ABSTRACT
It can be said without hyperbole that sustainability is the quintessential interdisciplinary topic of study. Over the course of the next few decades, every academic discipline will have to respond to the paradigm of more sustainable life practices. I state this not as a solemn pronouncement but merely as an observation of a very real equation: As our students make their way through this emerging world, they will encounter challenges springing forth from this paradigm shift, and they will demand that every academic discipline demonstrate substantial relevance to these challenges. Indeed, any academic discipline that fails in this regard may find itself ultimately unsustainable. If you consider such a scenario unlikely, recall that a critical mass of students is and will remain the lifeblood of any discipline. If a discipline fails to attract sufficient numbers of students, it will sink into obscurity. Thus sustainability, in its deepest and most expansive sense, is perhaps the pivotal factor, not in preserving academia as we know it, but rather in enabling it to undergo a paradigm shift. If you welcome this change, however radically it may transform your life as an educator, then you “get it.” If you fear it, then you will find adapting to what is coming our way all the more difficult.
