Description
The Local Sustainability Challenge
This exercise is designed to encourage you to think through how the politics of climate change is playing out locally, and to develop creative, practical approaches to making changes in everyday practices in your campus.
— Alternative energy, energy conservation and buildings
2020 Goal: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions per square foot of campus space by 20 percent from 2014 levels
Your proposal should focus on a single innovation and involve a specific set of practical steps to implement it. The advantages should be spelled out as concretely as possible, with a clear, transparent explanation of the bases for your calculations. In developing the proposal, you will be expected to research and report on:
• the specific greenhouse gas emission reductions your proposal would bring about, along with any other environmental benefits;
• the precise cost of the proposal, including start-up costs and any energy savings over time;
• alternative products or strategies to the one you propose;
• any similar projects carried out at other universities, colleges or other institutions, along with your best estimates of the results there;
• where relevant, strategies for involving students in support of sustainability initiatives.
The report and presentation should include the following elements, in no particular format or order:
- Description of your proposed innovation, including a specific timetable of steps for carrying it out;
- A (brief!) account of what you have done to research the proposal;
- Estimate of likely savings in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as any cost savings or other positive impacts expected over time (e.g., water saving, student environmental awareness, etc.);
- Estimate of cost for the innovation (remember long-term as well as short-term costs and benefits!), including (as relevant) costs for alternative versions (e.g., of products with different technologies)
- Discussion of examples from other colleges, universities, organizations or communities and their implications. (How do they demonstrate the potential of your proposal? Or, if your idea totally original, what do they suggest about how effective your plan will be?)
- Discussion of expected obstacles to realizing your proposal, and how you expect to overcome them.
- At the end of the written report, briefly write “what you think is most important for sustainability on campus.
As with the Personal Sustainability Challenge, you are required to use a standard bibliographic form and scholarly citation form for the references to your report, including listing in a bibliography at the end. There is no prescribed citation form, but you will be expected to use a standard form (e.g., Chicago, Modern Language Association, American Psychological Association) and to apply it consistently. Attach printouts from calculators used in your research to the back of your paper.
Paper will be based on a) the thoroughness and accuracy of your assessment of possible reductions, b) the reasonableness of your program for reductions, c) your use of examples from other schools, d) the degree to which you have anticipated obstacles and developed a plan to overcome theme) the style and organization of your report and presentation.
APPENDIX 1: Descriptions of Local Challenge Areas, with Examples
• Alternative energy, energy conservation and buildings
Examples:
- New York Times article: How Green is the College? Time the showers
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/education/26green.html?incamp=article_popular_3 - Vassar College Dorm Energy Challenge, April 2008
http://www.vassar.edu/headlines/2008/0804-energy-challenge.html - Energy conservation: central power plant & associated infrastructure
Minimizing our carbon footprint
https://facilities.princeton.edu/sustainable-campus/sustainable-energy
information on greenhouse gas reduction on campus
- UC Berkeley: Greenhouse-Gas emissions: How low can we go?
http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2007/05/02_summit.shtml - Yale’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy
http://sustainability.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2013_greenhouse_gas_reduction_strategy.pdf