Western's President Karen Morse, backed by the university's sustainability committee, became one of the first 50 college presidents to sign a commitment on Jan. 19 to make Western climate neutral - restoring the natural balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, said Seth Vidana, coordinator for Western's office of sustainability.

The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) is a document that outlines what universities must do to become climate neutral. It is an effort to make campuses across the nation more sustainable and to fight global warming. The campaign is coordinated and supported by Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Vidana said in order for an area to be climate neutral, it can only produce as much greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, as the area can absorb.

According to the ACUPCC program overview, "The participating [university] presidents recognize the need to reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases dramatically, in order to avert the worst impacts of global warming."

Western is already well underway in establishing the framework necessary to begin the commitments, said George Pierce, vice president of business and financial affairs and co-chair of the sustainability committee.

The committee, created in 2005, is the structure to guide the development of a comprehensive inventory of Western's greenhouse gas emissions and formulate an action plan to become climate neutral as soon as possible. The inventory is due June 1, 2008.

"When we do the study, we're going to find out that we're very heavy on the emissions side," Vidana said. "And that we don't actually have enough land to sequester all of the carbon dioxide we produce."

Three actions can help the university achieve the goal of climate neutrality, Vidana said. The first is conservation, which means using less energy. For example, Western could save on electricity by purchasing Energy Star certified equipment, he said. The second action is the purchase of an offset, which is anything that helps reduce greenhouse gas emission. Replanting trees in a clear-cut area would be one way to do this, Vidana said. The third solution is the use of emission-free energy, such as solar power, to directly power the campus.

Western junior Stacey Glenewinkel, who heads Western's Associated Student (AS) club Emerging Green Builders, said 48 percent of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere come from buildings.

The Emerging Green Builders and Puget Sound Energy will conduct a study of campus buildings to determine how to make them more energy-efficient. Student groups like this will be working with the Sustainability Committee to help carry out the climate neutral commitment.

Western's AS club Students for Renewable Energy is currently working on getting a solar power demonstration project on the south side of the Associated Students Bookstore, said Western senior Derek Nixon, the club's president.

The group is also working on redirecting the money for the green power fee to make it more effective.

In addition, the group is hosting a series of speakers who will talk about efficient and renewable energy on campus.

Western senior and Students for Renewable Energy member Benson Kalahar said the club held a discussion with Jack Hardy, professor emeritus and former chair of the department of environmental sciences at Western on designing homes so home owners don't have to heat houses with anything but the sun 80 percent of the year.

Campaigns to educate students about conserving energy will play a big part in the commitment, said Bradley Smith, dean of the Huxley College of the Environment. Smith is co-chairman of the Sustainability Committee.

"I walk by classrooms that lights are on all the time when students leave, so it's not just administration and faculty," Smith said. "This is where students can really be leaders. Students have to embrace this."

According to the ACUPCC program overview, higher education has a major role in addressing climate change. The document states, "No other institution in society has the influence, the critical mass and the diversity of skills needed to successfully reverse global warming."

Smith said he hopes the campus sustainability initiatives are lifelong lessons.

"These are not issues somebody else will take care of," Smith said. "You can't say this is somebody else's job. This is all of our jobs."

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