2012 Behavior Change for a Sustainable World Conference in Columbus, Ohio
The Ohio State University (OSU), the third largest university in the country, is making huge strides toward exemplifying a university committed to developing a green infrastructure applicable to all campus operations. Click here to see "Scarlet, Gray & Green" video.
The Ohio Union building, on the OSU campus, is a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art green building. The Ohio Union is a LEED Silver Certified Green Building and is designated as an official GreenSpot by the city of Columbus. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, "LEED is a whole-building approach, which encourages and guides a collaborative, integrated design and construction process that optimizes environmental and economic factors." Green features in the building include a pulper to collect food waste for reuse purposes, bicycle storage to encourage alternative forms of transportation, landscaping requiring very little water, and virtual bulletin boards to reduce paper use.
OSU is also home to the world-renowned polar and alpine research facility, the Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC). Previous ABAI invited lecturer Lonnie G. Thompson conducts research at the Byrd Polar Research Center examining how cold regions impact the Earth's overall climate system, encompassing geological sciences, geochemistry, glaciology, paleoclimatology, meteorology, remote sensing, ocean dynamics, and the history of polar exploration. To learn more about BPRC, go to http://bprc.osu.edu/.
The Ohio State University supports more than 400 faculty who partner with government and industry to conduct research and develop ideas to dramatically change energy production and safeguard our planet. The Ohio State Office of Energy and Environment coordinates these partnerships by advancing Ohio State's national role and success with solving global energy issues while promoting environmental sustainability, by expanding and coordinating institutional assets and outreach.
Researchers, instructors, and students at OSU are building on an extensive agricultural-bioscience heritage, pinpointing the effect of climate change on water resources, increasing the potential to produce more solar energy, working toward a more sustainable transportation system, improving energy technologies and creating new efficiencies, and increasing the safety and cost effectiveness of nuclear power plants.
The College of Education and Human Ecology (CEHE) empowers each of its six academic units to contribute to the well-being of the whole person by advancing learning to enhance minds and bodies and by supporting healthy development and relationships, healthful nutrition, and positive choices in a consumer world. The CEHE is home to OSU's special education program, which received the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis 2011 Award for Programmatic Contributions to Behavior Analysis.