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The Implementer
February 2022
Accelerate Your Climate Awareness. Knowledge. Action. | Second Nature's Monthly E-Newsletter.
NOTABLE NEWS
Register to Join Us at the 2022 Summit!
Registration is open for the 2022 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit! The virtual Summit - taking place April 5th-8th, and hosted by Second Nature and the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN) - is the premier gathering of higher education leaders and climate champions committed to addressing the climate crisis.
Join us and be a Host Institution and register up to 50 people on your campus. Sponsors can take advantage of multiple registrations and attendee engagement opportunities.
Become a Summit Sponsor
And once you've registered, be sure to encourage your peers to also register for the 2022 Summit, and to check out resource pages to help you become familiar with Airmeet (the virtual platform we will be using).
Join Us in Celebrating 15 Years of Climate Leadership in Higher Education
Over the previous 15 years, we have accomplished much together.
Second Nature would like to take the opportunity to reflect on our collective progress and celebrate the people who helped us along the way. We also want to recognize that there is so much more work for higher education to do.
We invite you to contribute your reflections as part of this Celebration.
Learn more about how to do so by clicking on the button below. Note: all submissions are due by March 11th.
SIMAP® Update
The new Public Reporting Module is now live on the SIMAP site, at www.unhsimap.org/reporting
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Signatory SIMAP subscribers can check out the Public Reporting Guidance page, recorded webinar tutorial, and webinar slide set to see how easy it is to publish and/or update your SIMAP Footprint Module results to the Public Reporting Module—and begin to do so at any time!
For additional guidance, drop in on one of our “Office Hours” sessions, to be held on Fridays in February and March from 1 to 2pm ET. Join with this Zoom link!
Signatories that do not have a SIMAP subscription - Second Nature has migrated your institution's greenhouse gas data from the Second Nature Reporting Platform to the new SIMAP public reporting module.
NEXT STEPS FOR YOU
Step 1: Please schedule a one on one guided tour of the new public reporting module to review your data and make it public. During the guided tour we will also set up reporting module user accounts for you and others responsible for reporting at your institution.
Step 2: After the guided tour and user account set up, you will be able to report your most recent greenhouse gas data. We will cover this process during the tour. We are still seeking your most recent inventory by May 1, 2022.
SUMMARY
Main Information:
Tools & Resources:
Join Us for Office Hours: Fridays in February and March | 1-2PM ET
BONUS BULLETIN
THIRD ROUND: Now Accepting Applications!
Thanks to funding support from an anonymous foundation, we are pleased to be able to host a third round of the Acceleration Fund!
The Acceleration Fund is dedicated to supporting climate action activities driven by colleges and universities. The Fund will support projects that advance decarbonization and/or campus-community partnerships and resilience goals. We’re especially excited to support proposals that clearly articulate how the work relates to advancing principles of climate justice/equity.
What You Need to Know About the Third Round:
✔️ Application Eligibility: Climate Leadership Network signatories and/ University Climate Change Coalition (UC3) members in good standing.
✔️ Project Eligibility: Eligible projects include those that will use the funding for project implementation or to support climate action planning activities. More. . .
✔️ Application Deadline: Friday, March 4, 2022 (5PM ET)
✔️ New This Year: The 2022 Acceleration Fund will award $100,000 to proposals in two categories. More. . .
✔️ More Information: Find FAQs, how to apply, and more on the Acceleration Fund page.
You can also join us for an Informal Acceleration Fund Office Hour TODAY at 3PM ET.
At 3PM ET, click here!
