Bates College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Climate Neutrality
Students at Bates secured a climate neutrality victory by pressuring their President to sign AASHE’s President’s Climate Commitment. Led by Mike Pickoff and Jack Murphy, students gathered 600 student petition signatures, held numerous outreach and education events, lobbied members of the administration and earned media. Like the group at Northeastern, students will next work to nail down shorter-term, concrete emissions reductions commitments from the college.
Birmingham Southern College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
Thanks to the work of Cori Anderson and her group at BSC, the college’s President signed the President's Climate Commitment during the spring semester of 2007. The students had successfully pressured the President to sign onto the Talloires Declaration previously. Having already completed that effort, the President felt it was natural to also sign the ACUPCC.
Blacksburg, VA (Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC))
Mayor Signed Cool Cities and U.S. Mayor’s Protocol for Climate Protection
Through pressure from the community and students at Virginia Tech which culminated in an overflowing town council meeting in November 2006, the Mayor of Blacksburg, VA signed Cool Cities and the U.S. Mayor’s Protocol for Climate Protection.
Carleton College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
Carleton College signed the President's Climate Commitment in March 2007. Carleton had already committed itself to carbon-neutrality in the spring of 2006, so the signing of the commitment was a reaffirmation of a pledge the school had already made. Students spent the spring compiling research on a roadmap to neutrality that they presented to the President.
College of the Atlantic (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Carbon Neutral by 2015
This fall, the College of the Atlantic announced a trustee resolution to become carbon neutral by 2015. Several students were involved in that decision and the committee that will be taking it further will be primarily made up of students. Students will also be involved with managing the fund that will be used for investments in carbon pollution offsets.
Colorado University Boulder (Student PIRGS)
President’s Climate Commitment
Students collected 700 signatures and helped organize student leaders to persuade the Chancellor to sign the Presidents’ Climate Commitment.
Cornell University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Led by Katherine McEachern and Carlos Rymer, the students of KyotoNOW! at Cornell University achieved two victories in the spring 2007 semester.
Climate Neutrality
Students secured the climate neutrality victory by pressuring their President to sign the ACUPCC. Tactics that were used to win this portion of the campaign include gathering 4,000 student petition signatures and 50+ professor petition signatures, forming a coalition of 10 student organizations, numerous outreach and education events, lobbying of the administration and media.
Dickinson College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
At Dickinson students had been organizing for dramatic emissions reductions through both their student-run organization and a larger multi-stakeholder group that included faculty and administrators as well as student representatives. The students used that group to push for ambitious goals while organizing events, petitioning and working with secondary targets to create the support and pressure for these initiatives. Thanks to their hard work, the president signed the ACUPCC this year.
Elon University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Carbon Neutrality Plan
Christine Irvine and her group at Elon have been pushing for Carbon Neutrality to be included in the Campus Sustainability Plan which has been under development and review in the spring of 2007. It is indeed included in the plan, which was presented to the Board of Directors. There was no actual vote, though the Board seemed relatively supportive of the plan in general.
Elon University (Students United from a Global Social Environment (SURGE))
Carbon Neutrality Commitment
During fall 2006, SURGE staff visited the Elon campus to make a class visit and discuss the Campus Climate Challenge with students in Professors. Toddie Peter’s environmental studies class. Student leader, Christine Irvine, was highly interested in the Challenge and worked with SURGE and the SSC to support a Challenge initiative at Elon with fourteen active members who have organized over twenty outreach events, have had more than fifteen meetings with faculty and administrators on campus, and have collected over 1,200 signed petitions for carbon neutrality. During the spring 2007 semester, the Elon student activists secured a commitment from the Elon Board of Trustees to become carbon neutral within thirty years.
Fort Lewis College (Black Mesa Water Coalition)
The key leaders are David and Matt.
President’s Climate Commitment
Small Axe and Small Steps student organization has persuaded the Fort Lewis College President sign the Presidents Climate Commitment.
