How can we create a new ethic of water sustainability across disciplines that transcends conservation and invokes true change in thinking?
The epic drought in North Georgia and parts of the Southeast is unprecedented and has forced us to rethink our habits of water use. To address more broadly water sustainability, Governor Purdue signed Georgia’s first Comprehensive State-wide Water Management Plan in early 2008. This plan determines the framework around which regions throughout the state will begin planning for water use in the short and long term. It will require a base level of knowledge about Georgia’s water resources and will reward creative and new ways of thinking from business, planners, farmers, local government, and others.
As Athens-Clarke County’s largest water user, UGA has publicly, and correctly, focused on very specific ways that faculty, staff and visitors can reduce water consumption. We now have an opportunity to focus on how we can collectively and comprehensively address sustainable water planning and use at the University and beyond. Even with enough rain to reduce the effects of the current drought and new reservoirs to increase storage capacity, the ways we think about and use water resources need to change. As educators of the next generation of water users/legislators/ business owners, we have the responsibility to incorporate the concept of sustainable water resource management into student learning across disciplines, from the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to the Terry College of Business, the School of Ecology and beyond.
This Faculty Learning Community will discuss topics such as: the creation of a culture of students and faculty who think critically and holistically about long-term sustainable water use; the implications of changes in water resource management to various economic sectors of Georgia and beyond; and UGA’s potential role and responsibilities in response to the current water situation.
Courtney Tobin and Leigh Askew of the Fanning Institute will facilitate this FLC. If you have any questions, please contact them: ctobin@fanning.uga.edu or laskew@fanning.uga.edu.
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Center for Teaching & Learning 