Blog | Second Nature

November 28, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, Climate Action, Conferences & Events, Education for Sustainability, Regional News: Northeast, Resources, Second Nature Team

2011 ACUPCC Northeast Regional Collaborative Symposium Summary

By Sarah Brylinsky, Program Associate, Second Nature

(Download the symposium agenda, or a PDF version of this summary here.)

The first American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment(ACUPCC) Regional Collaborative Symposium – the 2012 Northeast Regional Symposium – took place at Bunker Hill Community College November 3-4, 2011. The Regional Symposiums focus on fostering collaboration among ACUPCC signatories facing similar challenges and opportunities in their geographic regions. This inaugural conference garnered participation from 36 universities in 19 states throughout the Northeast, achieving cross-institutional dialogue, knowledge exchange, and solutions to climate action planning, curriculum reform, and other key issues.

November 21, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, Conferences & Events, News, Regional News: Midwest, School Innovations

Heartland Community College hosts 6th Annual Sustainable Universities and Colleges Symposium

By Adrienne LaBranche Tucker, Ph.D., Associate Director of The Green Institute @ Heartland Community College

On October 28^th, Heartland Community College in Normal, IL hosted the 6^thannual Governor Quinn’s Green Government Coordinating Council Sustainable Universities and Colleges Symposium. Around 350 attendees from all across Illinois joined in a day of higher education sustainability best practice sharing. The day’s activities started with presentations from Heartland Community College’s President, Dr. Alan Goben, the Town of Normal Mayor, Chris Koos, the Executive Director of the Illinois Green Economy Network, Julie Elzanati, and of course Governor Pat Quinn.

Speakers, workshops, and panel discussions covered topics such as sustainable renovation and construction, energy efficiency, renewable energy, conservation, environmental education and service learning, water and waste reduction, student engagement in greening the campus, applications of benchmarking and reporting tools like the Illinois Campus Sustainability Compact, STARS, ACUPCC and more.

November 18, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, Climate Action, Resources, Second Nature Team, Video Series

One Institution's Journey to Sustainability

November 10, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC

5 Years to Avoid Run-Away Climate Change

Any fossil fuel infrastructure built in the next five years will cause irreversible climate change, according to the IEA. Photograph: Rex Features

A new report, released yesterday by the International Energy Agency provides a stark reminder of the urgency of the climate crisis – we have 5 years to avoid irreversible, run-away climate change that will lock us into a scenario where it will be impossible to keep global average temperature increases under 2 degrees. This article in the Guardianstates:

The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be “lost for ever”, according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.

Anything built from now on that produces carbon will do so for decades, and this “lock-in” effect will be the single factor most likely to produce irreversible climate change, the world’s foremost authority on energy economics has found. If this is not rapidly changed within the next five years, the results are likely to be disastrous.

November 8, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, Adaptation, News, Resources

New Report Finds Higher Education Has Critical Role in Adapting to Changing Climate

Human society is facing an unprecedented rate of change due to a very rapidly shifting climate. This is resulting in already-documented vulnerabilities to human communities,” said Dr. David A. Caruso, President of Antioch University New England. ”As this report makes clear, higher education institutions are well-positioned and ready to leverage the best of our faculty and students to empower people to rapidly respond, in effective, just and transparent ways, to a changing world.

Read the news release about the report, learn about the committee responsible for authoring it, or download the PDF.

Second Nature, the lead supporting organization of the ACUPCC, and Clean Air – Cool Planet administered the committee and supported the development of the report.

November 8, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, Partnerships

Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative – October and November 2011

By Peter Bardaglio, Senior Fellow, Second Nature

Welcome to the October/November 2011 issue of the TCCPI Newsletter, an electronic update from the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative(TCCPI).

Students Help Launch “Get Your GreenBack” Campaign

Six hundred student volunteers from Cornell University visited over 8,000 households in Tompkins County on October 29 to hand deliver free bags containing a compact florescent light-bulb and information on ways to save money on energy. The event marked the 20th anniversary of “Into the Streets,” Cornell’s annual day of community service – sponsored by the Cornell Public Service Center. The energy savings bags are part of an upcoming county-wide campaign, “Get Your GreenBack Tompkins,” which will launch in January, 2012.

