| This is probably THE most difficult thing to influence on the
campus, because most - if not all - of this type of travel is
arranged/contracted for by different departments and individuals, is
provided by outside vendors and/or commercial carriers, and is - like
most transportation needs - dominated by concerns about minimizing cost
and maximizing the reliability/certainty that it will be met on
schedule. To the extent that the transportation is provided by
college/university owned vehicles, the potential for influencing is
somewhat increased - but the same concerns will still dominate.
Probably the only chance of affecting this in a meaningful way is to influence the choice of fuel used in the buses - i.e., getting a commercial carrier to use biodiesel. CA-CP is unaware of any such instance in the entire country as of February 2005. The place to start, then, is probably with "simply" trying to accurately track/account for the GHG emissions that result from these activities, with an eye toward perhaps offsetting them through the purchase of RECs. The same methodology as is used in the CA-CP Campus GHG Emissions Calculator - tracking the various types/amounts of transportation and fuel use and converting it to GHG emissions - would be applied. [NOTE: these emissions are NOT currently included/accounted for in the CA-CP Campus GHG Emissions Calculator, and considered part of the institutions's "GHG Emissions ‘Footprint,'" in accordance with "boundary" principles established by national and international GHG emissions accounting protocols. This means that emissions coming from commercial buses, airplanes, etc., are properly attributed to those private companies, not their customers/users. However, this does not mean than users - in this case, colleges and universities - cannot, if they so desire, account for and make efforts to reduce and/or offset those emissions as a matter of the general principle of responsibility!] |
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Athletic & Extracurricular Transportation
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