ACUPCC

University of California, Irvinereceives 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.

Delaware State University(DSU) 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.

Leadership at DSU, inclusive of President Harry Williams down to the Deans of the colleges, has spearheaded the development of a culture of teamwork to change the patterns of past waste and lack of concern regarding the university’s impact on the environment to one of striving to be an example of sustainability stewardship. Staff are encouraged to make recommendations on how to be better stewards of the earth’s resources, and the formation of a 16 member steering committee was just the beginning. Subcommittees quickly followed and teams of faculty, staff and students now assemble regularly to ensure the direction of the University’s green efforts.

Colgate University 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.

In 2010, Colgate University reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent (from 17,323 MTeCO2 in 2009 to 14,451 MTeCO2 in 2010). This reduction is mainly the result of conservation and efficiency projects through a:

Montgomery County Community Collegereceives 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.

Since joining the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitmentin 2007, sustainability has become a core value at Montgomery County Community College (MCCC). Sustainability efforts are led by a team of faculty, students, administrators, support staff, alumni and community members that comprise the President’s Climate Commitment Advisory Council. Chaired by College President Dr. Karen Stout, the Council developed the College’s first-ever Climate Commitment Action Plan, outlining short and long-term strategies to reach carbon neutrality.

By Fuzz Hogan, Executive Producer, Planet Forward

(This article appears in the June, 2011 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

What if you could start an ongoing dialogue from your office, connecting top scientists, industry leaders and policy makers with your students, administrators and faculty? A 24/7 sustainability seminar, where you could hear what’s on the cutting edge of research, help spur implementation of the best ideas and motivate critical stake-holders to take action.

That’s what we’re creating here at Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media at the George Washington University. Created by Frank Sesno, who will keynote the ACUPCC summit in June, Planet Forward is a dynamic public square that allows citizens from diverse backgrounds to engage directly with experts, decision-makers, business leaders and each other. We’re leveraging the power of new media platforms and user-generated content, challenging the conventional top-down format of traditional media and rewarding contributors by giving their ideas increasing levels of public exposure, including broadcast television.

What does that mean? It means we’re creating that dialogue — to help bring solutions from the innovators to the decision-makers, to connect the enthusiasm of our youth with the expertise of top industry leaders.

How does it work? Let me give you two examples.

By Debera Johnson, Academic Director of Sustainability, Pratt Institute

(This article appears in the June, 2011 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

In 2008 Pratt received a four-year, federal grant to “green” their academic programs and make the link between academics and operations. This institutionalized my role as the Academic Director of Sustainability (ADoS) at Pratt and helped fund program development throughout the institute. The role of the ADoS was established by Dr. Thomas Schutte, President of Pratt Institute and one of the first 50 signatories of the ACUPCC. Dr. Schutte recognized the importance of a holistic approach that linked facilities with academics. This seemed especially relevant at a school of art, design and architecture where students have opportunities to practice the sustainable best practices of their profession and have a direct impact on changing the campus environment. The outcome has been to naturalize sustainability as a critical layer of thinking within each of our programs and throughout operations.

Over a series of campus visits nation-wide to share our work and learn from our peers, I realized that independent art and design schools have a unique set of issues and limited resources– it became clear that it was going to take forever for each of us to make change one by one. It occurred to me that if we could find a way to work together, we had the opportunity to shift from incremental to transformative change.

By Peter Bardaglio, Senior Fellow, Second Nature

Welcome to the May 2011 issue of the TCCPI Newsletter, a monthly update from the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative (TCCPI).

TCCPI Backs Plan for Sustainability Center on the Commons

Ithaca Commons on a sunny spring day!

Members of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative at a recent meeting strongly endorsed the concept of a sustainability center located on The Commons indowntown Ithaca and identified the establishment of such a center as one of its top priorities for 2011.

The proposed sustainability center will foster broader community awareness and involvement in sustainability efforts in Tompkins County. Local residents, visitors, and students from nearby educational institutions can learn and interact with a wide range of sustainability projects and programs underway in Tompkins County and the Finger Lakes region.

Displays, videos and interactive exhibits will allow visitors to the center to become informed about, and engaged in, those efforts. The facility will be staffed by a program coordinator, work-study students, and volunteers, and could provide office and meeting space for sustainability projects and internships.

The Sustainability Center Steering Committee is made up of the following individuals, all of whom are TCCPI members:

Through the ACUPCC, institutions agree to reduce and eventually eliminate their net greenhouse gas emissions from specified sources – including some indirect “Scope 3” sources, specifically: regular commuting to and from campus, and air travel paid for by the institution.  These Scope 3 emissions can be tricky to measure, and in fulfilling the ACUPCC schools have come up with creative and effective ways for doing so, from estimates based on zip codes to campus-wide surveys.

Now, initiatives like the ACUPCC are helping to drive innovations and new solutions to help organizations tackle these challenges more effectively.  A few years ago, students atMiddlebury College, conceived of Brighter Planet– and recently they’ve partnered with MasterCard to help organizations track travel emissions by calculating and reporting emissions from flights, hotel stays, car rentals, etc. based on purchases with corporate cards.

Learn more about the program in this article.

By Matthew Inman, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, U.S. Department of Energy 
(This article appears in the May, 2011 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

To better educate Americans, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is leading a collaborative effort, the Energy Literacy Initiative (ELI), to define and promote energy literacy. If more people had a basic understanding of energy, resources, generation and efficiency, families and businesses could make more informed decisions on ways to save money by saving energy. More broadly, people would better understand the energy landscape, allowing them to better understand local, national and international energy policy. Current national and global issues such as safeguarding the environment and our nation’s energy security highlight the need for energy education. The U.S. is behind in the global movement toward clean energy. We must become a leader in this movement to lead the 21st century global economy. The need for energy education has never been more pertinent.