Professor Courtney Gallaher, who will move from part-time to full-time in the role of campus sustainability coordinator this January, is heading up a new Sustainability and Climate Action Planning Task Force. It will spearhead efforts to make campus more sustainable and help to create the first campus-wide sustainability and climate action plan.
Recognizing the challenges posed by climate warming and other environmental concerns, NIU is committed to transformative change to protect its future as an institution and the communities it serves.
“I’m very excited about this initiative,” President Lisa C. Freeman said during her State of the University Address last week.
“Sustainability aligns perfectly with our mission and encompasses DEI initiatives through environmental justice. It’s also the best choice from a long-term operational standpoint—it makes financial sense. Most exciting is that our students will be central to the effort.”
In August, the university committed to addressing climate change by becoming a signatory to the Second Nature Presidents Climate Leadership Carbon Commitment. In doing so, the university commits to focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.
The task force will collaborate with campus leaders to establish concrete goals for a more sustainable NIU in areas such as transportation, food production, renewable energy, buildings and grounds, recycling and waste management, and more. Earlier this year, the university completed a greenhouse gas inventory and other baseline assessments of sustainability that will inform the formal planning process.
“The idea of environmental sustainability is really focused on the idea of being able to meet our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” said Gallaher, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.
“The urgency of the climate crisis and other environmental crises challenges our future, so a focus on environmental sustainability helps us to think about how we can preserve our own mission in the future,” Gallaher added. “This also is an important opportunity for us to create hands-on learning experiences for students—to use our campus as a living laboratory—and to serve as leaders in our community as we develop new and important strategies around sustainability.”
The planning taskforce is comprised of two committees: a steering committee composed of members of senior leadership, and a working committee that includes student representatives and members of the campus community with relevant expertise in sustainability.
The taskforce will outline NIU’s climate action planning process while identifying high impact efforts for the long- and short-term. Planning will be tied to a “net zero” goal for greenhouse gas emissions for campus by 2050 or earlier, aligned with NIU’s master planning framework and integrated into institutional operations.
The aim is to produce a draft plan by this coming Earth Day (April 23) and present it for public comment beginning in the summer. Prior to being finalized, the plan will be discussed next fall in town hall meetings on campus, providing an opportunity for all faculty, staff and students to give their feedback. Next fall the plan will also be presented to shared governance groups on campus.
The climate action plan will be only part of NIU’s overall sustainability plan, which will encompass broader topics such as academics, engagement, diversity and equity, and employee well-being.
“Climate change is not the only sustainability issue,” Gallaher said. “But it is of course interconnected with other environmental issues like pollution, land degradation, natural resource depletion, waste management and the loss of biodiversity. Sustainability involves finding creative solutions to these and other challenges.”
Gallaher, who shared a campus sustainability update with enthusiastic members of the NIU Board of Trustees on Nov. 10, notes that students are highly interested in issues surrounding sustainability.
“Students understand that climate change and other environmental problems have made their futures precarious and uncertain, and they want to know that the school they are attending is committed to working toward a better future,” she said.
More than a decade ago, NIU established its Institute for the Study of Environment, Sustainability and Energy (ESE) to foster research, education and community engagement about the environment and sustainability. ESE offers two undergraduate degrees in environmental studies, as well as a minor and two certificate programs. Moreover, the State of Illinois has begun the design phase of the $23 million Northern Illinois Center for Community Sustainability on campus to strengthen and intensify sustainability research.
“Many students come to NIU with lots of passion for environmental sustainability, but they still lack the knowledge and skills needed to affect change,” Gallaher said. “We have an opportunity to engage with them through teaching and research opportunities and train future leaders in sustainability.”
In addition to Gallaher, members of the Sustainability and Climate Action Planning Working Committee include Jim Fitzjarrell, Architectural and Engineering Services; Dave Mannia, Environmental Health and Safety; Chris Gilbert, Transportation Services; Bryan Flowers, Food Systems Innovation; Luke Sebby, NIU Foundation; Tom Skuzinski, ESE; Melanie Costello, Lorado Taft campus; Nick Pohlman, Mechanical Engineering; Tomoyuki Shibata, Public Health; Christine Mooney, College of Business; Alyssa Edwards, graduate student representative; Anthony Capezio, undergraduate student representative; and Samantha Berke, Biology.
Source : NiuToday
Add Comment