 "Photo: Adam Bickford")
A ceremony was held in the North Reading Room of Wilbur Cross on Tuesday, where UConn President Michael Hogan signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a document that states that its signer promises to undertake steps to reduce their campus' carbon footprint.
Specific stipulations of the commitment include creating institutional structures to implement a program within two months, completing an inventory of all greenhouse gas emissions within one year, and developing a full institutional action plan within two years of signing. It also stipulates that Hogan must initiate at least two tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more comprehensive plan is developed.
Hogan was optimistic about the completion of the commitment, noting that the university has already taken several of the document's required steps, such as completing inventories of greenhouse gas emissions through 2005 and 2006 with work on 2007's inventory already underway.
The ceremony itself was an upbeat event attended by just over 30 students and faculty. Office of Environmental Policy Director Rich Miller opened the event and introduced the speakers while praising Hogan's decision to sign the document.
"When you get such a strong commitment from the top of the administration like this, it's a clear signal that you are going to be able to get things done," he said.
Miller then introduced Greg Anderson, vice provost for research and graduate education and dean of the graduate school, who complimented UConn, saying he was proud of its strong stance towards research into economically helpful topics like bioenergy and alternative fuel sources.
Also speaking at the ceremony were EcoHusky co-coordinator Bianca Lopez and ConnPIRG climate challenge member Kristin Sullivan, two students who helped bring the Presidents Climate Commitment to Hogan's attention when they organized a walk-in to demand that he sign it. They expressed their gratitude to Hogan for signing the commitment.
"We're very excited that President Hogan and the university have taken this first step towards climate change," Lopez said.
"Our generation has to live with environmental pollution," Sullivan said. "It's our responsibility to take action now."
The last speaker before Hogan was Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Gina McCarthy, who said she has been working closely with Hogan to ensure a comprehensive environmental policy. McCarthy expressed happiness that UConn was able to become a leader in environmental issues and that it was a public institution to take the first step. She also apologized that past efforts in earlier generations were "sloppy and inefficient."
"To see a commitment like this at a university is a tremendous leap forward," she said.
Hogan started his speech by thanking the other speakers for their gratitude. "If I knew the ceremony would be this fun I would have signed this sooner," he said. "I don't recall being thanked so much in my life."
He went on to say that he would have committed sooner, but other responsibilities as president kept him busy and he wanted to give the topic a fair share of consideration.
"I didn't want to take these issues lightly," he said. "I wanted to take the time to make sure the plan was feasible because I didn't want [the commitment] to be just another form of lip service."
In his speech, Hogan acknowledged several other actions UConn has taken to reduce environmental damage, such as putting emphasis on energy efficient-lighting, running all buses on waste-oil-derived biofuel and most importantly, the creation of a cogeneration facility - a centralized source of electricity and heating for the main campus that reduces 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
"We've made a lot of progress, but we aren't satisfied." Hogan said. "There is still a lot more progress to be made and this document will hold us to make that progress."
After the signing, Hogan said there wasn't yet a set timeline for the commitment's specific requirements to be enacted, but that he was committed to seeing it through.
"We feel very confident that over the next two years and beyond that we will fulfill the Presidents Climate Commitment," he said. "I wouldn't have signed it if I thought we couldn't do it."
Hogan also said that the environmentally friendly changes shouldn't do much to interrupt the students' lives or incur any extra financial responsibilities on them, since most of the changes to be made are already built into the current UConn budget.
"I think we're doing a good job," said 8th-semester environmental policy and legal studies major and EcoHusky member Leah Giffin. "Obviously we can always do more, but signing this document is exactly what we've been asking for, so it's a really happy day."
Contact Christopher Duray at Christopher.Duray@UConn.edu.
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