Speakers from diverse campuses, including the University of California-Davis, University of Wisconsin, Brown University, Colorado State University, Ohio State University and Stanford University, will discuss some of the obstacles and opportunities they have encountered, including budgetary constraints and energy savings realized during the Covid-19 pandemic. NAU has recently renewed its climate action planning process and will be finalizing its own carbon reduction goals in spring 2021.<\/p>\n
“We know getting to carbon neutrality is a challenging road,\u201d said George Koch<\/strong>, associate director of Ecoss and one of the event\u2019s lead organizers. \u201cWhy have some campuses made it farther than others? How does a campus engage its full community on this journey? And importantly, how well must we know the route before committing to reaching the destination? By creating a forum for sharing lessons learned, we hope to begin to answer some of these questions together.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the Presidents\u2019 Climate Leadership Commitment<\/a> was initiated in 2006, more than 450 colleges and universities across the nation have made carbon reduction and neutrality commitments. A few have achieved carbon neutrality ahead of their target date, while others are redoubling efforts to meet their goals; still others are establishing new targets. According to Second Nature<\/a>, a non-profit that supports climate action in higher education and helped develop the 2006 climate commitment, nine U.S. institutions have achieved carbon neutrality as of this fall.<\/p>\n “Achieving carbon neutrality is not an easy feat,\u201d said Tim Carter, president of Second Nature, who will deliver opening remarks at the event. \u201cIt requires making the commitment, creating a plan, and doing the hard work. Hundreds of higher education institutions of all sizes and structures have made this commitment and are doing the work to reach their carbon neutrality goals. They understand that there is no other option, because climate change doesn’t just affect their campuses and communities, but is a global crisis that we need to solve together. Which is why opportunities like this one being hosted by Northern Arizona University\u2014opportunities that bring together college and university leaders to share and cultivate climate solutions, and provide peer-to-peer support to one another\u2014are so crucial.”<\/p>\n \u201cAs institutions committed to serving future generations, we know we must address the climate crisis now,\u201d said Bruce Hungate<\/strong>, director of Ecoss and chair of the McAllister Program on Community, Culture, and the Environment. \u201cWe hope these conversations can foster some of the community, creativity and urgency needed to navigate the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Registration is free and required to attend the sessions. Learn more about the speakers and register at the conference website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Participants include representatives from: Northern Arizona University, Arizona State University, Brown University, Colorado College, Colorado State University, Duke University, Ohio State University, Stanford University, University of California-Davis, University of California-Berkeley, University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Idaho, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota-Morris, University of Montana, University of Northern Iowa, University of Utah and University of Wisconsin-Madison.<\/p>\n
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