Presidents Climate Commitment

Green Mountain College president Jack Brennan was the first president in Vermont to sign onto the American College & University President Climate Commitment. The commitment not only recognizes the seriousness of climate change, but also the responsibilities that colleges have to be leaders in the fight.

Colleges and universites are hubs of progressive thinking and youthful enthusiasm. If colleges don't take these sorts of measures, what type of message are they sending to the rest of soceity let alone the students who attend the school?

Presidents that signed the commitment promise to initiate a comprehensive plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible--within two months creating institutional structures to guide the implementation of the plan.

Within one year of signing this document, they promise to complete a comprehensive inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions. Green Mountain College students helped in this process during a semester long class. The records proved that the colleges dependence on crude oil contributes unsustainable amounts of green house gases. And although the college now gets 50% of its energy from CVPS Cow-Power, its "oil crutch" is still crippling for the environment. The provost promises that extenseive research is being done to switch the schools heating over to biomass.

Another promise from the commitment is that within two years of signing it the school will develop an institutional action plan for becoming climate neutral, including a target date for achieving climate neutrality ASAP. Actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students are also part of the document. This is a key aspect of the promise--if students don't understand the process then what's really the point? College students today are the one's who will be in charge tomorrow, and it's essential that we have a firm understanding of environmental issues and humans impact on nature. 

As part of fulfilling the commitment, Green Mountain College has already promised to purchase all ENERGY STAR products, and as already mentioned buys 50% of its energy from renewable resources. It has also established a committee, the Campus Sustainability Council, which is supposed to help the school reach its sustainability goals by monitoring its progress, giving them recognition when deserved, but always pushing them further.

This Campus Sustainability Council is comrpomised of students, faculty and staff. It's only about a year old and its presence is still not well-known on campus. The main goal of the council is to provide students with a place to go with their complaints and/or initiatives on the sustainability of the college. For example, is a students sees a leaky faucet or drafty window, instead of going through the tedious process of a "work order," which sometimes goes unnoticed for months, the student could go the council and get immediate help. As part of their the Environmental Communications class this semester, students are charged with designing a sucessful communications campaign to bring this council more recognition and vitality on campus. 

Grist recognized Green Mountain College as one of the top "15 green colleges and universities" in the world. Although this is well deserved GMC has a long way to go. If it wants to pride itself on its environmental responsibility then carbon neutrality must happen in the near future.