Climate Action

Advancing Higher Education: ACUPCC Data Demonstrates Sustainability & Climate Progress

June 7, 2012

By Stephen Muzzy, Senior Associate, Second Nature

(This article appears in the June, 2012 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

The ACUPCC’s 5th year celebration also marks an important stage in the ongoing, unprecedented efforts of the network to publicly report on activities to eliminate operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to provide the education, research, and community engagement to enable the rest of society to do the same. Because of these tremendous efforts the ACUPCC Reporting System now includes 1585 GHG reports, 465 Climate Action Plans, and 240 Progress Reports on the Climate Action Plan! Public reporting by ACUPCC signatories demonstrates transparency and integrity for each institution’s commitment and contributes to the collective learning of the network and general public. The ACUPCC Reporting System also allows signatories to track, assess, and communicate progress to their campus community and beyond, demonstrating to prospective students, foundations, and potential private sector partners that their institution is serious and transparent about its commitment to climate change and sustainability. The individual efforts taken together are demonstrating impressive results and the growing impact of the network to prepare graduates and provide the necessary solutions for a sustainable future.

Making an Impact

The ACUPCC’s earliest signatories have had more than four years to assess, plan and begin implementing their Climate Action Plans allowing them to:

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2012 Climate Leadership Award Winners

May 11, 2012

2012 CLA winner badge2012 Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards

Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Climate Leadership at Signatory Institutions of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment

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Recipients of the Third Annual Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards were recognized for their efforts during an awards ceremony at  the ACUPCC Climate Leadership Summit in Washington, DC on June 21st. This year’s Climate Leadership Awards were created, designed, and fabricated by students from Pratt Institute’sCenter for Sustainable Design Studies (CSDS). The awards were created using reclaimed redwood from New York City water towers. The surface of the wood was beautifully and uniformly weathered, and each award included a distinctive waterline running through the grain of each piece, providing a unique and one of a kind finish. The students felt that the material and finished product honored the intent of the awards by illustrating the unique and innovative strategies the recipients are taking to work toward climate neutrality.

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Save the Date: New England Campus Sustainability Forum

May 11, 2012

Second Nature is pleased to announce our co-sponsorship and support of the New England Campus Sustainability Forum, a conference that will take place on September 21st at the Colleges of the Fenway in Boston, MA. The Forum is designed to leverage the collective resources of schools and colleges, and we hope to attract campus sustainability stakeholders such as administrators, facilities personnel, sustainability directors, interested faculty and staff, and students.

Please save the date and circulate the above announcement to your friends and colleagues in the higher education sustainability community.

More details on the Forum are coming soon!

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New UNCF Publication Showcases MSI Efforts and Progress on Campus Sustainability

May 10, 2012

By Van H. Du, Program Associate, Second Nature

Sustainable CampusesThe United Negro College Fund (UNCF) recently published Sustainable Campuses: Building Green at Minority-Serving Institutions to showcase the outstanding leadership and accomplishments achieved by many minority-serving colleges and universities in their efforts towards campus sustainability and climate neutrality.

Sustainable Campuses is a collection of discussions and case studies, written by educational and environmental representatives from both public and private sectors, focusing on the topics of campus leadership, funding opportunities for campus sustainability initiatives, and the greening of campus facilities and operations. Developed and compiled by the Building Green project of UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, the articles in Sustainable Campuses also highlight the many challenges and opportunities, which MSIs have experienced in their journey towards engaging, planning and implementing sustainability initiatives across their campuses.

Through the stories on innovative ideas, experiences, lesson learned, as well as best practices shared in this publication, it is clear that sustainability efforts and progress made by MSIs are tremendous. And as UNCF President Dr. Michael Lomax expresses in his introduction, “By reading this book, by thinking about how you and your institution might benefit from the projects these articles describes, and by acting on your convictions, you become part of the solution.”

