The Talloires Declaration

The Talloires Declaration

The Talloires Declaration was born in Talloires, France in 1990 at a conference attended by presidents and chancellors from universities around the world. They believe universities have a duty to take care of the land in order for it to be sustainable and support future generations. The intention of the creators was to find a way to incorporate environmental sustainability in all aspects of educational institutions. They came up with the Talloires Declaration which is an official statement comprised of ten how-to steps to create sustainability. It is supported by universities around the globe who want to incorporate sustainability and environmental literacy in the classroom, in research, in system operations, and in outreach programs. The claim of the Talloires Declaration is “University leaders must initiate and support mobilization of internal and external resources so that their institutions respond to this urgent challenge.” Already more thanthree hundred university presidents and chancellors from over forty countries have signed the declaration and have incorporated sustainability into their universities by following the framework set by the ten steps.

To understand the Talloires Declaration, one must know what sustainability is. The dictionary definition of sustain is “to keep going: prolong.” Environmental

Sustainability is a way of using resources so that they are not depleted and it is a way of living that uses environmental methods such as recycling, solar panels, and little use of resources. In universities across the globe, sustainability has not been incorporated in everyday campus life and this has caused concern about the environmental impacts of those institutions. Each of the ten steps of the Talloires Declaration is open for individual interpretation by each university. The creators purposefully wrote the steps this way because each campus has its own circumstances and environment. These guidelines ensure that universities follow through with sustainability because they motivate and inspire the establishment of a better world. It is good that the same steps are followed by all the universities, that they are dedicated to creating a sustainable future, and that they are held accountable for their actions.

The first step of the Talloires Declaration is to spread the word of sustainability and the ways to develop it at the university.