Every time I touch base with my allies in the sustainability for higher education movement, I am inspired by the great strides being made in every state of this nation. While our federal government has dragged its feet when it comes to setting greenhouse gas emissions targets, both public and private campuses are rising to the occasion. My buddies at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) are leading the charge with projects like the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. This Commitment has mobilized almost 600 campuses to pledge they will achieve climate neutrality (zero net emissions).
I’m proud to say that my undergraduate alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a signatory. And our rivals down the road at Duke University are also signatories (I can be proud there too because I received a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke). But this Commitment is not just reserved to big-name schools that excel in basketball. Wilson Community College in eastern North Carolina is another leading campus in the effort, and hundreds of schools, large and small, dot the American landscape as beacons of climate responsibility for the communities around them. At Wilson Community College, their President aims to install massive solar arrays that can provide much of the electricity their efficient buildings demand. At signatory University of Oklahoma – Norman, they just announced a plan to generate all of their electricity needs from wind farms by 2013.
The resolve of our country to face climate change and its growing threats will be tested over the next several months of economic downturn. But campus efforts that are already making progress to foster a stable climate will be strong reminders for the rest of our country that a sustainable energy future is possible by the 2010s.
My graduate alma mater, Princeton University, still trails its peers in emissions reduction targets, as it aims to cut emissions 20% to 1990 levels by 2020. While large strides in efficiency have been achieved over the last few years, SET hopes to help Princeton commit to more aggressive cuts that make its alumni proud and impress prospective students watching the higher sustainability rankings at Harvard, Yale and elsewhere closely. I will give updates on that campaign in the weeks ahead.
In daily news, oil prices climbed back into triple digits on market hopes that a bailout would pass the House on Thursday and keep our economy afloat. Tomorrow’s oil inventory report will help give the oil market further direction, ironing out whether inventories are falling faster than demand or vice versa. I’ll give the full details tomorrow.
Tags: climate change, green campuses, Oil, sustainability