universities educate most of the people who develop and manage society’s institutions. Universities bear profound responsibilities to increase the awareness, knowledge, technologies and tools to create an environmentally sustainable future.” 

 

In the Declaration, sustainability "implies that the critical activities of a higher education institution are (at a minimum) ecologically sound, socially just and economically viable, and that they will continue to be so for future generations. A truly sustainable college or university would emphasize these concepts in its curriculum and research, preparing students to contribute as working citizens to an environmentally sound and socially just society”.