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Anne: Where do greenhouse gas accounting and climate action plans fit into those rankings and the differences you map between incremental and transformational, visible and invisible?
Jenn: One of the difficulties these rankingsystems often encounter is the problem of scale, and how to appropriately "credit" or communicate the relative impacts of various desirable behaviors or policies. The benefit of the greenhouse gas inventory is that it is relatively quantifiable. It enables us to put things in their relative context, and to speak the same language. That said, nearly all sustainability rankings include greenhouse gas management to some degree.
Anne: Many of the 1600 campuses that download ourcalculator (in order to evaluate their carbon footprint and create a climate |
Anne Stephenson, left, and Jenn Andrews |
action plan) also hope to discover the greenhouse gas emissions for their peer institutions and long-time rival schools. Are apples-to-apples, school-to-school comparisons possible? Could the carbon footprints of rival schools ever be ranked by the Princeton Review or U.S. News and World Report?
Jenn: Theoretically comparisons could be possible, and could be interesting--but, external comparisons are ultimately not nearly asproductive as self-evaluation. The question should be not "Where are we in relation to our peers/competitors," but rather, "Where are we in relation to where we have been?" and more importantly, "Where are we in relation to where we want to be--and what clues do the numbers provide us about how to get there?"
Anne: So do you think that campus rankings, and the attendant competition, forward the bigger project of tons of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere? It seems to me that time spent comparing schools distracts us from the reductions themselves, and the way in which reduction schemes are necessarily specific to each institution. But campus rankings are part of our culture. Could they be useful?
Jenn: Getting caught up in score-to-score comparisons between campuses risks becoming an unproductive distraction. That said, the momentum provided by a little friendly competition is important; we need as much momentum as we can get.
Anne: One of your messages to students and staff undertaking greenhouse gas inventories or climate action plans is that the process is just as important as the number produced at the end. That process builds capacity and community literacy for reduction schemes, encourages research, etc. etc. Will a focus on rankings shift the focus to the end result and devalue the process? How do we reconcile that sometimes lengthy process with the immediacy of global warming and the need for action now?
Jenn: The inventory result and the process can be equally important, if you are capitalizing on the process while it's ongoing. If you're getting people to talk who normally wouldn't, or putting systems in place for improved data collection and analysis, then in the process of getting to "the number" you're already beginning the hard part of carbon reduction work. Spending too much time on the inventory for the sole sake of numbers is time not spent on the urgency of the problem -- greenhouse gas reductions.
Anne: To me, the Excel workbook and the numbers in the column are a big smokescreen -- they signal "science" but greenhouse accounting seems to be more of an art. Is that a fair characterization?
Jenn: It's both art and science. It is not a reductionist exercise or simply numbers based on chemical properties, though it certainly is (better be!) based on real science. The balance is that one must be artful in how to conceptualize that science, and how to deduce the stories behind the numbers.
Anne: How fast does greenhouse gas accounting change? We seem to always be adding components to the calculator -- food purchasing, storm water treatment, or cost-per-ton of carbon reduction -- but also the methodologies to get those numbers and formulae seem to change at a pretty fast clip. Has the campus community gotten better at greenhouse gas accounting? How long does it take to build consensus around certain greenhouse gas metrics and methodologies?
Jenn: We are getting better at it and the stuff we're adding and changing is the stuff that's the least direct. Things will continue to evolve until we have an economy-wide cap on carbon emissions and non-voluntary reporting.
Anne: Rankings and comparing footprints are the campus issues for 2008. What's coming in 2009?
Jenn: Those schools which have signed the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment will have to develop climate action plans over the next year. I believe those plans will bring the conversation away from comparative numbers and back to campus-specific reduction schemes and goals. Colleges and universities will also start to play much larger roles in community and regional climate initiatives. We are already seeing a number of schools beginning to emerge as leaders in this arena, as active in reducing regional greenhouse gases as those emitted on their campus proper, and I expect we'll see a lot more of that cross-sectoral collaboration in 2009.
(continued)
1. Turn thermostats down by 3 to 5 degrees on your furnace and water heater. Yes, this may mean wearing more clothes in the house. That's one of things they're for. And if you can't hold your hand under the hot water, it's too hot!
2. Turn the heat down further when you leave the house for the day, and turn it down when you sleep at night. If you have a programmable thermostat, even better - you can program it to do this for you, and set it to bring the heat up before you get home and before you get up.
3. Get your furnace tuned and cleaned every other year; replace the air filters at least annually if not seasonally. Make sure heating units or registers are free and clear. There's no sense in heating the back of the couch.
4. Next to space heating, water heating uses the most energy. Wrap your water heater with insulation. Wash your clothes in cold water. Consider whether it's necessary to shower every day (Heresy!), especially in the winter. Take shorter showers when you take them.
5. Turn off the lights when you leave the room, even if it's just for a moment. In rooms with track or recessed lighting, where multiple bulbs go on and off from a single switch, consider removing some bulbs or lowering wattage.
6. Put "phantom power" appliances (instant-on things like TVs, radios, "stereos" etc. - the things that have those little red lights that keep glowing) on power strips so you can turn them off completely without unplugging. Make sure your home computer goes into sleep or hibernates (shutting the monitor down) when you're not using it; shut the machine down if you don't use it for hours at a time.
7. Every time a blub blows out, replace it with a CFL. And, yes there is mercury in them, but not enough to present a greater health hazard than the mercury coming from a generating plant - even if you do break it! But do dispose of CFLs properly.
8. Never underestimate the power of insulation. Are you heating the attic? Does the snow melt on your roof, even on the shady side? Do you know how much insulation you have in your walls? Install storm doors, and make sure they close snugly.
9. Cover windows at night. Double pane windows still radiate cold into the room. Hanging a layer of inexpensive fleece blanket behind your window curtains can make a big difference.
10. You can use a stick of incense to check around your windows and doors for drafts, and add insulating material where it's needed. Insulate behind face plates on electric outlets and switch plates.
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