Thanks to hard work by many people, including students, the University of California system as a whole recently pledged to become climate neutral as soon as possible, when President Dynes signed the American College and University President's Climate Commitment www. presidentsclimatecommitment .org.)
By signing, the UC became part of the leadership circle listed as signatories on the invitation letter, recently sent to over 4000 colleges and university leaders across the country.
This follows UC's Policy on Sustainable Practices, the most comprehensive in U.S. higher education, which was passed in March 2007. The policy sets greenhouse gas emission targets of returning to 2000 emission levels by 2014, and to 1990 levels by 2020. By December 2008, each campus is to develop an action plan to meet these targets and a strategy to achieve climate neutrality.
The policy includes environmentally preferable purchasing, waste management, building renovations, and climate change. While there's still work to do, the UC system deserves our encouragement for its strides in the right direction, and for providing an example to other universities nation-wide!
