The Duke Endowment Climate Action Planning Workshop January 2009 Furman University

The Climate Action Planning Workshop, hosted by The Duke Endowment of Charlotte, N.C., at Furman University, is designed to help the Duke Endowment-supported schools (Davidson College, Duke University, Furman University and Johnson C. Smith University) to develop climate action plans for making their campuses "climate neutral" and to better collaborate on issues related to sustainability.

Participants

In addition to representatives from The Duke Endowment and members of the four Duke Endowment supported institutions, Furman board of Trustees and Alumni Council members as well as members of the greater Greenville, SC community who have an interest in collaborating with Furman on related issues.

In preparation for the workshop, four institutions were identified that have recently completed major elements or the entirety of their climate action plans. Representatives from these schools were invited to kick off the workshop with presentations on the process they went through in developing their plans. The four institutions giving presentations are Cornell (N.Y.) University, Middlebury (Vt.) College, Pomona (Ca.) College and the University of New Hampshire.  Representatives from Clean Air-Cool Planet, a New Hampshire-based organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming, presented the keynote address at the workshop.
The visiting guests would also serve as facilitators for subsequent sessions of the CAP workshop.
Click here for a short bio on each of our presenters.

Click here for the CAP Workshop Agenda.

Click here for Jack Byrne's (Middlebury) presentation on The Climate Action Plan Model.
For more information visit Middlebury's Sustainability Integration Office.

Click here for Brett Pasinella's (UNH) presentation on Sustainability Program and Climate Planning Process/Timeline and Tasks.
For more information visit the UNH Office of Sustainability.

Click here for Bowen Patterson's (Pomona) presentation on Sustainability and Student Involvement.
For more information visit Pomona College's Sustainability Website.

Click here for Dean Koyanagi's (Cornell) presentation on Publicizing, Collaboration, and Community Reaction.
For more information visit Cornell's Sustainable Campus Website.

After the presentations, participants in the workshop broke out into subgroups to discuss specific elements of a campus climate action plan. The subgroups in the breakout session were: Conservation-Behavior, Conservation-Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Transportation and Offsets and Sequestration.
At the end of the day, participants were presented with the Furman Case Study to give the following day a context and concrete example for The Duke Endowment-supported institutions to work from on the Climate Action Plan.

Furman Case Study

Day 1: Jack Byrne at the panel discussion. Credit: Jeremy Flemming

Day 1: Kirk Karwan, Furman Univ.,  Charlotte Clark, Tavey Capps, Steve Palumbo, and John Noonan,  all from Duke University. Credit: Jeremy Flemming

Provost Tom Kazee and Jeff Redderson, VP and Director of Facilities, presented the Furman Case Study to participants to benefit all of The Duke Endowment-supported institutions The purpose of the case study was to put Furman's greenhouse gas inventory and climate action efforts into context and to use Furman as the example for creating a blueprint for a Climate Action Plan that is not only transferable to the other Duke Endowment supported institutions but for campuses across the country as well.

To view the Furman Case Study Presentations, click the following links: Furman Case Study, and Furman GHG Report

Day 2

Day 2: Round Robin Working Group on Conservation Credit: Jeremy Flemming
Day 2: Chris Paradise from Davidson Credit: Jeremy Flemming

Day 2: Intense Discussions Credit: Jeremy

The second day of the workshop consisted of a round-robin approach to thinking through the climate action plan. Stations were set up around the conference area with the following topics: Conservation-Behavior; Conservation-Infrastructure; Transportation; Renewable Energy; Curriculum; Co-Curriculum; Offsets and Sequestration; and GHG Neutrality Target Dates and Burning Questions.

Participants rotated in groups at intervals through each of the topic areas and built upon the previous groups work on each topic focusing on: specific projects, time lines, information gaps, cost and financing opportunities, potential GHG reductions, behavior modification, research opportunities, social impact, and

Day : Bill Ranson, Angela Halfacre, Wes Dripps wrapping up. Credit: Jeremy Flemming

opportunities for collaboration. An oral historian and scribe assigned to each topic area were responsible for compiling all the information and presenting to the entire group.

Day 3
At a post workshop meeting, members of Furman's Sustainability Planning Council met to compile and organize information and outcomes for sharing with participants.

Click here for a summary article submitted to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability and Higher Education (AASHE).

Click here for more pictures of the workshop.