The College of Charleston Office of Sustainability recently launched the regional digital magazine Synergies, as a first step toward greater regional integration of sustainability initiatives. The publication will explore connections in the Charleston area, the Lowcountry and the region.
[Related: Read Synergies.]
Walter Blair, Synergies’ editor in chief, hopes that the magazine will create conversations around sustainability topics that eventually lead to action. “There are a lot of good people doing really good things in the community, but some of those efforts are disconnected,” he says. “The idea is to get people to talk in the same place about sustainability topics from a lot of different perspectives and in a lot of different ways.”
To facilitate diverse perspectives, the magazine will explore issues through in-depth articles, local features, interviews, opinions and artistic expressions. In addition, the online format encourages active reader participation to further interaction. “People need to engage with those different perspectives,” Blair said.
Brian Fisher, director of the Office of Sustainability, hopes that Synergies will attract a wider audience as it grows. “The intent behind the magazine is that it is a voice for the regional community, not one for the Office of Sustainability at the College of Charleston. As a result, we hope that the community will share our enthusiasm for this platform and help to generate its content and direction,” he said.
[Related: Learn more about the Office of Sustainability.]
Blair shares this goal of attracting a variety of readers and contributors. Eventually, he aims to have “all demographics contributing in some way and getting something meaningful from it.” Synergies welcomes future contributions from students, faculty, staff and community members in order to generate diverse content.
The next issue of Synergies will publish during College of Charleston’s fall semester. Blair explains, “This publication will join together all of the great ideas and practices that are coming out of our local communities, and I think the College is helping to build a foundation for sustainability in the region.”
Fisher said, “While the main focus of the magazine is to connect seemingly disparate activities, events, projects around the region on sustainability, we hope that it expands the range of discussion on sustainability and sustainable development.”
For more information, contact Walter Blair at wmblair@cofc.edu.
