Along with over 200 other colleges and universities, Green Mountain College has signed the American Campuses Act on Climate Pledge organized by the White House last month to mobilize support for climate action at COP21 (see related story above).

The pledge says: 

“As institutions of higher education, we applaud the progress already made to promote clean energy and climate action as we seek a comprehensive, ambitious agreement at the upcoming United Nations Climate Negotiations in Paris. We recognize the urgent need to act now to avoid irreversible costs to our global community’s economic prosperity and public health and are optimistic that world leaders will reach an agreement to secure a transition to a low carbon future. Today our school pledges to accelerate the transition to low-carbon energy while enhancing sustainable and resilient practices across our campus.”

COP21 has  produced a strong consensus agreement on how nations will combat climate change; it is being hailed as a landmark international agreement. Now the focus is on implementation. Green Mountain has already achieved carbon neutrality and divested from fossil fuels, but more work is ahead as we move towards our 100 percent renewable energy goal outlined in the College’s strategic plan Sustainability 2020. 

 

 

Adjunct professor of environmental studies Mindy Blank ’10 participated in the COP21 climate meetings outside Paris that culminated in an agreement announced over the weekend. Representatives from 196 nations attending the COP21 climate meetings adopted an agreement Saturday that covers both developed and developing countries. The agreement sets the goal of limiting the world’s rise in average temperature to “well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

Mindy attended the talks as a project coordinator for HELIO International, a Paris-based non-profit that helps nations transition towards a low-carbon based economy by developing sustainable, economically feasible alternatives.

Mindy earned a masters degree from Vermont Law School after graduating from GMC in 2010. She spent time in Paris working for the International Energy Agency, helping countries accelerate the deployment if renewable energy and energy efficiency technology.

Mindy has been sending dispatches on the talks for the College’s COP21 web page. You can also watch her video report from the talks shortly before the final agreement was announced.  

 

 

About $22 of each student’s activity fee goes to funding projects that improve campus sustainability. The program, called the Student Campus Greening Fund, gathers student proposals that encourage sustainability on campus. GMC students then vote on each proposal. The SCGF fall 2015 grant update below was compiled by Carl Diethelm, director of the Student Campus Greening Fund.

There were 93 out of 153 votes for the Farm House Weatherization project, approving it for $8,639.40. If you would like to be involved with implementing the project over the winter break, please email john.trimarchi@greenmtn.edu.There were 85 our of 153 votes for the on-campus wildlife rehabilitation center, approving it for $6,742.54.

There were 78 out of 153 votes for the Navdanya Internship Travel Scholarships, approving it for $4,400. If you are interested in finding out more information and/or applying, please email bygr@greenmtn.edu.

Left over for next year’s fall grant allocation are $3,784.31. This portion may be used for the current projects upon request, as approved by the Campus Sustainability Council.

 

Prof. Steven Fesmire (philosophy) explores how religions provide us with new
possibilities for growth and communion –and can also create “walled-in faiths, each
community at least implicitly supposing it has nothing to learn from—and much to
oppose and fear in—other sects and creeds,” in this op-ed article which appeared
recently in the Rutland Herald.