A New Experience from Gale…

Why Sustainability Now? We are the first generation capable of determining the habitability of the planet for humans and other species.

The world is changing… August 1941August 2004 NSIDC/WDC for Glaciology, Boulder, compiler. 2002, updated 2006.

The world is changing… Online glacier photograph database. Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Are Your Researchers Prepared? 37 Million jobs by 2030

A Different Type of Resource  Focused on the academic study of sustainability and the environment.  Interactive and current.  Built as a forum, facilitating open discussion.

Browseable Topics and Organizations Customizable Journals and News Contextual Multimedia Refereed Case Studies Localization to highlight community resources

Global in Nature  Students can navigate the globe to identify how different regions are affected by climate change and how their demographics and resource consumption is affecting the global environment.

Community Tagging Forums and Networking to facilitate discussion Web 2.0 Tools to facilitate content portability. Document Ratings to make most useful and relevant content easy to find

Interactive maps, allowing users to browse by country or topic Opportunities for forums and networking, facilitating open discussion, allowing students and teachers to participate in general forums or those designed for specific classes Contextual multimedia, customizable journals and news, refereed case studies Localization to highlight community resources, allowing libraries to advertise their assets as well as upcoming local events Web 2.0 tools to facilitate content portability Agriculture & Food Systems Economics & Trade Energy Environment & Ecology Humans in the Natural World Law & Politics Pollution Resource Management Science & Technology Social Factors “Power to the User” Features: Portal Topics:

Issues Organized by Categories:  Air Pollution  Animal Welfare  Biodiversity  Economic Growth  Environmental Politics  Genetic Engineering  Green Architecture  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)  Land Management  Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)  Policy & Planning  Poverty  Recycling  Resource Management  Sanitation  Social Justice  U.S. Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA)  Urbanization  Wind Energy

 Students and Faculty can participate in general forums or forums assigned to a specific class. Forum Capabilities

 Students and Faculty can participate in general forums or forums assigned to a specific class. Forum Capabilities

Initial User Response Professors were very enthusiastic about the concept. “Yeah, it sounds terrific. It sounds like something that would be incredibly helpful… Yeah, I could see making heavy use of something like that.”

Initial User Response And students feel the same. “It’s great. Two things that kind of struck a chord. One of them was the fact that you’re going to have news stuff on there, which is good because the people that are researching the stuff and the students that want to get a job in the future kind of have to rely on what’s current and what’s happening in the news (…) And then also, you know, to have the discussion things on there, that’s great, because a lot of classes that you have will have a discussion group like on that specific topic… So to have that conversational aspect to the website, that could be cool as well.” And students feel the same. “It’s great. Two things that kind of struck a chord. One of them was the fact that you’re going to have news stuff on there, which is good because the people that are researching the stuff and the students that want to get a job in the future kind of have to rely on what’s current and what’s happening in the news (…) And then also, you know, to have the discussion things on there, that’s great, because a lot of classes that you have will have a discussion group like on that specific topic… So to have that conversational aspect to the website, that could be cool as well.”

Of nearly 400 students and professors surveyed, the majority felt that they need and would use a resource like this.

Sign Up Now to Be Added to Our Free Trial Waiting List. Commit now to a subscription purchase before June 15, 2009 and receive 25% off list price.