Regional Sustainability Council

Click here to visit Council on Sustainabilty site.

Sustainability is a hot topic not only on campus, but in our surrounding communities. From Fairhaven to Taunton and New Bedford to Westport, community gardens, energy groups, sustainability plans, and citizen action groups are springing up. Spawned by an awareness of climate change and peak oil as well as by financial necessity, these groups are beginning to collaborate in increasingly structured ways.

Over the past several months, the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development Department (SRPEDD) and UMD's Office of Campus and Community Sustainability have co-sponsored a series of regional gatherings designed to 'build a regional collaborative working towards a sustainable future and to give communities the resources they need to move toward economic and environmental sustainability.' Two upcoming gatherings focus on food (March 25) and transportation (April 15).

It's clear to both organizers and participants in these gatherings that there is a need for an organizing structure and working groups. SRPEDD and the Office of Sustainability have been working on a draft plan for a regional sustainability council. The draft purpose reads, in part:

The Council will act as a leadership forum and network to connect, facilitate, support and coordinate sustainability efforts and initiatives throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.

The Council will act as a regional coordination point for targeted efforts at achieving sustainability in food and agriculture, transportation, energy, natural resources and economic development. The Council will work to unite these elements into a regional plan for sustainability.

The Council will endeavor to secure and provide technical support by identifying expertise within UMD, SRPEDD and among regional resources for sustainability efforts and initiatives throughout the region.

We hope that the council will convene in mid-May and will meet four times a year. Planned working groups include food, economic development, transportation, energy, and resource use.