Hollins University (Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN))
Student leaders - Sarah Whitney, Sara Geres, Dana Leeper, Robin Mizzel, Caroline Walz, Stephanie Pratt, Sarah Black, Morgan Davis, and Liz Schwartz.
Environmental Advisory Board & GHG Reduction Goals
This past year, Hollins University announced the creation of an Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) to provide advice and leadership on environmental planning for the University. The EAB reviews and recommend policies to President Gray that advocate sustainable use of campus resources and preservation of cultural landscapes. Two students Catherine Fitzgerald-Pittman and Melissa Myers are on this committee and were instrumental in helping the University commit to larger more ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions to zero.
President’s Climate Commitment
Ultimately through board recommendations and grassroots activism, students played a pivotal role in the signing of the President’s Climate Commitment this May. http://www.hollins.edu/newspop/initiative.htm
Johns Hopkins University (Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN))
Student Leaders – Blake Hough, Teryn Norris
Climate Neutral by 2015
HEAT’s policy goal was the Responsible Energy Policy 2015, a policy proposal written by HEAT’s Executive Coordinators. REP 2015 states that the operations of the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University will become carbon neutral by the year 2015. Its scope covers on-campus electricity use, energy fuels, and transportation related to campus activities. This climate neutral policy proposal was the main focus of HEAT’s campaign and thus a majority of the semester’s activity was directed towards its adoption. Our campaign was two-pronged, with the first area focused on building support among the student body, the second area focused on the administration. Our campaign to build grassroots student support included the events, student exposure, and petitioning mentioned above.
Macalester College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
The student’s ability to achieve these victories with relative ease is not a fluke, but rather a testament to the excellent and constant organizing that takes place at Macalester. Large-scale and highly visible events like Campus Wars, where Macalester challenged other Minnesota schools to compete with them in reducing their energy use in the month of February, and a strong working relationship with the President made these wins feasible even without signatures and rallies.
President’s Climate Commitment
Macalester's President signed the ACUPCC in February 2007. The policy was signed at the request of the student group, MacCARES, after they helped convince the President in meetings that the benchmarks of the policy were attainable.
Middlebury College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
$7,138 of Carbon Offsets for Snow Bowl
During the fall semester, Middlebury College purchased $7,138 worth of carbon offsets to support an environmentally-friendly Snow Bowl in the 2006-2007 ski season. The idea for a carbon neutral Snow Bowl was first developed in a class led by Professor Jon Isham. Students in that class worked with the ski team and with Native Energy to purchase the offsets.
Carbon Neutrality by 2017
Throughout the year, the Sunday Night Group students (led by Jamie Henn and Sierra Murdoch) pushed their Board of Trustees to commit to carbon neutrality by 2017. They received that commitment during the spring semester of 2007. Tactics used include lobbying of campus administration, researching and providing a report about how carbon neutrality could be achieved, gathering petition signatures, earned media, education and awareness events and coalition building. Next year, students will be involved with the implementation of the carbon neutrality plan.
Northeastern University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
Students running the Campus Climate Challenge campaign at Northeastern successfully convinced the University’s President to sign the ACUPCC during the spring semester of 2007. Jennifer Wolfson and Amanda O’Brien led the campaign, using tactics that included gathering 7,000 student petition signatures, forming a coalition of 20 student organizations, numerous outreach and education events, lobbying the administration, earning media attention, and securing the passage of a student government resolution. The next step for the campaign is to get a commitment from Northeastern University for a shorter term greenhouse gas reduction goal that has emissions peaking and declining before 2015 or immediately at 2% a year. In lieu of getting these commitments, students may also advocate for strong policies that could be immediately implemented, such as a 100% wind purchase or a clean energy revolving fund. Students will also be involved with the development of a climate neutrality timeline at Northeastern University.
Northern Arizona University (Black Mesa Water Coalition)
Two of the key student leaders are Kim Smith who was a senator for the Student Council and Mike Madigan a graduate student with NAU who work on the sustainability report for NAU. They both help to organize the Southwest Climate Justice Summit in spring of 2007.
