2008 Woodie Awards
A Necessary Commitment
Jacy Good
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Op/Ed
- Page 1 of 1
The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment is a document outlining steps which must be taken by colleges and universities across the country in order to reduce their impact on global warming. Since the Commitment was introduced in October of 2006, four hundred and fifteen presidents of colleges and universities have signed the commitment, with that number rising every day.
Many of the signatories are major competitors of the college including Villanova, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall and Ursinus College. Signing the Commitment declares a dedication to sustainability, binds colleges to conduct a Greenhouse Gas Inventory within one year and requires colleges to set a target date to achieve climate neutrality, among other smaller goals.
The Greenhouse Gas Inventory is a measure of all the carbon produced by the college, including driving done by staff and students, energy used in all dorms and energy used by all academic and other campus buildings.
Climate neutrality is the idea that colleges will ideally have no net greenhouse gas emissions. This means that the college reduces energy use as much as possible, and then purchases carbon credits (through companies that invest in renewable resources or plant trees) or generates clean energy on campus in order to have no net emissions. According to the Commitment, "in general, buying carbon offsets to achieve climate neutrality should only be done as a last resort." Muhlenberg College has the capacity to complete all of the requirements outlined in the Commitment.
The has not yet signed the Presidents Climate Commitment. However, it has already taken many of the steps outlined in the Commitment. We have a campus committee (the President's Greening Committee) that supports sustainability.
Muhlenberg interns working with the help of the Alliance for Sustainable Communities and Cara Owens, Muhlenberg's Sustainability Coordinator, will have the Greenhouse Gas Inventory completed by the end of the semester. Fifty percent of the energy used in the New Science Building comes from wind power. The vast majority of new appliances purchased are Energy Star certified. In addition, the college owns Graver Arboretum and the Raker Wildlife Sanctuary for a combined one hundred and three acres of woodlands. These trees sequester a huge amount of carbon, and the Greening Committee is in the process of measuring exactly how much.
Signing the Commitment is up to President Helm. The Greening Committee and EnAcT support signing the Commitment. These two groups have been working extremely hard on issues of sustainability for the past several years, and it is time for the administration to become equally aggressive.
President Helm has declared that he is not against signing the Commitment, but he does not believe that the College is ready. If the college wants to keep up with our competitors and fulfill the moral responsibility of being leaders in the community, President Helm must sign the Presidents Climate Commitment. According to the Commitment, "No other institution in society has the influence, the critical mass, and the diversity of skills needed to successfully reverse global warming."
For more information about the Presidents Climate Commitment, visit www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.
Many of the signatories are major competitors of the college including Villanova, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall and Ursinus College. Signing the Commitment declares a dedication to sustainability, binds colleges to conduct a Greenhouse Gas Inventory within one year and requires colleges to set a target date to achieve climate neutrality, among other smaller goals.
The Greenhouse Gas Inventory is a measure of all the carbon produced by the college, including driving done by staff and students, energy used in all dorms and energy used by all academic and other campus buildings.
Climate neutrality is the idea that colleges will ideally have no net greenhouse gas emissions. This means that the college reduces energy use as much as possible, and then purchases carbon credits (through companies that invest in renewable resources or plant trees) or generates clean energy on campus in order to have no net emissions. According to the Commitment, "in general, buying carbon offsets to achieve climate neutrality should only be done as a last resort." Muhlenberg College has the capacity to complete all of the requirements outlined in the Commitment.
The has not yet signed the Presidents Climate Commitment. However, it has already taken many of the steps outlined in the Commitment. We have a campus committee (the President's Greening Committee) that supports sustainability.
Muhlenberg interns working with the help of the Alliance for Sustainable Communities and Cara Owens, Muhlenberg's Sustainability Coordinator, will have the Greenhouse Gas Inventory completed by the end of the semester. Fifty percent of the energy used in the New Science Building comes from wind power. The vast majority of new appliances purchased are Energy Star certified. In addition, the college owns Graver Arboretum and the Raker Wildlife Sanctuary for a combined one hundred and three acres of woodlands. These trees sequester a huge amount of carbon, and the Greening Committee is in the process of measuring exactly how much.
Signing the Commitment is up to President Helm. The Greening Committee and EnAcT support signing the Commitment. These two groups have been working extremely hard on issues of sustainability for the past several years, and it is time for the administration to become equally aggressive.
President Helm has declared that he is not against signing the Commitment, but he does not believe that the College is ready. If the college wants to keep up with our competitors and fulfill the moral responsibility of being leaders in the community, President Helm must sign the Presidents Climate Commitment. According to the Commitment, "No other institution in society has the influence, the critical mass, and the diversity of skills needed to successfully reverse global warming."
For more information about the Presidents Climate Commitment, visit www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.