On Wednesday, October 24, 2012, Dr. Barbara Viniar, President of Chesapeake College, will sign the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. With this event, Chesapeake College will commit to developing a plan for climate neutrality, and will join over 650 community colleges, 4-year institutions, and graduate institutions in leading the nation towards a sustainable future.
The public is invited to join in the event. The signing will be on the main quadrangle, in front of the LRC and the Kent Humanities building, at 10:30 AM. Light refreshments will be served.
Taken as a whole, educational institutions in America contribute approximately 3% of the nation’s carbon emissions, and reducing that contribution is an important goal of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. These institutions educate nearly 100% of the nation’s future leaders: teachers, policymakers and civic leaders, and the impact of higher education grows larger with every graduate. Community colleges also help educate and train America’s workforce, and great opportunity for growth in sustainability exists across a wide spectrum of careers. This is an important component of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and an important goal for the Center for Leadership in Environmental Education (CLEEn): the growth, through education, of a more sustainable dialogue and a more sustainable future.
Wednesday, October 24th, 10:30 am on the main Chesapeake College quadrangle.
Chesapeake College
Wye Mills, MD 21679
John L. Seidel says
Congratulations to Chesapeake College! This is great news, and it would be wonderful if every college and university in the state would sign on. Washington College joined this pact in 2007, and we have found both the effort and the partnerships to be incredibly valuable. In developing our green house gas emissions inventories and preparing our climate plan, both required of all signatories, we identified many ways to both reduce our costs and to improve the campus. We did it tandem with a similar effort for the Town of Chestertown (which signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate a commitment), providing staffing to both projects. The town has reduced its energy consumption substantially, with real budget savings. This also is true at the county level, and Kent County’s investment in solar energy will have positive impacts that last for decades. This nationwide program is multiplying these positive impacts, and it is wonderful to see.