In September 2007, American Public University System (APUS) signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) as a charter signatory.  There are now more than 600 signatories to the commitment.  Each institution is required to complete and submit a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory within one year of signing the commitment (click here to view APUS’ GHG Emissions Inventory) and within two years of signing, signatories are required to complete and submit a Climate Action Plan (CAP).  The CAP is a statement of measures the university has already taken and measures it intends to undertake to address and mitigate its GHG emissions and carbon footprint.

Aside from these specific requirements, there are several others which are more flexible, allowing schools to be creative in how they implement them.  One such requirement is that of public engagement and education.  To implement the requirements of the commitment, APUS has established a Sustainability Committee.  This group, comprised of interested employees, is tasked with researching and proposing strategies to fulfill APUS’ requirements.  The group has already brought several well-researched and worthwhile proposals to our leadership team for review and consideration.  Most recently, the Sustainability Committee established a Sustainability blog which will help provide some public outreach and education on issues related to sustainability.

Committee members will provide articles for the blog and from time to time, the Committee may publish articles from guest authors.  Focusing on issues of sustainability in higher education, APUS actions related to sustainability, and issues of sustainability in general, the blog is intended to create an engaging and meaningful dialogue about the topics.  I encourage you to take a look at APUS’ latest blog and I know that the Committee will appreciate any comments and suggestions that you may have.

Last month, I posted an article about APUS’ groundbreaking ceremony at the site on which we will build a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified building.  Wes Holmes, an APUS student pursuing a Masters of Environmental Policy and Management, requested to do a project to document the construction of the building.  To that end, he has established a blog under the guidance of his Program Director, Dr. Carol Pollio. 

Mr. Holmes’ blog will provide a forum in which he can share the information related to the construction of the building, the LEED elements of the building, and will even include a webcam to show real-time construction development.  In documenting the progress of this construction, Mr. Holmes will touch on issues related to “environmental policy; sustainable development; natural resource utilization; and responsible, community-oriented growth.”

APUS is a charter signatory to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and has committed itself to “greening” our operations and helping develop the leaders this country will need to evaluate the many complex issues regarding the environment.  As institutions of higher education begin to realize the need for educating tomorrow’s leaders about environmental issues, many have begun incorporating sustainability into their curriculums in a variety of ways.  I was impressed when Dr. Pollio discussed Mr. Holmes’ concepts for this project, and I believe it will be the first of many ways in which APUS’s faculty and students will integrate issues of sustainability into the curriculum. 

I encourage you to follow Mr. Holmes’ blog as he documents the construction of APUS’ LEED building.  I am sure that he will welcome suggestions as well.

This past Thursday, October 15th, APUS had a ground breaking ceremony at the site of its newest addition to the Charles Town, West Virginia campus.  Construction will soon begin on a four-story LEED certified building that will house our Academics and Admissions departments.  The building will sit on a site of abandoned and underutilized former industrial space including a junkyard.  The building will be approximately 45,000 square feet of office space for our expanding academic administrative staff and our admissions department and will represent a significant economic investment in the downtown Charles Town area.

One of the tangible actions to which APUS committed when I signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in September 2007 was a policy of building all new campus construction projects to LEED Silver standards.  The newest addition to the APUS Charles Town campus will meet or exceed those standards.  Environmentally friendly elements of the building will include solar panels on the roof which should provide some 30 percent of the building’s energy needs, bike racks to encourage employees to cut down on commuting by car, parking spaces for energy-efficient vehicles, highly efficient insulation and windows, a modern variable refrigerant HVAC system, and lighting controls to manage energy use, to name only a few.

As APUS has expanded its campus to house a growing staff tasked with accommodating the needs of our increasing student body, we have remained mindful of our responsibility to our Charles Town neighbors as well as our environment.  The new building will blend old and new, traditional and modern in an attempt to keep it similar in character to the historic nature of Charles Town’s other buildings, most of which were constructed in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. 

Joining me at Thursday’s groundbreaking ceremony in addition to APUS staff were various members of the local Charles Town community as well as several state representatives.  David Lloyd, Director of the EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, was also in attendance and expressed his approval of the planned construction and use of the brownfields site for this purpose.

Please see below for a photo gallery of images from the ground breaking event.

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Earlier this year, the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) released a publication called Boldly Sustainable: Hope and Opportunity for Higher Education in the Age of Climate Change.  Written by Peter Bardaglio, senior fellow at Second Nature, and Andrea Putnam, Director of Sustainability Financing at Second Nature, the book provides a compelling argument for colleges and universities to fully explore the opportunities and business implications of pursuing sustainable business models and integrating the topic of sustainability as a core component of student curriculums.

The book begins by outlining sustainability initiatives to date including the Kyoto Protocol and the subsequent discussions currently underway for the drafting of another version of that agreement as well as the history and efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) among others.  The authors contend that colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to make a significant impact in the global struggle to address climate change.  Quoting President John Adams’ statement that “’There are two types of education.  One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live,’” Bardaglio and Putnam argue that not only does the pursuit of sustainability in college curriculums and business practices make good financial sense, it is an imperative if institutions are to educate students for the social challenges they will certainly face upon graduation.

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President Obama has clearly stated his intention to “green up” America.  The cap and trade program is one of the ways in which he plans to oversee the greening of America.  The program has received mixed reviews from economic and environmental experts and only time will tell if the initiative will provide meaningful differences in the fight against climate change in an economically feasible manner.  The President has stated that his goal is to reduce U.S. emissions by 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent below by 2050.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that “Cap and trade is an environmental policy tool that delivers results with a mandatory cap on emissions while providing emission sources flexibility in how they comply.”  After identifying the target group, a successful cap and trade program must establish a cap, or limit, on the amount of emissions for all sources within that group. The operational concept of the program rests on the assumption that it will be easier for some companies to establish effective mechanisms for limiting their emissions than for others.  Companies that manage to emit less than their cap are able to sell the difference to companies who are struggling to maintain their emissions within the established cap.

This past Friday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the proposal but not without President Obama’s intense lobbying in its favor.  A recent Wall Street Journal article notes that the win in the House was not an easy one for the President; indeed, he even had to convince many within his own party to support the proposal.  Many business leaders caution that the bill, if passed in the Senate and codified into law, would cost American taxpayers significantly.  The Wall Street Journal quoted a statement of the National Mining Association which warns of the cost of the program:  “’It will affect every aspect of the American economy, harming our ability to compete in the world and provide secure and affordable energy to American consumers and businesses.’” The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that in 2020, the annual cost to implement the program will be a $175 per household, an estimate that naysayers contend is very low. 

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From the earliest days of the most recent presidential election, President Obama made it clear that one of his highest priorities if elected would be addressing climate change, energy consumption and the economy.  It seems that within the first several months of taking office, President Obama has remained dedicated to those priorities.  More recently, he maintains that he has found a single solution that will address all three problems: the development of a “green economy.” 

The green economy, according to the Administration, will “invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions [five million, to be exact] of new jobs.”  President Obama has stated his intention to invest $150 billion over the next ten years in efforts meant to encourage private efforts to establish and use clean energy.  Through this investment, the President expects to not only create jobs (developing, installing, and maintaining new green technologies) but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 through the use of clean and renewable energy sources.  Breaking the nation’s addiction to foreign oil is an obvious underpinning of the Obama plan. 

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