Climate Days at Bowdoin College

by Georges Dyer, Second Nature

Bowdoin is gearing up for Climate Days – a series of lectures, art installations, and performances that will engage the entire campus community in the process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Bowdoin College - Carbon Neutral by 2020

Bowdoin has submitted itsclimate action plan to the ACUPCC and is aiming to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 through a combination of on-site reduction, supporting grid improvements, addressing commuting and investing in renewable energy credits and offsets appropriately.

Any institution addressing climate disruption, and proactively driving innovative solutions, will need input and cooperation across departments and groups, and Bowdoin is certainly taking this approach, as the Climate Days news release explains:

Climate Days, an ongoing interdisciplinary effort, are sponsored by an array of groups, including the President’s Climate Commitment Advisory Committee, Africana Studies, Arctic Studies, Athletics, Bowdoin Architecture and Design Association, Coastal Studies Center, Common Hour, English Department, Environmental Studies, Evergreens, Gender and Women’s Studies, Green Global Initiatives, History Department, McKeen Center for the Common Good, Music Department, Santagata Lecture Series and Sustainable Bowdoin.

Bowdoin also has a new blog – Global Change: Intersection of Nature and Culture– written by Philip Camill, Rusack Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Bowdoin.  Camill plans to “analyze environmental change by focusing on the interaction between nature and culture, showcasing big ideas from all disciplines,” – and he’s off to a great start, covering topics of climate disruption, climate denial, communications, food security, environmental literacy and much more.

The Climate Days initiative, the Global Change blog, the climate action plan, the recent Sustainability Institute Bowdoin students helped organize – taken all together, these steps demonstrate what a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to sustainability Bowdoin is taking, and you can get a sense of the excitement it is generating on campus, just from reading about it.