Category:Solutions

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Solutions is part of the Knowledge Base, it is our hub for knowledge about the problems and solutions of climate change.

Contents

Understanding the Challenge

Climate change can be hard to wrap your head around. We propose the first step is to take the immortal advice of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

"Don't panic."

Creating climate-neutral societies is an opportunity to rethink, redesign, and recreate almost everything we do.

The most authoritative report on the global science and policy options is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Read their summary for policy-makers of their fourth assessment.

Al Gore has just produced a new slideshow that is worth watching New Thinking on the Climate. Also, this video, someone melodramatically titled, has proven results on climate change skeptics: The Most Terrifying Video You Will Ever See. And now there are new questions about the targets that we should be aiming for: James Hansen's April 2008 paper, Where Should Humanity Aim and 350.org.

Finally, a good resource for people with climate skeptics in their family or the workplace: Climate Change: A Guide for the Perplexed.

Solutions

The Solutions are categorized by the four pillars of the Go Beyond Project: Go Beyond Challenges, Transformative Education, Beyond Climate-neutral Planning, and Training.

Challenges

Education

Planning

The BC Campus Climate Network is equipping students to help move their campuses beyond carbon neutral, as we believe universities have the capacity and opportunity do more to solve the climate crisis than we do to cause it.

The planning section of this wiki will introduce planning areas for both carbon-neutral and beyond carbon neutral (BCN) planning, and provide case studies from around the world, as well as links to what’s happening at schools across BC.

All universities and colleges in BC are required to be carbon-neutral by 2010, as defined and mandated by legislation [1] and described in the Climate Action Plan [2]. They are to accomplish this task by reducing their emissions as much as possible, and offsetting the rest. It is not yet clear what emission scopes will be included in government carbon-neutral calculations. In any case, the information provided here covers all emission scopes, as we believe BC schools can create positive impacts on their surrounding communities through researching, investing in, and implementing beyond carbon-neutral solutions across all scopes.


Background reading and resources on Climate-Neutral Planning in higher education:

Planning Process

Helping to move your school beyond climate neutral is a big task, and an important one. It helps to break it down into steps. Here are some suggestions:

  • Make an Institutional Commitment to go beyond climate neutral. This commitment can be made in the form of a policy statement. It will be most effective if the commitment to reducing carbon emissions can also be integrated into the institution's vision, mission, goals, strategic plans, etc. See Places page for examples of climate and sustainability policies at BC post-secondary institutions.
  • Make a Planning Team: Beyond climate neutral planning processes should involve the various sectors of the university community (administration, faculty, staff, and students) who will be involved and whose support is needed for success. It is essential to have a committee, council, Task Force, or a Working Group whose membership includes those with authority to implement the beyond-carbon neutral initiatives. A sustainability coordinator, or, for a larger institution, a sustainability office, can be very useful in moving the process along. See also Governance
  • Complete a GHG Inventory: In order to go beyond carbon neutral, schools first need to know what their current emissions are.
  • Make a Beyond Climate Neutral Plan. According to the Campus Ecology organization, "key parts of a plan include: emission reduction goals; specific projects to implement emissions reduction including a full cost and lifecycle analysis for each project; and an implementation strategy that covers project priorities, timelines, benchmarks, and responsible personnel, plus addresses emissions “inflation” due to campus expansion" and includes "cost-benefit analyses, gives clear direction and shows how a set of projects will work together over time" (Eagan et al. 2008 [1]).
  • Financial Considerations: BC schools are dealing with budget cuts and many other financial pressures. Luckily, schools are finding that there is a good business case for reducing our climate impact. Check out NWF's Guide to Climate Action Planning for tips on bundling cost-saving and capital-requiring projects, cost-benefit analysis of projects, and many, many case studies about how universities and colleges have been effective in reducing their GHG emissions and saving money while doing it. One very useful tool for financing climate action projects is a revolving green fund. Check out Creating a Campus Sustainability Revolving Loan Fund from AASHE for more information. Also see the Economy page, which includes information on Carbon Trading and offsetting.
  • Education and Research: One way that universities and colleges can go beyond climate neutral is to train students in all disciplines to respond to the climate change challenge, so that they can become leaders in the world in the years to come. Beyond Climate Neutral planning should include education and research done by the institution in addition to the physical operations of the buildings and the fleet.
  • Civic Engagement: Grassroots organizing involves working with and mobilizing people. In this section you will find information about civic engagement.

Planning Areas

There are several different ways of categorizing solutions to climate change. The "Areas" list looks at the issue from major areas where greenhouse gases are emitted by our society.

  • Energy: Energy production is the world's largest source of GHG emissions. This sector explores alternative forms of energy production, and how to apply them on your campus. For energy efficiency initiatives, see Buildings.
  • Buildings: All campuses have buildings on them which contribute to GHG emissions. This page explores best practices like energy efficiency, living buildings, green roofs, and rating systems like LEEDS.
  • Transportation: Transportation is one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. This section explores options for campuses to reduce their transportation emissions, including U-Passes, parking management, and cycling infrastructure.
  • Food: Let's not take that campus cafeteria pizza or falafel for granted! Growing and transporting food contributes to carbon emissions, and there are many delicious options for lowering your campus' food footprint.
  • Waste: Landfills are a source of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. If we can reduce the amount of materials we send to the landfills through reducing, composting, and recycling, it will help our schools go beyond carbon neutral - and most likely to save money, too! Check out How to Conduct a Waste Audit, Composting Guide for Colleges, and your school could join the ranks of those who are turning trash into treasure and making their own soil. Check out UBC Waste Management for examples of really neat waste management programs.
  • Purchasing The GHG emissions resulting from the production and transportation of products purchased by the university (paper, computers, furniture, books, school memorabilia, etc.) are rarely included within the boundaries of GHG emission reduction plans, but they are significant. For example, a study at UC Berkeley found that if they included campus procurement and other remote sources, their GHG inventory total would more than double (Eagan et al. 2008[2]).


Training

The training section will include a training program in addition to these particular toolboxes.

Toolboxes

The following "toolboxes" are intended to help People create solutions in their Places.

  • Coordination: The Coordination toolbox is designed to provide resources on how to create and coordinate dynamic, resilient teams that will achieve desired goals.
  • Communications:The Communication toolbox explores the basic concepts of communicating your message, including tips on dealing with the media, how to develop a communications plan, and promotional techniques.
  • Research: The Research toolbox is designed to be used to create change through research
  • Education: This section will explore the role of education in creating solutions to climate change.
  • OrganizingThe Organizing toolbox is designed to provide resources on how to get people working together to come to the best decisions that are the most deeply supported
  • Campaign Strategy: This toolbox explores how to develop a campaign on your campus or city.
  • Finance Guide: Tips on how to raise and manage money.

Invitation to Participate

One of the ways that we can make the Exchange useful is to invite people that we think would find it helpful. In addition, we can inform them of the purpose of the Exchange and inviting them to reciprocate by participating in our learning community.

References

  1. ↑ Eagan, David J., Keniry, Julian, and Schott, Justin. 2008. Higher Education in a Warming World: The Business Case for Climate Leadership on Campus National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology. http://www.nwf.org/campusEcology/pdfs/MiniHEWW-FINAL-June25-08.pdf Accessed August 2008.
  2. ↑ Eagan, David J., Calhoun, Terry, Schott, Justin, Dayananda, Praween. 2008. Guide to Climate Action Planning: Pathways to a Low-Carbon Campus. National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology. http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/pdfs/climateactionplanning.pdf. Accessed August 2008

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