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Advancing Higher Education: ACUPCC Institutions Lead Sustainability and Climate Progress

April 17, 2012

The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) is celebrating five years of higher education’s leadership on the critical issues of our time, with new data from signatories’ public reports showing unprecedented success and innovation in renewable energy, curriculum, energy efficiency, green building, and financial savings. 202 institutions have submitted Progress Reports on their implementation of the commitment in the first five years, showing the following results, which are indicative of progress throughout the network.  While reports are still coming in and numbers are subject to change, preliminary analysis of the latest data shows:

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American Meteorological Society and Second Nature Partner to Strengthen Climate and Sustainability-Focused Curricula at Minority-Serving Institutions

February 7, 2012

By James Brey, Director, AMS Education Program and Elizabeth Mills, Associate Director, AMS Education Program

(This article appears in the February, 2012 issue of The ACUPCC Implementer)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) GeoVision reportunderscores the critical need for increasing public literacy in the geosciences. Daily, Americans learn about threats to the Earth, such as the peril of global climate change and the increasing frequency of natural and manmade hazards.  It is imperative the public gain a deeper understanding of the underlying scientific processes that influence these events. It also is essential that our educational system and workforce reflect our diversity as a nation.

To this end, NSF is supporting a long-term partnership betweenAmerican Meteorological Society (AMS) and Second Nature to introduce the AMS Climate Studies course to 100 Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) nationwide.  The course is a ready-made way for MSIs to strengthen the curriculum component of their ACUPCC Climate Action Plans and provide students with an up-to-date study of climate science, including global change and sustainability issues.

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Leadership and Innovation from the First Five Years of the ACUPCC

January 25, 2012

2012 marks the 5 Year Anniversary of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), and with it a growing collection of successful leadership stories and innovative projects from over 670 signatory institutions. The first submission of Progress Reports for institutions that have completed a Climate Action Plan show remarkable progress in climate mitigation and education for sustainability.

In just five years, campuses across the nation have pioneered innovative approaches to finance climate mitigation, pursue climate and sustainability related research, reorient curriculum to address climate and sustainability issues, and most importantly engage their student’s and local community’s to address climate disruption.

The paths to climate neutrality and education for sustainability are as diverse as they are inspiring. Here are just a few of the tremendous successes in the first five years of the initiative:

Progress Reports on the Climate Action Plan

Below are just a few examples of recently submitted Progress Reports on institutions’ Climate Action Plans:

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2011 ACUPCC Northeast Regional Collaborative Symposium Summary

November 28, 2011

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.

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Student Engagement in Climate Action Planning

September 8, 2011

Engaging students in the process of fulfilling the ACUPCC is a great way to get things done - completing greenhouse gas inventories, creating a climate action plan, implementing specific projects, and reporting on progress.  But more importantly, it provides a variety of excellent experiential education opportunities, exposing students processes and systems that will be in growing demand in workplace.

Students can gain marketable technical skills related to carbon accounting, reporting, renewable energy systems, green building, and more. There are also a whole host of relevant disciplines where students can earn valuable experience, such as economics and financing, law and policy, and strategic planning and management.  Maybe most important, it's a chance to experience firsthand how organizations work, and the exciting challenges of managing complex change.

The Campus Climate Neutral project from the National Association of Environmental Law Societies (NAELS) has helped many schools engage students in climate action planning process, including UC Santa Barbara, Tulane, Bard, and the University of Arizona.  The Climate Corps Public Sector program from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is also training students and placing them in internships on campuses to conduct energy audits and make cost-saving recommendations for energy reductions.

There are hundreds of examples of ACUPCC institutions that have engaged students in this exciting process in one way or another.  Here are just a few:

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Our Moral Responsibility to Address Climate Change

August 31, 2011

Below is an opportunity that has come to our attention from a respected colleague, Bob Doppelt, who is working with others on the National Climate Ethics Campaign. Please see Bob's note below and consider showing your support for their efforts by signing the statement if you agree with its content. We believe it is very much inline with the goals of the ACUPCC and a powerful way to demonstrate the moral imperative for taking meaningful action on climate.

More details about the National Climate Ethics Campaign can be found below Bob's note.

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Dear Colleagues,

This note is to ask you to consider signing a statement developed by the National Climate Ethics Campaign that individually and collectively our great nation has a moral obligation to address climate change.

The statement and endorsement form can be found here: http://climateethicscampaign.org/statement.

News from the International Energy Agency this summer that CO2 emissions in 2010 were the highest in history and atmospheric CO2 has now risen to levels that are precariously close to pushing surface temperatures beyond 2 degrees C underscores the importance of taking aggressive action to address climate change.

The National Climate Ethics Campaign is therefore seeking signatures on the statement from a broad spectrum of national leaders, including current and former Republican and Democratic officials as well as leaders from the business, finance, faith, youth, academic, and other communities. It will be released to Congress, every state legislature and every governor, the business and non-profit community and general public nationwide in the fall of this year. Please consider endorsing the statement.

Sincerely,

Bob Doppelt

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