University President Mordechai Rozanski signed the College and University Presidents Climate Commitment initiative
By: John Dunphy
Kermit the Frog once said, "It’s not easy being green."
Lately, that’s become less and less the truth.
With events such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent reports of an at least 90 percent certainty that human actions have contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, the public has grown more environmentally aware, and has taken advantage of opportunities to get involved in the fight.
Here in Lawrence, groups such as Sustainable Lawrence, the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, the Lawrence Culinary Partnership, Friends of Carson Road Woods and the Lawrence Nature Center have given residents numerous ways to prove Kermit wrong.
To educate all students in the importance of environmentalism has become a top priority for Rider University, a 353-acre Lawrence campus of nearly 6,000 students.
Over the past several years, the institution has taken a "green" mentality in the way its community operates, most recently through Rider President Mordechai Rozanski joining the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) initiative last month.
As a signatory to this initiative, President Rozanski has committed Rider to participate in the development of a long-range plan for institutions of higher learning that will reduce and, hopefully, neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on college campuses nationwide.
"Rider University will demonstrate leadership on this pressing worldwide issue by serving as a model for minimizing global warming emissions in our community and by educating our students to achieve climate neutrality," said President Rozanski. "This fits squarely with our educational goals and social responsibilities."
So far, about 160 presidents of Unites States colleges and universities have signed the Climate Commitment, and are joining the first collective effort by any major sector of society to set a long-term goal of climate neutrality not just a reduction in emissions.
"There’s so many ways to become climate neutral," said Laura Hyatt, an associate professor in the department of biology at Rider.
She also is the advisor to Sustainable Rider, an informal group formed last year, which has been shaped to follow the ethos of Sustainable Lawrence, of which Ms. Hyatt is a board member.
"You can become climate neutral through planting, purchasing, etc.," she said. "We’re looking at what will be best for us."
What would be best would be actions that benefit both the environment and also prove cost-effective, said Julie Karns, vice president for finance and treasurer at Rider University. "If we can devote fewer resources to heating and cooling, then we can deploy those resources to programs and initiatives for students. Who wants to put it in the electric bill?"
Rider’s initiatives stretch back several years, Ms. Karns said. A strategic plan was first developed in June 2005 as a way to frame energy sustainability and to set a mission plan for what the college sought to accomplish.
Sustainable Rider followed in the fall of 2006. Meeting as an informal group with "organization and goals influenced by Sustainable Lawrence," it (with an e-mail list of 40 students, staff and faculty members), periodically participates and sounds off on community events and issues.
Last week, as undergraduates headed home for summer vacation, Sustainable Rider and other campus organizations went through the dorms for Move Out Day, collecting items left by students for the purpose of "repurposing" finding a place where it will be more valuable. Many of the items are donated to HomeFront, the Lawrence-based organization that provides shelter for homeless and in-transition families in the region.
An Energy and Sustainability Steering Committee (ESSC) was then formed, comprised of all department vice presidents at the university, which would provide recommendations to the president on ways to improve the school’s efficiency.
A new residence complex has been proposed on campus, Ms. Karns said. One of the qualifications for a potential design and building firm would be "energy efficiency," she said. The building is expected to be open in May 2009.
Energy efficiency had already been taken into consideration when building a new student recreation center and residence hall, which bridges Hill and Ziegler residence halls, in the fall of 2005, Ms. Karns said.
"Neither are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a U.S. Green Building Council program) certified, but were thought of with sustainablity in mind," she said.
Next year, the school will participate in a voluntary Greenhouse Gas Assessment, one of the commitments made through the President’s Climate Commitment. The study will measure what greenhouse gas Rider is producing and set plans to reduce levels, Ms. Karns said. In addition, Ms. Hyatt will roll out a new course, currently for honors students, titled The Science of Sustainability.
There are a lot of opportunities for improvement, Ms. Karns noted. The school’s Route 206 campus in Lawrence officially opened in 1964, in a time where heating oil was cheap and sustainability wasn’t even a buzzword.
"Boilers and chillers aren’t glamorous, but, as we replace old ones, it’s a real opportunity to improve our energy profile and reduce energy usage," Ms. Karns said.
The ESSC currently holds a base budget of $200,000 a year, she said. The hope from all involved is that a rolling fund would be created, through cost savings on energy initiatives, which would then be filtered back into other programs and initiatives.
Ultimately, both Ms. Karns and Ms. Hyatt said the university is looking to not only reduce its energy expenditures, but also save money and educate its students, many of whom leave the area and could then educate other communities, hopefully proving that it is, indeed easy being green.
"It would be my dream for all students who walk across the podium at graduation to know what sustainability is," Ms. Hyatt said.