Cornell Students go "Into the Streets" to raise awareness about energy efficiency.

Educational materials in the bag included low and no-cost energy-efficiency measures residents can take to save money, an application for a home energy assessment (worth over $400); alternative transportation options, how to buy more local food, and reduce the cost of waste disposal. The materials also provided information on the “Get Your GreenBack Tompkins”campaign, including an entry ticket for a raffle for a chance to win over $2,000 in prizes from local energy efficiency retail product providers.

November 3, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, ACUPCC Implementer

CAP Planning Process at Rochester Institute of Technology

By Witold Bujak, Sustainability Manager and Enid Cardinal, Senior Sustainability Advisor to the President, RIT

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

Preparing the first Climate Action Plan (CAP) can be a difficult task. With this in mind, Witold Bujak, Sustainability Manager at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) offered to approach it in a systematic way by dividing the assignment into separate, easy-to-manage tasks.

Task One – Understand the Assignment. This was relatively easy, thanks to the vast resources available on the web. The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) website reveals the Commitment’s protocol and reporting instructions. But the real treasure is in the online reporting system, a quick reading of just a few reports from other universities shows a variety of campus responses to the same challenge of reporting, planning and creating a long term approach that would achieve neutrality and sustain financial resources.

November 3, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, ACUPCC Implementer, Public Reporting

CA-CP Collaborates to Develop a Web-based Calculator

By Claire Roby, Carbon Accounting Manager, Clean Air-Cool Planet

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

At the recent 2011 AASHE conference, Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) unveiled the next phase of the Campus Carbon Calculator™ evolution: we’ve partnered with Sightlines, LLC, to redevelop the Campus Carbon Calculator as a dynamic, web-based solution. The goal: to streamline the transition from analysis to action with a simpler, more powerful tool.

History

Back in 2001, CA-CP partnered with the University of New Hampshire to develop a template for campus greenhouse gas tracking. That Excel-based template — better known as the Campus Carbon Calculator™ — has since become the most widely-used carbon management tool in higher education, evolving with user needs to become increasingly comprehensive while remaining transparent, customizable and free.

November 3, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, ACUPCC Implementer, Public Reporting

Measuring Sustainability Performance at the University of Maryland

By Sally DeLeon, Sustainability Measurement Coordinator, UMD College Park

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

To lead in the transformation to a sustainable society, institutions of higher education need to clearly articulate their own sustainability objectives and show progress toward meeting their goals. A set of regularly updated sustainability metrics is one important tool that can help keep stakeholders engaged and encouraged to focus on continual improvement. Internal performance metrics and external public reporting are growing areas of importance for sustainability in higher education. Some campuses are reorganizing or expanding their sustainability teams to include positions that focus specifically on measuring and reporting progress.

November 3, 2011

Posted in: ACUPCC, ACUPCC Implementer, Public Reporting

STARS & the ACUPCC: A History of Collaboration

By Meghan Fay Zahniser, STARS Program Manager, AASHE

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

Five years ago AASHE was called upon to develop a consistent way to measure campus sustainability efforts, and the idea for STARS – the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System – was born. In January 2010, after a year-long pilot program and several public comment periods, AASHE launched the first version of STARS where institutions could register to participate and receive a rating. In addition, the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) celebrates the 5^th year anniversary of the initiative and the upcoming first round of Progress Reports on Climate Action Planning. Public reporting is an important component of the transformation of higher education as it allows us to track, assess, and learn from our progress toward sustainability. How has the process of reporting developed throughout the history of the campus sustainability movement?

Let’s take a trip back in time to the early years of the campus sustainability movement to learn how the development of both the ACUPCC and STARS reporting systems have developed for the benefit of campuses nationwide.

Students Help Launch “Get Your GreenBack” Campaign

History

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