RAPID RECOGNITIONS
Study finds large new source of greenhouse gas emissions
Publication Date: February 4, 2022
Source: The University of Arizona
BU entices students to address sustainability issues with new grant
Publication Date: February 9, 2022
Source: The Daily Free Press
Climate change and the risk to health now an established course at Case Western Reserve University
Publication Date: February 2, 2022
Source: cleveland.com
Former NYC sustainability head Ben Furnas ‘06 to direct University Climate Initiative
Publication Date: February 9, 2022
Source: Cornell Chronicle
Maine colleges launch joint effort to address climate change
Publication Date: February 2, 2022
Source: Maine Public
Washington University joins Midwest Climate Collaborative as founding member
Publication Date: January 28, 2022
Source: Washington University in St. Louis
Colleges see untapped potential in geothermal district energy systems
Publication Date: February 7, 2022
Source: Energy News Network
OPPORTUNITIES
Webinar: We Are What We Teach
Wednesday, March 2, 2022 | 10:30AM ET
This webinar - We are what we teach: 5 ways that education can be re-wired for nature - being hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will focus on ways that various sectors (including higher education) can be brought together through both formal and non-formal education about nature.
Webinar: Energy Efficiency and Conservation: Solutions to Overcoming Challenges
Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 2PM ET
What are the ways campuses can overcome the inertia that inhibits energy efficiency gains? Learn how to institute and operate a rigorous and complete Energy Efficiency Program Management Framework to unlock greenhouse gas emissions reductions and cost savings from reduced energy consumption.
Better Climate Challenge
A Department of Energy (DOE) Initiative
The Department of Energy is launching an initiative challenging organizations to set ambitious, portfolio-wide GHG emission reduction goals. By joining the Better Climate Challenge, universities can partner with the DOE to reduce portfolio-wide GHG emissions (scope 1 & 2) by at least 50% within 10 years.
This program can align with certain pre-existing university goals and the DOE will provide technical assistance, offer peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and share actionable best practices and workable pathways accelerating actions needed for carbon reduction. Come join the nearly 50 organizations already in this program!
Please contact Bri Colon (Briana.Colon@ee.doe.gov) to sign up or ask any questions.
2022 Community Conversations Series
We want to hear from you!
The Sustainable Endowments Institute in partnership with Second Nature and other organizations will be hosting monthly peer-to-peer calls to foster sharing of experience and making new connections. The topic of each call will be determined based on community interest/voting for preferred topics.
Each call will be limited to just 20 people to help provide enough space for each participant to contribute but the recording and call notes will be shared afterwards.
WOHESC | March 3-4, 2022
Don't forget to register (using our discount!)
The virtual Washington Oregon Cascadia Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC) is just a few weeks away! If you are a higher education institution in the Washington and Oregon areas, make sure you don't miss this conference!
As a Community Partner of WOHESC, we are proud to be able to offer you discounted registration, if you register using this link.
Attention Students: Environmental Justice Video Challenge!
Phase One Applications Deadline: April 1, 2022
Do you have an idea for using tools and resources to help identify environmental inequities in communities?
Now you have an opportunity to pay those ideas forward! The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EPIC-N, and others have launched a Student Environmental Video Challenge.
2022 Talking Trash Tour
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Kinetic Sculpture Team is going on tour! As part of a course in sustainable design, the interdisciplinary team of students in engineering, visual art, environmental studies, and entrepreneurship built their kinetic sculpture primarily out of upcycled materials recovered from the UMBC campus. The team plans to offer kinetic sculpture workshops to university sustainability groups who might be interested.
Image Credit: UMBC
For more information, or to schedule a workshop, please contact Dr. Steven McAlpine at mcalpine@umbc.edu or 617-312-5465.
RELEVANT RESOURCES
Green Power Partnership Top 30 College & University
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Congratulations to all of the colleges and universities who made the Top 30 College & University list!
Especially to those who are Climate Leadership Network signatories and/or University Climate Change Coalition (UC3) members.
Relevant Reading
How Politics, Society and Tech Shape the Path of Climate Change
By: Kat Kerlin
Date: February 16, 2022
Variable Precipitation Linked to Rising Infectious Disease Among Young Children Worldwide
By: Steve Koppes
Date: February 7, 2022
Accelerate Your Climate Awareness.
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