President’s Climate Commitment
Within 2 semesters NAU Campus Climate Challenge was able to get the President of NAU to sign the Presidents Climate Commitment.
Ohio University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Ty Dawson and his SSC group have been working for several years to create a greener campus at OU, and have reached out to hundreds of community members and students to educate them about the solutions to our energy problems.
President’s Climate Commitment
Ohio University’s President, Roderick McDavis, signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, making an announcement the week before Earth Day. They also received significant media coverage, collected hundreds of petition signatures, and held a successful screening of An Inconvenient Truth. Thanks to this great organizing, President McDavis felt the pressure to make OU appear to be a greener institution and signed the ACUPCC.
Oklahoma University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
The lead student at OU is Whitney Pearson.
President’s Climate Commitment
To convince President Boren to sign the ACUPCC, Whitney drafted a letter to President Boren requesting an in-person meeting to discuss campus energy policy and the President's Climate Commitment. Soon after, a meeting between Whitney, 2 other OUr Earth members, and President Boren's assistant was set up. After presenting the Commitment, what other schools had signed on, and the New Energy for Campuses report, Whitney asked if President Boren would sign on to the commitment. Less than a week later, Boren got back to Whitney, writing her a personal email revealing his intent to sign the commitment, which he did publicly in late April. In signing, Boren was also influenced by a resolution that the undergraduate and graduate student senates passed. The bill, calling for campus action to address global warming, was written by Eric Pollard (a member of the Senate and of OUr Earth). Eric got other Senators to co-author the resolution with him and both Senate bodies passed it by overwhelming majorities.
Pennsylvania State University System (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Penn State students, led by Brittany Harris and Jane Dahms, got their University to commit to a comprehensive climate policy that included the following: $10 million annually invested in retrofitting and efficiency work, 20% wind purchase, all new building L.E.E.D. certified, undergraduate energy and global warming awareness and education campaign called IT Matters! Additionally, there will be annual meetings with stakeholders from across the University to address mitigation strategies. Tactics that were used to win the campaign include gathering 5,000 student petition signatures and 45 professor signatures, forming a coalition of 15 student organizations, numerous outreach and education events, lobbying of the administration, earning media attention and direct action. The next step for the campaign is securing a strong post-2012 greenhouse gas reduction target. A 17.5% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 will result from these policy changes, with growth accounted for. Over 80,000 students attend the Pennsylvania State University system which is comprised of 20 separate campuses.
17.5% decrease in Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2012
Penn State Abington
Penn State Altoona
Penn State Berks
Penn State Beaver
Penn State Delaware County
Penn State DuBois
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus
Penn State Greater Allegheny
Penn State Harrisburg
Penn State Hazleton
Penn State Lehigh Valley
Penn State Mont Alto
Penn State New Kensington
Penn State Schuylkill
Penn State Shenango
Penn State University Park
Penn State Wilkes-Barre
Penn State Worthington Scranton
Penn State York
Shepherdstown (Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC))
Mayor’s Protocol for Climate Protection
In Shepherdstown, through the combined effort of concerned students and townsfolk alike, the Mayor’s Protocol for Climate Protection was passed into legislation. Although the campaign began on campus asking for the administration to begin buying green energy at an exponential rate, the campaign was strategically shifted towards the naturally more progressive town so as to put pressure on the primary target Shepherd University. The protocol was passed with ease thanks to the insurgent town council radical Frank Salzano’s vision for a greener Shepherdstown and panache for sweet-talking rich people. The protocol is to be implemented by first measuring the town’s various energy expenditures, retrofitting existing structures with energy efficient technologies, buying hybrid police and town vehicles, and replacing the defunct town hall with a brand new, albeit historically accurate, building. With an incoming President at Shepherd and with increasing pressure from town representatives, it is the Shepherd Progressive Action Committee’s hope that by the end of next year the University will meet their demands.
