New Media and Sustainability

As of the upcoming fall term I will no longer require textbooks in my studio classes.  I hope to follow suit with my lecture/theory courses soon thereafter.  I will also no longer print syllabi or assignments unless requested.  Instead I will be utilizing Blackboard and electronic resources in all of my courses.

I decided to make these changes for the simple reason that these traditional communication methods were no longer effective.  Sustainability was not even really on my radar originally. Sure I didn't go out of my way to be detrimental, but hey, I'd seen Penn and Teller's Bullshit! episode on recycling, and I thought I knew a lot of it was bunk.   I was simply tired of students not really reading the books, leaving the handouts behind and generally not utilizing these resources that I slaved so long over a hot xerox machine to prepare for them (ok, guilt trip over).

So I started to use new media more and more in my classrooms.  Originally I was only focused on the communication aspect, but as I continued to transition materials, I found that sustainability was a welcome side effect.  Some of my coworkers from the dean's office of another college asked me to help design some materials for their college's transition towards sustainability and that's really what got the ball rolling.  Working with them to get recycled paper in the copy machines (they still haven't!), convincing my department to switch to recycled paper and using 100% post-consumer content archival photo paper in the gallery for editorial cartoonist Ted Rall's work have all shown me that sustainability is achievable and doesn't necessarily mean one has to sacrifice.

And then I realized that utilizing new media, while I had my other motives originally, is another way to promote sustainability.  Sure computers and electronic devices use energy, but saving paper saves energy, fossil fuels and (most importantly to a university) money.  New media is transforming more than just communication, it can also change the way we utilize resources and the way we affect the world around us.  How important is sustainability in your use of new media?  How can you utilize new media today in a way that is both convenient and sustainable?