Sustainability can be conceptualized as an effort to achieve a balance between social, economic, and environmental goals. 

St. George: 

Suburban 

Growing population

Livable winters

Dixie State College turned Dixie State University (influx of college students transferring to a small school with better accreditation, while still boasting small school tuition prices) 

Close proximity to Vegas, comfortable drive to California and home to Zion National Park

Good area for experimentation. 

Commerce: Use education to inform people about creating a better balanced system of survival in St. George, use education to let people know that the law will start to buckle down on conserving. Officers can start to issue more wasteful tickets. (My brother in law just got a "waste of fuel" {speeding} ticket)  that name game verbiage alone is eye opening. This ticket was for harming the environment instead of putting the rest of the public in danger by going too fast. These tickets can all be sanctioned for use in creating a more sustainable city. Hold people more responsible using the law. If we overuse, not only do we have a high bill, but we also get a ticket. My brother in law has to fork over some dollars, and he also has to shrink back at the claim that he hurt Earth.
Rebate incentives for conservation efforts:
http://www.sgcity.org/departments/water/conservation/#tab-2

Energy: think about food waste, perishable goods often get thrown out in the fridge clean out every couple of weeks, keeping a stocked fridge means that there is a likely chance food will be wasted. Make more trips to the grocery store, keep a smaller fridge and see the amount of money saved on energy and grocery costs. Food goes bad before we know it and we end up wasting many of our grocery trips anyways. But what you will use over the course of three days , and monitor  what percentage you actually use. Just because a gallon is a better deal for milk doesn't mean you should buy it if you're only going to use half a gallon and then throw out the rest of it. Having a massive fridge sucks up energy, think about how expensive air conditioning is and then times that by a million and think about what it costs to run a huge refrigerator. 

Technology and development has improved these obvious versions of solar energy (almost throwing the idea that the earth will become obsolete and unlivable- but no worry you'll be able to tell what folks are loving our earth because their big ugly solar grids on top of their homes...)  new shingle solar panels created to look normal, and similar to ordinary shingles. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/im-getting-my-roof-redone-and-heard-about-solar-shingles/

Reduce the need to travel for business.. use this site to help you find communication avenues to avoid a face to face meeting.
http://www.techsoup.org/green-technology?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc-gg&utm_term=GreenApp&utm_campaign=GG_GreenTech

Economy:

creation of jobs

Dixie State University may not have harsh winters, but they do have hellish summers. We may benefit from a connected campus, a hallway or walkway that allows you to travel from building to building in an AC structure so you don't have to walk out to your car crank up your AC to avoid back sweat while you're walking up to the testing center. These walk ways wouldn't build themselves, and we might want to hit up some contractors and construction teams before the housing market kicks back up. We could buy/order local material through ACE hardware. 

Could influence more students to attend Dixie without being scared of the heat come August and July. Students may stay for summer time which would allow for Dixie to offer more classes and the apartment buildings here to not sit vacant for the hot months that students return home. 

Create a sustainability resource center at Dixie where students can learn more about creating a less wasteful community. Like the University of Utah http://sustainability.utah.edu/resource-center/
and adopt some of their current practices within housing here at DSU http://housing.utah.edu/life/sustainability.php

Transportation- use non-conserving citizen ticket revenue to line the bike paths with solar panels along the side edges of the path (it's a double whammy of safety, by providing solar charged lights along the path, and contributing to the power grid). http://www.sgsunsmart.com/energy.php This is a link to a pre-existing solar company in St. George and the power generated specifically on December 4th, include this in the curriculum for schools, teach students how to read and understand a chart like this. They won't ask you that dreaded question, "why do I need to know this?" (um because do you want to live on earth? okay then this is your future) Look at how much CO2 isnnnn't output because of solar energy.

Personal solar energy panels for households.  FAQ for the Rookies like me!
All highlighted portions are copied from http://www.sgsunsmart.com/faqs.htm St. George Energy Services Department 2008.

(Commerce/Economy)

1. Why is there no federal tax credit?
   This type of program is so innovative that legislation on a federal level has not been created yet

(Commerce/Economy)

1. Why is it only available to people living within the St. George city limits?
   The bill that was passed to make this program possible was for a municipal project so the tax credit is only available to St. George residents

(Commerce)

1. Why did St. George choose solar?
   St. George looked at all of the renewable sources of energy and performed multiple studies; it was determined that, due to the weather and the landscape, solar was the best choice.

(Commerce)

1. Are there any fees after I pay the initial fee?
   No, only monthly credits on your energy bill!

(Commerce?)

1. Why should people participate if there is not a good return on investment?
   There is a return on investment, but not a financial one. By participating in this program you are investing in your community.

1. It seems kind of expensive, why isn't it cheaper?
   Each unit is priced to cover the cost of the equipment and installation. The city is not making any money off of this project; all of the savings go to the purchaser. By having a solar farm of this size the purchaser benefits from the economies of scale.

Education: 

Teaching the newer generations how to farm (not on the Fb FarmVille app), how to grow a cucumber and water tomatoes. At school they can include agriculture into the curriculum. Instead of reading about photosynthesis they can watch it occur as they watch a radish seed sprout. 

If you want people to utilize various types of recycling, captivate them and generate interest using social media. Make YouTube videos to educate them, or show them how to install lowflow shower heads, don't expect them to stack on more bills by having them installed in their homes. Don't just send someone a letter with recommendations for how to save a few bucks, be interactive. Show you care by really putting in the effort. Flood twitter with conservation and sustainability concepts that people are going to see over and over, so much so that they will think of them when they are leaving their home and don't turn down their A/C. The television commercials that display apps that allow you to turn off lights while you are away from your home