Conferences & Events

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.”

Warren Wilson 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.

Catalyzed by President, Sandy Pfeiffer’s signing of the ACUPCC in 2007, Warren Wilson College’s (WWC) sustainability progress has accelerated significantly in the areas of senior leadership, academics, and work and service.

Highlights of WWC’s climate leadership include but are not limited to the following actions:

Senior Leadership Engagement:

• PAC team formally adopts sustainable decision making
• President receives two grants for sustainability curriculum with 2011 focus on Energy
• Chief Sustainability Official leads 20 faculty, staff, and students to develop CAP
• Provost appoints faculty Director of Sustainability Education
• Human Resources director modifies staff evaluations to assess sustainability actions
• Facilities Director creates student Energy Services Crew, Strategic Energy Management Plan to support CAP
• CFO approves Funds to support CAP
• Trustees approve 5-year Strategic Plan with “Sustainability” as Core Value and CAP as action step
• Dean of Work guides new Land Use Plan that supports CAP; modifies student work evaluations to assess sustainability actions

Campus-wide Learning Experiences:

Delta College President, Jean Goodnow receivesSecond Nature’s 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award for Outstanding Individual Climate Leadership. Award recipients were recognized at the 4th AnnualAmerican College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment Summit in Denver, CO on October 12th.

President Jean Goodnow has been making sustainability a strategic imperative by integrating it into Delta College’s (MI), educational, administrative, and operational activities. In 2007, President Goodnow signed the ACUPCC and convened a Sustainability Task Force. In 2008, she assembled a college-wide Green Summit during which sustainable concepts were introduced and input from the campus community was invited. As a result, Green Fridays, a four-day work-week, was piloted. Green Fridays has been established as a successful measure of carbon reduction and expanded each year.

On this Tuesday night (Sept. 7, 2010), the Solar Road Trip will stop in Boston at the Old South Church in Copley Square, starting at 5:30pm.  Second Nature has teamed up with Unity College, 350.org, Students for a Just and Stable Future, and others to help promote this exciting trip.

Author Bill McKibben and a team of students from Unity College in Maine travel to Washington D.C. to deliver one of the original Carter panels to President Obama, asking him to reinstall solar on the White House on 10/10/10, and to follow this symbolic gesture with substantial legislative action.

Second Nature President Tony Cortese will speak, along with Bill McKibben and other leaders, about the importance of taking action on climate and energy.  This should be a major press event, and a strong showing of supporters will go along way to raise the profile of these efforts – please join us on Tuesday night at the Old South Church in Copley Square!

Here are the details of the event:

College and university students across the world - but particularly those in the US, China, and India - are gearing up for some friendly competition to save the world.

Four groups - 350.org, China Youth Climate Action Network, Indian Youth Climate Network, and the Energy Action Coalition - are supporting the campaign that will run through the end of 2010.

Right now, in the first phase, the goal is to see how many campus teams they can get signed up from each country, so if you're a college or university student, see if your campus has a team yet, and if not, start one: www.greatpowerrace.org

Later on this year, teams will earn points by implementing projects that promote clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is a critical year for ramping up action to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption, so get involved - and good luck!

“Let us put our minds together and see what life we will make for our children”
– Sitting Bull

The second of three Green Building Learning Institutes is being held in Minneapolis, MN with strong representation from tribal colleges in the region.

The highlight of the opening reception last night was an incredible dance performance from Larry Yazzie of Native Pride Dancers and his eleven-year-old son and three-year-old daughter.  Learning about their work of preserving these cultural traditions and passing them on to the next generation was a powerful reminder of the importance preserving a suitable habitat for humans on this planet and a global society that fosters, not destroys, a diversity of human cultures.

We also heard from Dr. Karl Reid who head Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives for UNCF and Minneapolis City Councillor, Robert Lilligren, who talked about a host of exciting sustainability initiatives, including installing the largest green roof in the state and being recognized as the country’s number one biking city last year.

So far the event promises to be an excellent venue for networking and accelerating the great work that is being done in tribal communities and communities of color – and particularly the institutions of higher education that serve those communities – to create a healthy, just, and sustainable society.