College Commits to Sustainability

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Feb 25, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - President Maria Klawe has joined college and university presidents across the country by signing the Presidents Climate Commitment, an action that follows on the board of trustees' adoption of a new Sustainability Policy Statement at its February meeting.

The college’s Sustainability Policy Statement reads, in part:

The core mission of Harvey Mudd College is the education of its students. One aspect of such education is the demonstration by its actions of the College’s concern for, and protection of, its physical environment. To accomplish this, the College must be a responsible steward of the environment. As such, the College will seek to:

Reduce the rate at which it contributes to the depletion and degradation of natural resources,

Increase its use of renewable resources, and

Incorporate concepts of sustainability into the academic and daily affairs of the College.

The complete statement can be found at:

http://www.hmc.edu/about/administrativeoffices/officeofthepresident1/strategicvision1/climate.html

The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate. The initiative is supported and implemented by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), Second Nature and ecoAmerica.

In signing the Climate Commitment, President Klawe committed to sharply reducing and eventually eliminating all of the college’s global warming emissions, and accelerating the research and educational efforts to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate.

The Climate Commitment includes:

Adopting green standards for buildings;

Requiring Energy Star certification for products purchased by the college;

Offsetting emissions due to air travel;

Encouraging public transportation;

Purchasing energy from renewable sources; and

Supporting climate and sustainability shareholder proposals through their endowment.