University President Dave Frohnmayer took the first step Wednesday in curbing carbon emissions at the University. At an Earth Day celebration, Frohnmayer announced that the University will join the American University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging to reduce and finally eliminate campus greenhouse gas emissions.
Frohnmayer’s stance on the issue is heartening. Currently, the University is lagging behind where it should be in terms environmental sustainability. Not only will Frohnmayer’s pledge make the campus more energy efficient and clean, it will also benefit cost margins. The EMU, for example, would benefit from drastic reforms in energy consumption, and Campus Recycling needs new vans that do not spew bilious plumes of coal-black exhaust. They need to set an example, obviously.
Frohnmayer said that universities must be on the cutting edge of environmental reforms, and this is true. The reality is that we must make the technological reforms necessary to keep us moving into the future, otherwise we will be left behind. Environmental reforms are, at the most basic level, an investment in the future – both financially and socially.
Calls for environmental action can sound breathless, but there are tangible benefits to reform that can positively affect both University students and the world at large. Regardless of one’s views on global warming, it is difficult to argue that changing the energy consumption policies of the University would not benefit the community as well as the state.
Systematic changes in how the University consumes energy is commendable. It is important, as an institution of higher learning, that the University take the lead in developing efficient policies for the future.