It is deeply humbling to be here with you today because I know I'm standing in for the late great Wangaari Mathai. I'm not particularly spiritual, but I know that when people transition they become our ancestors and they are there to guide us. Both Ray and Wangari really did light the way for us to be better to each other. There work really was about peace. How do you start at the community level and make things so people can be their absolute best selves?

Dear AASHE 2011 attendees,

Help us spread the great ideas shared at AASHE 2011 around the world in near real-time by participating in the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project. It's an ambitious project, but if even a small group of people commit themselves to helping out, we can rapidly expand the impact of AASHE 2011 far beyond Pittsburgh!

Why a Transcription Project?

The staff, directors and membership of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) mourn the passing of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai who died yesterday in her home country of Kenya. Dr. Maathai, who was scheduled to give the opening keynote at AASHE 2011: Creating Sustainable Campuses and Communities, had been hospitalized for ovarian cancer in the preceding weeks. We are deeply saddened by the loss of this world leader of sustainable development who worked for decades on eradicating poverty, improving the environment, championing women’s rights, exposing climate injustice and fighting government corruption. She has brilliantly woven together the many strands of sustainability so that we can see and understand the ways that these elements are all necessary for a better future.

Amid tuition increases, student protest rallies and faculty taking job offers elsewhere, the staggering cuts to the state budget was a running narrative duri