The Story
SEAC Focuses on Emissions, President's Climate Commitment
SEAC members Christi Stafford, Andon Zebal and Tala Woodward work on a campus restoration project. Courtesy of SEAC.
The main goal the Student Environmental Action Committee (SEAC) has this semester is to add President Gene Nichol’s signature to the more than 200 others on the American University and College Presidents’ Climate Commitment (PCC). The PCC is a pledge to achieve “climate neutrality” on college campuses across the country by eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
The College missed the May 21, 2007 deadline to be a charter member of the PCC last spring. Nichol is awaiting an assessment and recommendation from the Landscape, Environment and Energy (LEE) committee before he takes action. The report is due on Sept. 30 from the campus-wide committee.
To put more pressure on Nichol to sign the PCC, SEAC is currently assembling signatures for petitions from students, faculty and staff. Several hundred students have already signed.
Back in early May, members of a graduate level public policy course about climate change presented Nichol and the College administration with a 63-page document encouraging them to sign the PCC. The document, titled “Public, Great, and Global: A Path for Leadership and Responsibility,” was authored by students Kristen McCann, David Siever, and Massey Whorley for Professor Maria Ivanova’s class. Members of SEAC were active in the “creation, organization, and formulation” of the project.
“Public, Great, and Global” laid out arguments demonstrating the threat of climate change, options for dealing with this threat and proposals for implementing the changes suggested in the PCC. This document is what the LEE committee plans to examine and use as the basis for their recommendation.
According to the paper, “annually the College emits the equivalent of 61,853 metric tons of carbon dioxide,” which “corresponds to a per capita use among students of about 8.02 tons.” In context, this is more than an average American, “more than three times the amount of the average German, and 82 times that of the average resident of Cambodia or Afghanistan.” The College as a whole “generates more CO2 from burning fossil fuels than the entire country of Chad, with its population of approximately 10 million.”
These figures may be suspect, however, given another passage in the document that describes the methodology as “generally unscientific,” but asserting this is not a “critical flaw.” The “unscientific” methods produce a “rough estimate of where we stand regarding greenhouse emissions.”
The estimates are imprecise in part because an audit of carbon emissions for Williamsburg is still underway. Josh Wayland, a senior Economics and Environmental Studies major, was awarded a grant from the Charles Center to conduct a carbon audit as a research project. His project began this summer and is expected to be completed by the end of the academic year. His position as SEAC co-facilitator situates him perfectly to keep SEAC up to date on PCC happenings.
Signing the PCC would commit the College to making several changes. As the “Public, Great, and Global” document suggested, an Office of Sustainability, with an annual cost of $100,000-150,000, would be expected. Furthermore, an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions would be completed within one year, part of Wayland’s own project.
Additionally, a climate neutral plan would probably be started, with a target date and interim milestones, within two years. This would be the primary project of the Office of Sustainability.
There are also advocates who want to integrate sustainability into the College’s curriculum. This would mean adding a new GER in environmental education, requiring an estimated four or five new faculty positions to offer classes in Biology, Government, Philosophy and Public Policy.
Lastly, many hope that the action plan, inventory and progress reports will be made publicly available.
Other pragmatic suggestions include changing College policy so that all new campus construction is built to meet U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver Standard or equivalent measures. This would cause a projected 1.45 % increase in total building costs, some of which would be repaid by increased efficiency. The Jamestown dorms and new gym building have already been applauded for their LEED certifications.
Also, some think that requiring the purchase of Energy Star products, where available, would formalize de facto College policy and help save money in efficiency. Purchasing energy from renewable sources is another prime idea with the environment in mind.
On Tuesday, a resolution in support of the PCC will be voted on by the Senate of the Student Assembly. Last Thursday, the decision was made to move the measure from committee to be voted on by the full body.
Other SEAC initiatives this year include participation in Power Shift 2007, the “first ever National Youth Climate Action Summit,” hosted by the University of Maryland (College Park). Held Nov. 2-5, the programs will teach about activism, invite guest speakers (rumored to be national figures) and lobby Congress for climate change. SEAC is hoping to send at least 100 student delegates. Contact SEAC at envact@wm.edu if you are interested in attending.