The Time for Leadership on Global Warming

David E. Shi, President, Furman University

Good news has been hard to find of late. The financial crisis, housing slump, and the deepening recession have created a pall of anxiety affecting us all. No one knows when recovery will truly begin. In the meantime, the job losses mount, budgets are being pared to the bone, and the human suffering deepens.

But that's not all. We also face a profound environmental challenge -- climate change -- which threatens the global ecosystem, the world economy, and the quality of life for millions of people. Addressing the effects of global warming may well represent the defining challenge of modern history.

Yet even the most daunting challenges also provide innovative opportunities. People are coming together in unusual ways to make a collective difference. In 2007 a handful of college presidents posed an uplifting possibility: could the higher education community lead the way in the fight against global warming? Now, just two years later, over 600 college and university presidents have joined the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. They represent some of the largest universities (such as USC and Clemson), many community colleges, and scores of small private universities and colleges such as Furman.

More than thirty percent of all college students are represented by these 600 institutions, and that number grows every week. The Presidents' Climate Commitment (PCC) is the largest collective effort by college presidents since World War II.

The PCC aligns well with higher education. After all, most of the basic research related to global warming and environmental quality occurs on college campuses. Likewise, colleges are created to last forever. Sustainability is at the core of our missions. We plan to exist forever. And this makes it imperative that we act audaciously to ensure that there is a compelling future -- for us all.

Each institution that joins the PCC agrees to become carbon neutral by a specified year. The signatories also pledge to expand their educational and research efforts related to global warming and environmental quality. The graduates of our institutions should leave our campuses with a clearer understanding of the meaning and implications of environmental sustainability and the civic responsibilities it implies.

For its part, Furman adopted sustainability as a primary strategic goal in 1997. All campus construction projects must comply with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The university has also instituted stringent "green" guidelines that regulate all university purchases. Other initiatives include a comprehensive recycling program, all-electric vehicles, an organic garden tended by students, faculty, and staff, and a student-run effort to convert leftover cooking oil from the dining hall into biodiesel fuel. Our dining service buys local food. And all students are required to take at least one course that focuses on the relationship between "Humans and the Natural Environment."

Furman has recently partnered with Southern Living magazine and Duke Energy to construct The Cliffs Cottage, a completely "green" showcase home featuring solar energy and geothermal cooling and heating. It will remain open for public tours through the summer. It will then become our Center for Sustainability.

Furman is also a charter member of the Presidents Climate Commitment. Last month, the university joined with the Duke Endowment to host a Climate Action Planning workshop to help other schools make their campuses "carbon neutral."

The PCC is thus generating cascading benefits. Faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni, and community members are participating in the effort. New partnerships are emerging; new ideas and technologies related to energy conservation are being developed and shared; and, new sources of funding are emerging as corporations, foundations, and government agencies offer support. We can indeed make a difference in the planet’s future.

Creative efforts to combat global warming are not only enhancing the educational experience on college campuses; they also are helping to revive the economy. A recent study by the Political and Economic Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts suggests that a "green recovery program" could generate two million new jobs in just two years. For example, efforts to increase energy efficiency by retrofitting buildings, improving the nation's outdated electrical grid, expanding and enhancing mass transit systems, and developing renewable energy projects -- solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal -- are high priorities for new federal funding.

We cannot ignore reality any longer. Today's students and their children will experience the worst effects of climate disruption if we continue business as usual. Thinking about tomorrow means taking action today. We, the college and university presidents who have signed the PCC, have committed ourselves to the task, and we hope that everyone will join us in this essential effort as quickly as possible. The future is in our hands to shape.