President's Climate Commitment

           Westfield State University, unknowingly to most, is a part of The American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), an effort for universities and other colleges to addressed global climate issues.  Those who are a part of the ACUPCC must have an emissions inventory, set milestones in orer to become climate neutral,  reduce greenhouse gas emissions using short-term actions, have sustainability in the curriculum, and create an action plan, inventory and progress reports, all publicly available.

           I think that the campus is making an effort toward reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.  We need to get our reports into the committee and possibly get more people actively involved in these steps.  I also believe that we have also begun to work towards more of the tangible actions that haven’t been listed on their website.  We have implemented the use of solar panels on the roofs of some of the academic buildings on campus, as well as putting in a new cooling system on Wilson Hall.  The solar panels are hooked up to monitors within Wilson Hall that gives you a reading of the amount of energy being generated as well, for all to see. 


           In the ACUPCC 2009 annual report Westfield State University was not in good standing as of December 31, 2009.  In the 2011 annual report Westfield State was in good standing with the President’s Climate Commitment, but they had no paid their membership dues for the 2010-2011 academic year.  On their website for reporting institutions Westfield State was supposed to have a greenhouse gas report in by January 15, 2013 and that is marked off in red, for not being in.  On the actual implementation profile for our campus there are two tangible actions that we have elected to move forward with, out of six options.  There is the establishment of a policy that new campus constructions will be built, at least to, U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standards, or equivalent.  We have written in that all new construction is required to build under the LEED Plus standards of Massachusetts Executive Order 484, and will be working on a similar policy for all local and campus construction projects.  The other tangible action is the encouragement of, and providing of, public transportation for all faculty, staff, students, and visitors of the institution.  The campus has a contract with the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) for full transportation to and from the college on established routes and schedules during the academic school year (Figure 1).  They are looking to extend this to faculty and staff.  WSU is also a member of MassRide and works with them for rideshare incentives to reduce drive-alone trips.

ACUPCC. "Mission and History | Presidents' Climate Commitment." Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment.
                N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/about/mission-history>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC 2009 Annual Report."Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://www2.presidentsclimatecommitment.org>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC 2011 Annual Report."Home | Presidents' Climate Commitment. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org>.

ACUPCC. "ACUPCC Reports · Implementation Profile for Westfield State University." ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions. N.p., 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://rs.acupcc.org/ip/8/>.

ACUPCC Reporting System. "ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions." ACUPCC Reports · Reporting Institutions. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2013. <http://rs.acupcc.org/search/?abs=&q=Westfield%20State%20University>.

Carbon Fund

Carbonfun.org is an organization that is fighting against global warming.  They work toward education people about climate change, educating about carbon offsets and reductions, and even public outreaches.  They are trying to get people to work on reducing their carbon footprints through energy reductions or shifting to renewable energies.  They also do work with reforestation that will work toward the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.  Part of their work is getting individuals to reduce their carbon footprint.  You can make a tax-deductible donation to the organization as a way to offset your carbon footprint and work toward carbon reduction.  You can use an online calculator to find out what your footprint is and then see what your cost would be.

Personal Actions for the Future

           Along with the assignment for an immediate action plan during the semester, we were also supposed to come up with different things we could do throughout the years to combat climate change.  There are a few things that I looked into working on as time goes on.

Carpooling

         It may not seem like much but I try to carpool, and get other people to carpool, as often as possible.  I don’t drive so I usually have to find rides and end up figuring out a way for everyone to get to wherever we are going the easiest possibly way.  I think carpooling really helps with the reduction of greenhouse gases from cars, especially with the amount of driving that is done by everyone these days, whether it be for work or for fun.  I’ve been able to implement this at school too.

 

Beekeeping

          My dad has been beekeeping for a couple years now and I usually try and help him by going with him to pick up packages of bees, painting hives, and sometimes helping him check on the hives.  I’m not a huge fan of bees so helping him actually go in the hive makes me nervous and is not something I’m a huge fan of, but I’m hoping that once I’m out of school I’ll possibly be able to help him more with other processes like spinning and bottling the honey from the season.

Volunteering

          I’ve done some volunteering for different groups throughout the years and I think it would be nice to keep it up.  I’ll have to keep my eyes open for days that things like that are happening for cleanups around the town and surrounding towns.  Other things I could try and participate in could be Arbor Day or Earth Day.  Doing these activities I think will really help the communities to look better and clean up as well as make me feel like I’m doing a bigger part in the world.  I think that these will also give me a chance to be outside more and possibly make new friends and relationships with people.

Composting & Chickens

          Composting would be a way to greatly reduce the amount of waste that I would be potentially sending to the landfills.  I don’t think that it would be smelly, and if it was I’m sure I could figure out a place to put it where it wouldn’t smell.  Plus it would be a great source of fertilizer for the people I know who plant.  Chickens would also be a way to reduce my carbon footprint because I wouldn't be buying eggs that would otherwise have traveled possibly across country in large vans.  They would be fresh, free range chickens without any hormones in them, and they aren't very hard animals to take care of.  I have an aunt and uncle who do composting as well as have chickens and they never seem to have a problem other than the occasional hawk attack on their birds.  

Solar Panels

          My old house had a couple solar panels on the garage and supposedly helped to keep some prices down on our bills.  I think the solar panels would be a great thing to have and would definitely help in the long run.  The only real issues that I think would come with this would be the cost, or initial investment, of them and actually having a place where I could put them in.

Personal Climate Change Action

          As an assignment, for part of the semester we were told to do a personal climate change action.  For my personal climate change action I decided to refill water bottles instead of purchasing new ones, or cases of water for at least a week of the semester.  From time to time I would refill bottles, but that was usually only when I didn’t have a new one close-by to get.  When I visited home over spring break this past March a made a note to take one of the larger 700mL sport top water bottles that my mom has at home.  This was the bottle that I used to take to class throughout the week.  When I was in my room though, I would refill a smaller 500mL (16.9 oz.) Crystal Geyser water bottle that was from a case I had purchased at the beginning of the semester.  I had these bottles because I would use them to make drinks with the mixes that you pour into the bottle such as Crystal Light.

            I wanted to try this as my climate action plan because I know a lot of people, including myself, buy bottled water if not from time to time almost consistently.  I wanted to see how much could be actually saved by not buying the cases of water that most stores sell at what seems like a reasonable price.  I have also heard about the problem that there is with recycling water bottles and how much trash, including many plastics, there are not only in the landfills and thrown on the sides of roads, but in our waterways and oceans as well.

           Throughout the experiment I was able to save, in just week, about a 35 case of water bottles at about 5 bucks.  Looking back on my project I would have to say that it was successful.  Not only did I save a lot of money by not buying cases of water, although I was still buying the boxes of drink mixes from time to time, but I was also able to save quite a bit of plastic by reusing the same ones and not opening new ones. One thing that I would change after this experiment though is that I would invest in a Nalgene bottle so I would have a more durable bottle to carry around and make mixes in.

Travel Green

Here's some ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint by means of travelling

"Greenest Ways To Get Around | Visual.ly." Infographics & Data Visualization | Visual.ly. N.p., 6 May 2013. Web. 7 May 2013. <http://visual.ly/greenest-ways-get-around>.

Your Carbon Footprint

The Nature Conservancy has a 'calculator' that allows you to calculate your carbon footprint, or impact on our climate.  It estimates the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that you release, by the ton, into the atmosphere each year.  You can also see how making changes in your actions and daily living can change your carbon footprint

Find you what your carbon footprint is here!