Top votes for Missouri S&T in 2013 Climate Leadership Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2013
Contact: Rima Mulla, 617-722-0036, rmulla@secondnature.org

Voters Select Missouri University of Science and Technology as Winner
of Climate Leadership Video Competition

Contest featured campus sustainability initiatives from 19 US colleges and universities

BOSTON, MA-Second Nature and Planet Forward are pleased to announce that site visitors and community members have chosen a winner in the voting component of the 2013 Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards. After a month-long open vote and a record-breaking total 48,882 votes cast, Missouri University of Science and Technology has come out on top with 16,374 votes. Planet Forward will feature the winning video across its media platforms over the next few months.

Missouri S&T's submission to this year's competition focused on two sustainable research projects: the Solar Village and the campus's new geothermal energy plant. The Solar Village is a living lab of buildings, currently occupied by professors and students who work on their own solar grid, use sustainable building practices, and feed into a prototype community solar storage bank. The geothermal plant replaces the existing 60-year-old power plant. It will power 15 buildings on campus when completed in 2014.

Glendale Community College (AZ) came in second with 8,978 votes, making it the top vote getter among Associate Colleges in the competition. Top votes within Carnegie Classifications also went to Carleton College (MN) in the Baccalaureate category, American Public University System (WV) in the Master's Granting, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MA) in the Special Focus category. The Carnegie Classification is a leading framework for identifying institutional diversity in US higher education.

Voting took place from April 1, 2013 to 5 p.m. ET on April 30, 2013 on planetforward.org. All visitors to the site were allowed to vote once per video every 24 hours. All votes that were within this guideline were counted towards the final totals. Votes that were cast outside the one-per-day guideline were disqualified from the competition.

The finalists featured in the voting competition were chosen by Second Nature board members in January and asked to produce a 2-3 minute video highlighting their campus sustainability initiatives.

The annual Second Nature Climate Leadership Awards recognize innovative and advanced leadership in education for sustainability, climate mitigation and adaptation, and institutionalized sustainability at signatory campuses of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment. Final overall award winners will be chosen later this spring by members of the Second Nature Board of Directors unaffiliated with ACUPCC signatory schools.

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About Second Nature
Second Nature works to create a healthy, just, and sustainable society beginning with the transformation of higher education. Second Nature is the support organization of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. Learn more at: www.secondnature.org.

About the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC)
The ACUPCC is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments from college and universities to accelerate the education, research and community engagement to equip society to re-stabilize the earth's climate, and eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions from their own operations.
Learn more at: www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.

About Planet Forward
Planet Forward is a multimedia project based out of George Washington University in Washington, DC. The project focuses on curating and producing videos about innovations in energy, climate, and sustainability. Planet Forward has partnered with the daily technology and business TV show, Bloomberg West, to identify and feature innovative businesses that could transform the way we make and use energy, reduce our environmental impact and adapt to the changing climate.
Learn more at: www.planetforward.org.

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Publication Date: 
Thursday, May 2, 2013