Welcome to the

Global Environmental Sustainability Action Coalition

(GESAC)

We are a group of CCSU students, administrators, faculty, and alumni committed to providing information on how to live our lives in a way that is sustainable and in harmony with nature.  We invite you to examine our website and learn more about how you can join us in becoming part of the movement towards environmentally sustainable practices in our lives and in our world.

If you are a student, faculty or alumni and are interested in joining our group or would like to support our efforts, please contact either Dr. Charles Button (buttonche@ccsu.edu) or Lauren Payne (stpaynelaa@ccsu.edu).

 
What is Sustainability?

Experts have concluded that current human habits of consumption and production are depleting the planet’s finite resources and damaging life-supporting eco-systems. The most pressing example of this is found in human caused global warming. Scientists have concluded that changes in weather patterns, melting glaciers and rising sea levels caused by climate change will cause economic chaos and affect the health of millions of people.

  Living sustainably means living in such a way that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland Commission, 1987). The three pillars of global sustainability are expressed in the following way in the Earth Charter: 

·           Environmental Pillar  - the need to protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, with special concerns for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life

·           Economic Pillar – the need to eradicate poverty and ensure that economic activities safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities and promote human development in and equitable and sustainable manner.

·           Social Pillar – the need to uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well being. 

For more information about sustainability visit any of the following websites:

United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23279&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

U. S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
http://www.uspartnership.org/main/view_archive/1

Facing the Future
http://www.facingthefuture.org/

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
http://www.aashe.org/index.php

Earth Charter
http://www.earthcharter.org/