Sustainability Questions for Students & Educators

To make good decisions about sustainability, people need to know the facts. Here are some questions that have arisen and might be suitable for class projects or independent study:

1. What steps can local & county government take to produce immediate reductions in energy use & GHG?
2. What is the actual energy & GHG advantage of a bus compared to that many people driving individual vehicles? (Note that it would be necessary to analyze a variety of scenarios and to consider the energy invested in producing the vehicles.)
3. What can be done to significantly reduce electric power demand and meet needs through on-site or local sustainable energy? How much could be generated with micro-hydro?
4. To what extent does media coverage accurately inform issues such as environmental health, food-health connections, global warming, militarism, and the need to act locally to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions?
5. What are the economic & health costs of food from the industrialized food system?
6. How much sustainably-grown food could the Lehigh Valley produce? Do we have the capacity to sustainably feed the existing population of the Lehigh Valley? If not, what can we do about it?
7. Are urban community gardens or farms a viable source of food? How many lots are available and where are they located? How much food was grown in the ‘Victory Gardens’ during WWII?
8. What are the potential economic costs created by hydraulic fracturing / natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale? How will it affect agriculture?
9. What new transportation options are needed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions? What changes in transportation patterns should we anticipate?
10. How do we develop a system that will prepare people to understand sustainability and practice it in their lives? (Something that is not done in most schools.)
11. How would neighborhood schools impact educational programs that are typically provided in larger schools?

If you know of someone who is interested in or working on any of these concerns, or if you have any suggestions to add to the list, please submit a comment on this page!