Air and Climate: Links and Programs

If you are thinking of concentrating on air and climate issues as part of your project, you may want to look at the following links and resources:

The Climate Action Toolkit
This site provides a complete, step-by-step program guide to making your campus climate friendly.

Clean Air – Cool Planet Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Calculator
This calculator will determine the GHG emissions produced by your campus.

Campus Climate Challenge
This website provides students with opportunities to join other groups which are working towards the same mission of stopping global warming.

Relevant Case Study

University of California, Santa Barbara
In conjunction with the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California in Santa Barbara, the National Association of Environmental Law Societies (NAELS) has taken steps to eliminate GHG emissions on the UCSB campus. NAELS is a national organization that hopes to unite, educate, and empower future generations of environmental leaders. One project they have supported is the Campus Climate Neutral Group Project (CCN) on the UCSB campus. Five graduate students created CCN, a plan that will allow UCSB to reduce or offset its GHG emissions and attain a "net zero impact on Earth’s climate." The Bren School at UCSB is famous for its environmental studies and initiatives: "Bren Hall is the only laboratory building in the United States to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's Platinum LEEDTM accreditation." With the help of a faculty adviser in such a supportive setting, CCN has developed approaches and strategies to make their campus climate neutral.

They have taken steps to establish a GHG inventory for UCSB (using the Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Calculator), and developed emissions targets, methods to reduce emissions, and a reduction timeline. Their strategy is to initiate projects that have low or no initial capital cost while yielding savings, like Energy Star computer settings. Eventually, they have plans to initiate projects that do have capital costs but produce high annual savings, such as smaller vehicles in school fleets, lighting upgrades, etc. This is a strategy of which other groups would do well to take note because free or low-cost initiatives are very attractive to administrators. It is an ingenious to get campus administration involved in your project from the beginning. After extensive analysis of current UCSB GHG emissions and exploration into possible mitigation activities, CCN has determined that it is both feasible and profitable for UCSB to meet the target of reaching 2000 emission levels by 2010 and 1990 levels by 2020. CCN is also working to get the student body to pass Green Initiative Fund. If passed, the new regulations would only add an extra $2.60 fee per student per quarter on student bills, while putting toward projects that promote resource conservation and sustainability at UCSB.

For a more extensive report on how you can do a similar project on your campus, visit NAELS, which is responsible for initiating and supporting this project.

Courtesy of CCN: CCN student members with advisor.