For Sustainability and Clean-Energy Majors, Global Warming Is Hot
Both were once considered passé, but if Al Gore and atomic energy can resurge in the U.S., anything is possible. Mounting evidence of global warming’s impact has propelled the study of sustainability, reinvigorated nuclear engineering and made the ex-vice president a campus hero.
The concept of sustainability has been an academic discipline since the 1970s, when development of environmentally friendly materials, designs, strategies and nonpolluting technology such as nuclear power began showing up in curricula, educators say. But warnings of greenhouse-gas effects by scientists and popular media such as Gore’s Oscar-winning movie An Inconvenient Truth have galvanized academia to renewed action.