News

Green Mountain Collegereceives Second Nature’s 2nd Annual Climate Leadership Award. Award recipients were recognized at the 5th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summitin Washington, DC on June 23rd, hosted by George Washington University.

Mount Wachusett Community College receives Second Nature’s2nd Annual Climate Leadership Award. Award recipients were recognized at the 5th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summitin Washington, DC on June 23rd, hosted by George Washington University.

With President Daniel Asquino leading the college for more than twenty years,Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) was at the forefront of the national climate movement when it converted its all-electric campus to biomass heating in 2002 to save on energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint. The tremendous success of that initiative – implemented at zero net cost to the college through grants and energy rebates – led to other renewable solutions including solar and wind energy.

Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) receives Second Nature’s 2nd Annual Climate Leadership Award. Award recipients were recognized at the 5th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summit in Washington, DC on June 23rd, hosted by George Washington University.

Mary Fifield, BHCC College President working with the Executive staff have established one of the College’s goals to be “Cultivating College-­‐Wide Sustainability Initiatives” in an effort to develop new degree programming, integrate sustainability within existing programs and to promote conservation of natural resources. In addition, the College made another unprecedented commitment to sustainability by establishing an executive cabinet level position, the Director of Sustainability, who has college-­‐wide responsibility for integration of sustainable best practices.

The BHCC Board of Trustees has also taken an active role and recently conducted a presentation at the Association of Community College Trustees(ACCT) annual convention in Toronto, Canada called “Commitment to the Environment: Start a Sustainability Program at Your College” that included a customized Climate Action Planning Template tool to assist other colleges in their climate action planning process.

The latest issue of DownEast Magazine includes a great article called An Education in Green Livingabout education for sustainability efforts going on at Maine’s colleges and universities.

By Steve Muzzy, Senior Associate, Second Nature

(This article appears in the November, 2010 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

The 4th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Climate Leadership Summit met October 12-13 in Denver, CO. The nearly 200 participants got right to work sharing challenges and best practices and outlining the future direction of the commitment. Highlights from the Summit follow.

James Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Bill Clinton, provided the opening keynote address. Mr. Woolsey’s presentation focused on the impending threats to national security that are being posed by an increasingly unstable climate. His perspective creatively threaded the current and future social and environmental implications of our reigning energy policy as well as provided some promising existing mechanisms to scale renewable energy production. Note: Mr. Woolsey’s presentation and all Summit presentations will be available on the ACUPCC website soon.

Pasadena City College receives Second Nature’s 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Institutional Excellence in Climate Leadership. Award recipients were recognized at the 4th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment(ACUPCC) Summit in Denver, CO on October 12th.

Since 2007, Pasadena City College (PCC) has diverted more than 86% of its waste including paper, vegetation, electronic devices, and construction debris from the landfill. To reduce transportation emissions, PCC has partnered with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to offer low-cost transportation passes to 9,200 students. The campus also has four bus stops serving three different companies and operates a shuttle van service to the Gold Line light rail station in order to encourage students to use the train service.

Recently, “nano-wraps” were installed on main gas lines, which have resulted in a forty-percent savings on gas usage.  Over the past two years, PCC has reduced its water consumption by more than 28% through a combination of projects—including ultra-low flow urinals, changes in landscaping, and irrigation efficiency improvement. And over the past decade, several acres of asphalt have been replaced with walkways, sitting areas, landscaping, water features and more than 500 trees have been planted.

The Alamo Community College District (ACCD) receives Second Nature’s 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Institutional Excellence in Climate Leadership. Award recipients were recognized at the 4th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summit in Denver, CO on October 12th.

Since 2002, The Alamo Community College District (ACCD) has partnered with the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL), a division of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEES) located at Texas A&M University to identify, design, and implement Energy Cost Reduction Measures. This partnership has reduced ACCD’s electricity and natural gas consumption by 16.5% and 41%, respectively. Providing a cumulative savings of approximately $3,950,517, while keeping 37.2 tons of NOx and 33,803 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

ACCD has implemented a district‐wide metering program.  Every Alamo College facility is being equipped with metering devices to monitor electrical, gas, thermal, and water usage. This energy management control system will collect and analyze data to help inform energy use decisions and behavior.

University of Montana President, George Dennsion receives Second Nature’s 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Outstanding Individual Climate Leadership. Award recipients were recognized at the 4th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment Summit in Denver, CO on October 12th.

University of California San Diego (UCSD) receivesSecond Nature’s 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Institutional Excellence in Climate Leadership. Award recipients were recognized at the 4th Annual American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) Summit in Denver, CO on October 12th.

Environmental sustainability is part of UCSD’s institutional DNA. In 1957, Scripps Institution of Oceanography‘s (SIO) Director Roger Revelle warned that greenhouse gases from industrialization could endanger the planet. SIO chemist Charles Keeling precisely measured atmospheric CO2, and his Keeling Curve is “the most important geophysical measurement of the 20^th century.”