Webinar: What Do Youth Want? Results and Applications From the Sacred Heart University National Polls
September 24 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT
Free“Youth are the constituents of colleges and universities and are the people who will inherit the sustainability challenges of our world. What do they want? What do they see? What do they think it will take to make progress on sustainability and social justice issues? Join us in a review of two national polls conducted in 2024 and 2025 by Sacred Heart University that shed light on these questions. Learn how the answers have influenced both the foundational curriculum, such as the First Year Writing Seminar, as well as the developing Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) at Sacred Heart University (SHU). Consider possible applications in your own higher education venue.
The first national poll report, “Distress and Desires—United States Youth on Sustainability, Social Justice, Climate Change and the Role of Higher Education” was released in September 25, 2024. Please see https://www.sacredheart.edu for the report. A purpose of the endeavor was to raise up the voices of “youth,” defined as aged 15-29. Some key highlights from the press release:
* Distress: The country has a generation in which more than half of U.S. youth are experiencing “eco-anxiety,” defined as, “My level of concern for climate change causes psychological distress that impacts my daily life.”
* Not as divided as we seem: Surprisingly, there was little difference between census regions on most questions. For example, in addition to the high rating on the importance of sustainability and social justice, nearly eight in 10 across regions rank the inner capacities of “caring” and “consciousness/awareness/mindfulness” as important for solving these problems and believe universities should teach these capacities.
* Disconnect between importance/responsibility vs. effective action: While most U.S. youth believe they have an individual responsibility to address climate change (77%), nearly six in 10 supported statements that individual actions will have “limited” or “no effect.”
* Opportunities for higher ed: One in two U.S. youth consider sustainability and social justice issues relevant to their future employment, and nearly three in five say they either currently are or would have been “more likely” to apply to a college or university that offered a program focused on sustainability and social justice.
We look forward to sharing the results of the 2025 national poll once they are public to help inform approaches to sustainability across the curriculum and the development of institutes, as exemplified by work at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Presenters
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Brooke Suter, Report co-author & Advisor to the developing Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice at Sacred Heart University, Sacred Heart University Ms. Suter’s passion is supporting personal resilience and action empowerment to holistically address the climate crisis. As a state or national director for 20 years, she worked in 50 states and federally to build diverse coalitions, empower activists and lead adoption of nationally precedent-setting environment and public health legislation, regulation and incentive-based programs in the United States. Shifting her focus to the high-impact potential of universities, she pursued the role of the inner condition in supporting transformative social change. Now, building on nearly a decade of co-facilitating the MIT Sloan School of Management class, “U-Lab: Transforming Self, Business & Society” with Theory U founder Otto Scharmer, she works to integrate the Inner Development Goals and MIT’s Theory U: Awareness-based Systems Change to support sustainability systems-thinking across coursework, culture and alumni at Harvard University, Sacred Heart University, and in other venues. In addition, Ms Suter is the Chief Action Officer & Co-creator of the alumni Harvard Climate Action Training, Co-founder of the Inner Development Goals (IDG) Connecticut Possibilities Network, and Principal of Sustainable Leadership to Thrive. She hold a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. |
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Kirk Bartholomew, Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ) at Sacred Heart University (SHU), and Associate Professor of Biology, Sacred Heart University Kirk Bartholomew is the Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainability and Social Justice (ISSJ), and has taught as an Associate Professor of Biology for 25 years at Sacred Heart University (SHU). His approach addresses not only the underlying issues and potential solutions to problems of sustainability and social justice, but also the inner skills and capacities required to implement solutions and achieve positive change. Under his leadership, the Inner Development Goals have been adopted as a key organizing frameworks of the ISSJ and are being incorporated as topics into the Sustainability Across the Curriculum development program that is being facilitated by the ISSJ. Prof. Bartholomew was a participant in the 2024 cohort of AASHE Sustainability Across the Curriculum Support Group and is an investigator on multiple external grants that SHU has received to promote this activity. He received his PhD and BS from the University of Vermont, and completed his postdoctoral research at McGill University. |