This is no longer a topic for debate. There is a 97%
consensus among peer-reviewed scientific research that human beings are causing
global warming. The Academies of Science in over 80 countries concur.
The topic for discussion is what if anything can be done to
slow and/or curb the alarming rate at which the earth’s temperatures are
rising.
The work of our colleges and universities is to conduct research
that develops strategies to improve what is becoming an ever-bleaker climatological
future. In spite of some of the loudest voices refuting the truth of our
current circumstances, progress is being made internationally and locally.
Britain,
whose nineteenth-century factories were described by William Blake as “Dark
Satanic Mills,” has just gone an entire week without using coal fires. This is
true for the first time since 1882.
On our own shores, alternative energy sources are in the
ascendancy. CNN reported that this April renewable
energy would surpass coal in the U.S. for the first time since the industrial
revolution.
In addition to research, higher education institutions have
the opportunity to adopt and test best practices and model those choices for
their students and surrounding communities. We have the ability to develop citizen
leaders who are committed being responsible stewards of our finite natural resources.
The most provocative lessons can be derived from
institutions that make bold and consequential improvements in how they source and
conserve energy and how they reduce their carbon footprints.
In less than a decade, Susquehanna University went from
being one of the Sierra Club’s vilified institutions that burned coal to one of
its “Cool
Schools.”
The University shut down its centralized coal-fired steam
plant and shifted heating to building-specific, high-efficiency gas boilers.
This not only greatly reduced pollution, but also eliminated tremendous energy
losses. Some buildings are now using geothermal heating and cooling.
Last fall, Susquehanna began using a new solar field, the
largest at any college or university in Pennsylvania, to produce approximately
30% of its electricity. This solar array was featured in an article in the
current edition of enerG Alternative
Sources Magazine. Even the lawn mowing around the solar array is
responsibly being completed by a flock of sheep.
These improvements were all good business. The University will
ultimately save money on energy costs. More importantly, these efforts are driven
by our mission. Each new initiative helps us to prepare students to replicate and
initiate similar efforts in the businesses and communities they will help lead
after graduation.
Global warming is real, and I am thankful that we are preparing our students to lead efforts to improve our likelihood of a habitable future.
