In a little over a month, the Presidents’ Climate Commitment bill will appear on the state ballot and, in an effort to show support, colleges around the U.S. have taken measures toward “going green.”
During last week’s Associated Students, Inc. meeting, Academic Senate chair Lisa Vollendorf addressed the possibility of having an energy-efficient, 323-acre campus to service 36,000 students and faculty.
The idea of an environmentally friendly campus is still fresh. Many schools have not taken full action, but have instead merely given proposals.
“I’m excited. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do and how I can help contribute to make our campus more green friendly to the environment,” Sam Chhim, Social Work and Recreation double major, said. “I say we should bike to make it all greener.”
Cal State Long Beach is recognized as an “engaged campus” and, therefore, Vollendorf would like to continue to implement changes like installing fluorescent light bulbs to replace old light fixtures, which has occurred in the Molecular Life and Sciences Center.
Signatories of the Presidents’ Climate Commitment bill under the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment are required to submit energy-related reports to their reporting system, and, so far, there have been 674 signatures with nearly 70 coming from California.
Such a bill urges colleges and universities to be leading institutions for going green. As a campus, this means decreasing our carbon footprint on a mass scale in order to achieve climate neutrality.
CSULB President F. King Alexander is in talks to sign the Presidents’ Climate Commitment bill to enter the ranks of schools like Duke University, Harvey Mudd College and University of California, Irvine.
Other schools around California have already installed changes that have made an increasingly noticeable impact.
“In the housing community [at UCI], they’re sampling energy conservation methods,” UCI computer science major Pomi Park said. “In some of them, showers have timed shutoffs, and we got low flow shower heads two years ago. They’ve even thought about solar panels, but nothing was finalized about that.”
The city of Long Beach is stepping up and joining the global effort by trying to be the most bike-friendly city in the state. According to Long Beach city planner Ira Brown, who works with the traffic and transportation bureau, some of the improvements include increased bike boulevards, lanes, racks and stations around the city.
“I am proud to know that CSULB is moving toward greater energy efficiency.” political science major James Kuang said. “Let this be something that will encourage other campuses and the surrounding community to follow suit as well. Being efficient allows us to maximize our resources.”
The 2010 Climate Leadership Summit takes place on Oct. 12-13 in Denver, Colo., following the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference.
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