Stetson College (Southern Energy Network)
President’s Climate Commitment
Students in the Student Government Sustainability Committee have succeeded in their goal to have President Lee sign the University President's Climate Commitment. The committee met with administrators and key SG officials to bring the commitment to the administrations attention.
University of Central Florida (Southern Energy Network))
Presidents Climate Commitment
Due in part by constant pressure on the administration from the Progressive Council and Eco Advocates of Central Florida to make UCF a sustainable campus, UCF “President John Hitt has accepted an invitation to join a 'leadership circle' of University Presidents committed to reducing campus emissions of greenhouse gases” by way of the Presidents Climate Commitment. UCF has "adopted the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (L.E.E.D.) standards for buildings that are new or undergo major renovations and started using biodiesel fuel for all diesel-powered University vehicles."
University of Arizona (Black Mesa Water Coalition)
UA had a number of student groups that were all working on sustainable practices surrounding the Uuniversity but no strong climate policy or sustainable programs were in place yet. This was a challenge and was also surprising to BMWC that there were very little sustainability programs on campus. Off-campus there were many projects going on from water harvesting to solar installation to the retrofitting a new student hall building.
President’s Climate Commitment
By the end of the Year students and professors of UA were able to sit down with the 5 other Colleges/Universities throughout the Southwest and sign the Presidents Climate Commitment. The President of UA has not signed yet and students expect him to by June 30, 2007. The two key organizers for this campus are Chealsea Chee and Prabjit Virdee. Chelsea graduated in May of 2007 and will be the new CCC organizer for BMWC. Prabjit is still a student at the UA and he sits on a student organization called ECOalition for UA.
University of Arkansas (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
Students for Environmental Sustainability met with school officials and before a month passed, Chancellor John White signed the ACUPCC and made the University of Arkansas the first in the state to commit to climate neutrality.
University of California (Global Exchange)
Key students included: Gabe Elsner, Christina Oatfield, Michael Newton-McLaughlin, Tomasso Boggia, Rachel Shiozaki, Nicholas Linesch, Dorothy Lee, Jeff Dhungana, Candice Carr, Christopher Salam, and Andres Cuervo. Key CCC organizers included: Mary Sweeters, Michael Cox, Laura Dehan, Shadia Wood, and Garo Manjikian. The University of California system pledged to become climate neutral when it passed the UC Policy on Sustainable Practices in March 2007. This landmark policy aims to lower UC GHG emissions to 2000 levels by 2014 and to 1990 levels by 2020. And by December 2008, each campus is required to develop an action plan to meet these targets and a long-term strategy to achieve climate neutrality.
Direct lobbying of Chancellors, and ultimately President Dynes, was key in passing the UC Policy on Sustainable Practices. Throughout the year, students made public comment at Regents’ meetings, organized meetings with their campus Chancellors, and kept the pressure on through organizing actions and petitions. We also developed strategic relationships with UCOP administration “insiders”. These allies informed us about the type of outside pressure that was needed to move the policy forward. We created a CA CCC Steering Committee, which now facilitates the collaboration and coordination of campus groups and Campus Climate Challenge organizations within the state. Our next steps are to ensure implementation. This fall we are focusing on creating a student led “enforcement” committee that will be tasked with developing a campus action plan for the climate neutral policy. The UC system includes more than 209,000 students, more than 170,000 faculty and staff.
Campus Climate Neutrality
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Merced
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Francisco
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Florida (Southern Energy Network)
President’s Climate Commitment & Zero Waste
The University of Florida’s administration has pledged to be a sustainable campus through Zero Waste, Carbon Neutral and green building commitments. President Machin has also signed the Presidents Climate Commitment with strong student support.
