Campus Ecology Three-Year Progress Report: 2007–2009
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Campus Ecology Three-Year Progress Report: 2007–2009 Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective. – Rachel Carson Dear Campus Ecology Friend, Together with you, we are a program about promoting and celebrating the profoundly important role of campus leaders in advancing environmental, social and economic sustainability as an example for the wider society. There is much to be hopeful about in this regard, and some of the reasons for hope are documented here. • Campus Ecology Fellows, for example, are converting vehicles from gas to electric, installing solar panels, harvesting rainwater and developing climate action plans. Most graduates have gone on to advance sustainability in a variety of creative ways through their careers and as volunteers. • Winners of Chill Out, our campus innovation competition to confront global warming, are illuminating the possibilities for dramatically curbing global warming pollution on their campuses, and in some cases aiming to neutralize carbon emissions by 2040 or sooner. • Larger numbers of students in the U.S. have rallied for climate leadership and sustainability in the last three years than we’ve experienced in our organization’s nearly seventy-five year history thanks to unprecedented collaboration among youth, social justice and environmental organizations. • These student leaders have, in turn, played key roles in convincing their campus leadership to make smart investments in energy efficiency and clean energy on campus and to commit to steep reductions in greenhouse gas pollution through a variety of efforts, including formal initiatives such as the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). The list of encouraging efforts goes on and we are proud to have been a part of many of these. At the same time, the global average surface temperature continues to increase. BP has just caused dramatic damage to our Gulf environment and economy. Trends in protection of biodiversity are not encouraging. And climate and clean energy legislation is stalled in the Senate, perpetuating our reliance on fossil fuels and our vulnerability. These tough circumstances call for leading even more creatively and strategically than ever before and to work proactively, rather than reactively, as much as possible. One of the things we’ve learned through training from the Institute for Conservation Leadership and advice from peers at National Wildlife Federation and beyond, is that no matter how challenging the circumstances, teams need to regularly reflect and plan in order to move forward effectively. Spanning 2007-2009, this report chronicles our goals, accomplishments and some of the lessons learned along the way. It takes stock of what we set out to achieve and what we actually accomplished. It documents the triumphs and suggests some of the struggles along the way. It will provide National Wildlife Federation’s esteemed Campus Ecology Advisors, funders, members and other stakeholders with a detailed update on the program’s recent work and a basis for critical feedback and guidance. Most importantly, these lessons will help inform priorities, new strategies, opportunities for collaboration, and areas for personal and professional growth in the coming months and years. Yours sincerely, The Campus Ecology Team Courtney Cochran Juliana GoodlawMorris Lisa Madry Praween Dayananda Kristy Jones Carly Queen Jennifer Fournelle Julian Keniry 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRO LETTER FROM TEAM 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE CAMPUS ECOLOGY PROGRAM 3 METHODS 4 GOAL ONE: 8 Campus Ecology Fellowships: Intensive Environmental Leadership Support CULTIVATING STUDENT LEADERS 12 Chill Out: Recognizing Climate-Smart Innovators 15 Climate Ambassador Certification Web Course: Educating the Next Generation of Leaders 15 National Education and Outreach Partnerships & Initiatives: Partnering to Extend the Reach 19 Engaging Alumni: Closing the Circle (To Keep it Rolling) GOAL TWO: 22 Regional Team Work REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT AT 1,000 CAMPUSES 23 Climate Action Networks 24 Membership 25 Best Practices: Tools and Resources GOAL THREE: 30 National Policy Efforts POSITIONING COMMUNITY COLLEGES AS PLATFORMS 32 Green Workforce Training CAMPUS ECOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC EYE 33 Press Coverage 33 Event Participation THE CAMPUS ECOLOGY TEAM 34 ASSESSMENT 38 Looking Forward APPENDIX A: FELLOWS 40 APPENDIX B: CHILL OUT 78 APPENDIX C: PARTNERS 84 APPENDIX D: PRESS 85 APPENDIX E: EVENTS 119 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND SPONSORS Back Cover INTRODUCTION TO THE CAMPUS ECOLOGY PROGRAM NWF will involve roughly 20,000 campus student leaders who will, in turn, help reach approximately 100,000 of their peers each year toward our goal of engaging one million students by 2020 in transforming “business as usual” into sustainable designs, clean energy systems and green jobs. National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Campus education by cultivating student leaders; reducing Ecology team has a clear vision. And that vision is global warming pollution by at least 30 percent at 1,000 for campuses to model for the larger society what campuses by 2020; and positioning community col- sustainability means in practice – in their teaching, leges as platforms for green jobs creation and training. management, operations and community leadership. This vision extends to the students – students whose Dr. Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, hearts, hands and minds are eager and well prepared conveyed the central importance of student leadership to engage in the civic life of the campus and com- in the process of transforming campus practices at the munity while in school and beyond in ways that trans- third annual conference of the American College and form business as usual into the sustainable designs, University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) clean energy systems and green jobs needed for a when he said: “Higher education may be only about prosperous future. This vision would give voice to the two percent of the nation’s carbon footprint, but we voiceless: the future generations and disenfranchised are 100 percent of the student footprint.” peoples who depend on thoughtful leadership today and the myriad species of wildlife that cannot speak It is in this spirit that Campus Ecology is driven to cul- for themselves. tivate and engage student leaders to take steps both large and small to appreciate, protect and restore the The Campus Ecology program is a cornerstone of earth’s living systems at the campus level and beyond. NWF’s effort to protect wildlife for our children’s future. Towards this end, the program has concentrated on Colleges and universities educate approximately achieving three measurable and complementary goals: 19 million students each year from all walks of life. engaging one million students in climate action and College graduates, studies show, are more likely to 4 become influential in their communities, attending public meetings, volunteering, writing letters to the METHODS editor and more. Helping college students evaluate In working towards our three objectives of empowering their campus, their communities and the wider world student leaders, helping campuses dramatically reduce through the lens of social, economic and environmental greenhouse gas pollution, and fostering greener educa- sustainability, helps equip students and graduates to tion towards a new clean energy economy, there are become agents of change in their wider communities. many routes we could take. In our strategic planning, as we have evaluated our strengths, weaknesses and Even by working concertedly in partnership with opportunities, our partners and organizational leverage diverse organizations all across the country, Campus points, we have chosen to focus on five methods for Ecology has not figured out a way to work with all our work in recent years. They are: providing recog- 19 million students in higher education each year, nition and support, assessing trends and needs, fos- however, the program strives to reach a large enough tering local networking, collaboration and partnership percentage of the student body to make an educational and advancing state and federal policy. We regularly impact on those students and create a ripple effect reevaluate these approaches and anticipate continuing with peers. One of two primary goals over the past to experiment and revise them with input from our team three years has been to reach at least one million stu- members, a panel of Advisors and other stakeholders. dents on various levels in the 14 years between 2006 (See full list of Campus Ecology’s Advisors in Appendix F) and 2020. Since 2006 Campus Ecology has already reached over 1.3 million students through educational 1. Providing recognition and support: awareness events, plus an additional 27,000 reached through our ClimateEdu newsletter! * By awarding fellowships and internships and hosting a national competition, we recognize and Still, in support of that vision, Campus Ecology focuses support the sustainability efforts and attributes we attention on diverse scales, from mass education and value. Campus leaders receive an extra boost of outreach, to more intensive programming that provides support and recognition for their efforts in the form student leaders with recognition, support, training, of positive educational and media coverage and informational resources and even opportunities for a small financial awards through