The European Union is the world's acknowledged leader in charting future directions in environmental sustainability. What can U.S. colleges and universities do to close the gap? This session focuses on the challenges to U. S. colleges and universities if they are to catch up with European thinking and practices. First, we look at the integration of systems thinking into all areas of society to show the organizational and cultural changes that are necessary if U.S. campuses and society are to move beyond the present focus on buildings, recycling, and things, and move toward more collaborative processes. Second, we ask how sustainability concepts, ecological economic theory, and practices that build toward fairness and democracy within markets can be integrated into the study of traditional economics and capital markets.