University of Maryland, College Park (Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN)) and (Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative)
Student Leaders - Amy Dewan, Joanna Calabre, David Rogner and Andrew Nazdin
President's Climate Commitment
Shortly after the end of spring semester, the week of May 21st, President Mote signed the President's Climate Commitment. Throughout their efforts, UMD-CP students had been focusing their messaging on President Mote and the need for UMD to become a leader in climate action while not explicitly mentioning the President's Climate Commitment. In addition, CCAN drafted a Maryland specific PCC sign-on letter with signatures from former Chancellor of University of Maryland, Senator Joseph Tydings, US Congressmen Chris Van Hollen and Albert Wynn in addition to leaders from local environmental groups. The MD specific letter was sent to the Presidents of every College and University in Maryland, including UMD. Next steps will focus on ensuring that President Mote starts implementing his commitments to climate neutrality.
University of North Carolina & Chapel Hill (Students United from a Global Social Environment (SURGE))
Carbon Reduction Initiative & Town Sustainability Efforts
SURGE began working with UNC and the Town of Chapel Hill in 2005 to negotiate a Carbon Reduction Initiative to reduce local GHG emissions 60% by 2050. SURGE staff met with student body president, James Allred, and several other student leaders in fall 2006 through spring 2007 to discuss construction projects at UNC (10 million sq. ft of new development and redevelopment) and energy conservation options for new buildings. In 2006, the town and UNC signed on to the CRed initiative and UNC began work on a climate plan.
Presidents Climate Commitment
Chancellor Moeser of UNC also signed onto the President's Climate Commitment in early 2007, with encouragement from students and staff.
University of Washington-Seattle (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
In March 2007, the President of the University of Washington-Seattle signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) after receiving targeted pressure from a coalition of students at the University of Washington. SSC campus organizer and national leader Christina Billingsley helped to form and lead this coalition of on-campus groups alongside WASHPRIRG leader Tina. The coalition included representatives from the UW SSC, WASHPIRG, SEED (the residence hall environmental group), the Young Democrats, Amnesty International, and others. Christina and Tina formed this coalition together to build the strength of the climate movement on their campus early in the spring semester of 2007. To convince the president to sign the ACUPCC, coalition students ran an intensive two-week campaign that included media work and the collection of more than 300 petitions from students on campus. The University President cited the students’ work as the reason he chose to sign the commitment in March, saying that while he had been considering it, their efforts pushed him to act. Their strategy was to pressure the President while also creating a “hero opportunity” for him and it worked!
Washington and Lee University (Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN))
Student Leaders - Will Townes, Jessica Huss, and Jordan White
President's Climate Commitment
The Talloires Declaration set the tone for a vision of sustainability on campus and led to further initiatives being taken on within the University. With help from advisor Laurence Eaton, students were also able to influence the administration to sign on to the President's Climate Commitment this spring as the University energy audit is being worked out. SEAL students will be conducting a GHG inventory this summer through an Environmental Economics class ENV 111 and have recently been working with the Environmental Planning Committee to lay down the first steps in implementing this decision. Student leaders Jessica Huss and Jordan White recently lobbied the SGA to allocate their operating budget to purchase REC offsets and successfully received $2000 to go towards the purchase in the fall. The University has committed to match funds that students raise to purchase offsets. During a co-sponsored organic volleyball tournament this past year, students raised additional funds for offsets and plan to fundraise around events next year to put up even more money for a student led climate neutral campus.http://media.www.thetrident.org/media/storage/paper467/news/2007/01/24/News/A.Global.Initiative.On.A.Global.Scale-2678536.shtml
Williams College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
10% Emissions Reduction
Williams College committed to reducing emissions 10% below 1990-91 levels by 2020. Led by Morgan Goodwin, students held outreach, awareness and education events, lobbied the administration and earned media attention. Their next steps are to ensure accountability of current goals and to develop a campaign with stronger short-term and long-term asks.
Winona State University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
President’s Climate Commitment
Winona State's President signed the A.A.S.H.E. President's Climate Commitment in February 2007. Students working on other sustainability projects on campus had enlisted the support of the Faculty Senate, which became a strong proponent of reducing the school's greenhouse gas emissions. The Faculty Senate forwarded the Commitment to the President, asking for her signature. A couple days later, the student group at Winona sent the President a letter with the same request, not knowing the faculty had done the same thing. The President signed the agreement soon after.