Case Studies
Colleges and universities are taking climate change and sustainability seriously. Here are some examples.
Carbon Footprint
University of Minnesota conducts a research project on the urban heat island effect in The Twin Cities.
Lewis & Clark College’s Students Engaged in Eco-Defense (SEED) and student government commit to make their school the first campus to comply with the Kyoto Protocol and reach their goal.
Conserving Water
University of California San Diego’s “AQUAholics Anonymous” is a coalition of students and staff designed to combat the campus’s water use addiction
Eastern Mennonite University hosts a 100,000 gallon storm water management cistern, harvesting water runoff draining from houses, buildings, roads, and parking lots across 15 acres of university property.
Deforestation
Pomona first-year student Madison Vorva, who spent seven years trying to get the Girl Scouts to use deforestation-free palm oil in their cookies, celebrated a major victory when Kellogg announced a global commitment to use "fully traceable palm oil, produced in a manner that's environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable."
Green purchasing policy at Muhlenberg College gives preference to purchase sustainably harvested wood following the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) guidelines.
Energy
Sierra Student Coalition at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other student organizations from the UNC system push the system to divest from fossil fuels.
Duke University’s Di Giulio Laboratory partners with other laboratories to the study ecological effects of mountaintop removal coal mining and toxicity of chemicals release on young fish species.
Habitat Restoration
Delgado Community College’s horticulture classes restore coastal barrier islands suffering from coastal erosion.
Students from Broward Community College plant native vegetation to help maintain the campus wetland; the campus wetland is used in biology and environmental science courses where students monitor water wildlife species are inventoried.
Policy
Dickinson College formulates the President's Commission for Environmental Sustainability as a signatory of the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment.
University of Montana offers a graduate degree in Natural Resources Conflict Resolution, a partnership between the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and other schools on campus.
Renewables
University of Massachusetts releases research on wind energy and its possible impacts on wildlife such as raptor birds.
Butte College has installed 25,000 solar panels on campus and has the ability to generate more electricity than the college uses.
Wildlife & Habitat
New York University establishes the Superstorm Sandy Research Initiative, supporting ongoing efforts to understand the impacts of the storm and the role climate change plays in these types of natural disasters.
University of Alaska Fairbanks uses its International Arctic Research Center to study the effects of climate change on Alaska and polar north.