On May 19, UW students
received an e-mail from Dean Sandra Archibald, chair of the
Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee, soliciting feedback on
the university’s Climate Action Plan, which is being revised and
finalized. Students were invited to visit the Environmental Stewardship
and Sustainability Web site to read through the 53-page draft and offer
their opinions.
Photo by
Courtesy Photo.
UW student David Fung accepts an energy-efficient lightbulb from the
Environment Stewardship and Sustainability tent on the HUB lawn on
Earth Day.
Photo by
Becca Pirwitz.
UW senior and student assistant in the Office of Environmental
Stewardship and Sustainability Aubrey Batchelor is hard at work on the
UW's Climate Action Plan.
Photo by
Becca Pirwitz.
Jerid Paige, UW senior and student assistant in the Office of
Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, chats via video
conference with the UW Tacoma branch.
The UW is one of the first signatories of the American College &
University Presidents Commitment to Climate (ACUPCC) and has been
working on the plan since January. To date, there are 637 signatories.
“As part of that, the commitment is to have a plan toward carbon
neutrality,” said Claudia Frere, manager of the Office of Environmental
Stewardship and Sustainability. “This document is basically a result of
the various campus groups who have come together to form a plan toward
carbon neutrality.”
The Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability is taking
a lead role in the drafting process, but has collaborated with groups
like Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED), WashPIRG and
ASUW, as well as with faculty and staff across all three UW campuses.
One of the main goals of the plan is to eliminate the UW’s net
greenhouse-gas emissions.
“It’s a huge, huge task,” said Elise Davis, project manager in the
Office of Strategy Management, which oversees the Stewardship and
Sustainability Office. “Some of the challenges have been, obviously,
the budget; we’re in kind of a financial crisis. We’re trying to be
bold, but also be sensitive to the fact that there’s not a lot
of money.”
As far as soliciting feedback from the campus community, Davis said that’s been an integral part of the process.
“What we’re really trying to do is get as many ideas together as
possible, then get as many faculty members, staff members and students
to get a look at it and tell us if we’re going in the right direction,”
she explained.
Davis’ office has been trying to implement some of the actions
they’ll be recommending in the plan, such as using video conferencing
or Skype to communicate between campuses, rather than driving back and
forth for meetings.
The UW is hoping to reach climate neutrality by 2050, but is “unable
to set this as a firm target due to unknown emerging technologies,
conservation and funding,” according to the online draft of the plan.
Senior Aubrey Batchelor, a biochemistry major, wanted to work as a
student assistant in the Stewardship and Sustainability Office after
she discovered her passion for climate change during a chemistry
department trip to Brazil in summer 2007.
“That really sparked my interest. Our actions here in America could
negatively affect someone halfway across the world, really affect their
means to survive; it’s really scary to think about,” Batchelor said.
Now that she’s involved in the Stewardship and Sustainability
Office, Batchelor is glad to see the university taking such a proactive
approach toward carbon neutrality, especially in this time of
limited funding.
The Climate Action Plan will be submitted to UW President Mark
Emmert Sept. 15 for his signature. Until then, students and staff are
invited to look at the draft online at the UW’s Environmental
Stewardship and Sustainability Web site.
After that, Davis said, the plan will be a living document in order to respond to any changes in emerging technology or funding.
Reach reporter Molly Rosbach at news@dailyuw.com.
