Ever wonder about the size of the College's carbon footprint?
Students in Assistant Professor of Biology Jeffrey D. Corbin’s Environmental Studies class recently examined the College’s energy usage, transportation habits, dining services production and consumption, waste and paper production. Their unscientific peek into the campus community's habits last term revealed that the College produced between 19,500 and 28,000 metric tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) last year.
That’s equivalent to the emissions produced by 7,100 cars in a year of typical driving; 30,000 rainforest trees or the average annual emissions produced by 3,000 Americans.
“We have to know where we stand before we can begin to devise strategies to reduce our carbon emissions,” said Corbin, who, along with Stephen Po-Chedley ’08, co-chairs U Sustain, a committee of students, faculty and staff committed to establishing a carbon baseline for the campus.
The group is teaming up with the Enviromental Club for Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22 at the Reamer Campus Center. From 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., both groups will share information about sustainability and environmental initiatives with the campus community.
Faculty will also devote at least 10 minutes of Tuesday’s classroom time to environmental topics and concerns.
“There’s no one way to calculate a carbon footprint because you can compare the data any number of ways,” Corbin explained. “Factors such as the size of the school, the student population, the age of the buildings and the types of energy used all produce dramatically different results. So, we had students calculate a range to serve as our baseline for future comparison.”
Union's carbon footprint averaged out to 9.5 metric tons per student, typical for a school of its size. Students learned that energy usage accounted for between 60 and 80 percent of the total carbon footprint, and that each student used nearly 2500 sheets of paper—or five reams—annually. Students also found that food purchase and consumption, particularly how much red meat is consumed, can also greatly impact carbon emissions.
“We eat a lot of red meat at Union,” Corbin explained. “Cows are tremendous methane producers. That, and the cost of raising them, has a negative impact on carbon emissions.”
Students found that implementing simple changes, such as reducing meat consumption by merely one meal per day, can reduce an individual's carbon footprint by 20 percent.
“Recycling is by far the easiest process to implement,” said Sam Basta ’08, who researched Union’s energy usage by studying the amount of waste produced and the way it's recycled or disposed. “Reducing is best, but it’s much harder to implement.”
Last year, College President Stephen C. Ainlay was among the first to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), which formally commits the College to reducing and eventually eliminating its global warming emissions.
The College also promises to provide critical research and education that will help eliminate global warming.
For more information on Earth Day history and events visit: http://www.earthday.net.