ABSTRACT
Some universities working on the sustainability agenda make headlines, and rightly so, like University of Bradford's Ecoversity (see Hopkinson and James, this volume) and Exeter University's One Planet MBA (although it is just one programme). The UK Higher Education Academy's pilot change programme, Green Academy, 1 has not gained significant media attention, but is leading to strategic collaborations, with initiatives feeding off each other across the participating universities, adding up to increased resources (both monetary and human) for sustainability thinking and action on campuses. In this chapter, we ask what truly appropriate responses to the full range of challenges facing people and the planet would look like for us individually, and for our institutions and organisations (see Sterling, this volume). In particular, could such appropriate responses include and take inspiration from Green Academy, or initiatives modelled upon it, to steer universities towards a ‘strong’ sustainability (Constanza and Daly, 1992) that really makes the most of the opportunities presented by these challenges?
