The Implementer

April 2023

Accelerate Your Climate Awareness. Knowledge. Action. | Second Nature's Monthly E-Newsletter.
 

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The Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit, co-hosted by Second Nature and the Intentional Endowments Network (IEN), is the premier annual gathering of higher education leaders committed to addressing inequality and the climate crisis. 

Second Nature Receives $447,000 Grant from Lumina to Accelerate Equitable Climate Action at Higher Education Institutions

A big thanks to Lumina Foundation for their generous funding for Second Nature to drive equitable and holistic higher education climate solutions by embracing the sector’s diverse strengths, including various leadership roles and types of institutions, to create scale and impact.

Catawba College Achieves Carbon Neutrality

Catawba College has achieved carbon neutrality ahead of its 2030 goal by
purchasing Renewable Energy Credits from two North Carolina Solar Farms and offsets from the Buncombe County Landfill Gas Project. 

Hampshire College Achieves Carbon Neutrality

Hampshire College has achieved its 2022 carbon neutrality goal for all campus emissions, including electricity and natural gas heating. Hampshire implemented several sustainable energy strategies that connect to the student experience. 

Exciting Updates to the Solutions Center!  

This month, we launched some new updates to the Solutions Center, a Second Nature resource that explains and simplifies high-impact decarbonization:

• Solutions now display trusted providers of that service - and we are working on adding more!
   
• Service providers have newly created profiles, which contain their contact information, experience working in higher education, and a full range of services.
   
• Finally, we added guides for writing Climate Action Plans and Requests for Proposals to the new Resources tab of the Solutions Center. 

If you are a service provider interested in creating a Solutions Center profile, please complete this form. If you are a campus sustainability professional who has requests for future resource development, reach out to Nadia L’Bahy at nlbahy@secondnature.org

Net Zero Campus Guide and Online Toolkit

The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has a launched Net Zero Campus Guide and Online Toolkit. 

The guide and online toolkit serve as timely resources that build on frameworks and tools developed by universities at the forefront of tackling climate action. The initiative aims to equip colleges and universities with the knowledge and tools they need to accelerate their climate action plans while creating new communities of practice among them.

Webinar Recording Now Available!

In case you missed it, the full recording is now available on YouTube. In this webinar, the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) and Metrus discuss how their energy efficiency retrofit enabled UNOH to install best-in-class equipment and energy technologies funded entirely through energy savings – and how your campus could too!

Concordia College (Moorhead, MN) Releases
Climate Action Plan

Concordia College, a member of Second Nature's Climate Leadership Network, will be reducing carbon emissions in order to become 100% carbon neutral by 2050. They will work with partners to improve community resilience in the face of climate change impacts, and ensure that all students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to act on climate issues.

California State University (Channel Islands) Releases Climate Action Plan

The adoption of the plan by President Richard Yao’s Executive Leadership Team capped a three-year planning process led by the Sustainability Working Group made up of faculty, staff, students, and administrators. The rest of the campus community had opportunities to provide input through surveys, focus groups, and forums that elicited support for audacious goals.

 
Kalamazoo College Releases 5-Year Climate Action
Plan Update

With the overarching goal of carbon neutrality, Kalamazoo College is committed to the Climate Action Plan (CAP) to ensure that its core value of sustainability is interwoven with all aspects of campus life. The plan implementation will be overseen by the Climate Action Plan committee which is comprised of College Staff, Faculty, and Students.

 
The University of Pittsburgh Releases Report
on Sustainability Plan

The University of Pittsburgh has released a 2018-22 Progress Report on the Pitt Sustainability Plan. The comprehensive report addresses all 68 plan goals and notes: "The University of Pittsburgh defines 'sustainability' as balancing equity, environment, & economics so current and future generations can thrive. Keeping this in focus, Pitt has active sustainability efforts and initiatives across disciplines, domains, and scales." 

WEBINAR: How To Get It Done Right,
Not Just Get It Done? 

Strategically engage stakeholders along your climate action planning journey to embed Implementation.  Join the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh to learn how they have embedded stakeholder engagement to build trust, forge new connections on campus, and grease the wheels for implementation in their Climate Action Planning.

Date: May 15, 2023    
Start Time: 2:30 CST/3:30 EST

Patch Partnership for Carbon Offset Purchasing

Second Nature has partnered with Patch to assist colleges and universities with carbon offset purchasing and to co-create more transparency and education in offset purchasing. Through Second Nature’s radius account on Patch’s platform, schools can gain free access to view carbon offset projects with available tonnage for purchase and can receive assistance from Second Nature in matching projects to campus offset strategy.

As campuses participate, the partnership with Patch can become more tailored to the needs of higher education. To join, contact Meredith Leigh: mleigh@secondnature.org
 

Climate Wayfinding Workshops

Are you a higher education professional or student looking to discover your unique climate contribution in a generative community? Check out these workshops for the higher education community from our friends at The All We Can Save Project.

• Workshop for faculty/staff
• Workshop for students