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Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience > Campus-Based Learning > Examples of Campus-Based Learning > Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory
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Campus Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Suzanne Savanick, Macalester College shansen2@macalester.edu. Suzanne Savanick and Chris Wells co-taught a class like this for the Macalester College environmental studies senior seminar during spring 2008.
This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project

Summary

Students conduct a greenhouse gas emission inventory for their college or university as a required part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Students analyze findings and present information to the college or university community and the Presidents Climate Commitment committee.

Learning Goals

Students will understand the local links to the global issue of greenhouse gas emissions, by analyzing the campus links to greenhouse gas emissions. Students collect and analyze data, and report findings to the campus community, including campus decision-makers.

Context for Use

This project uses the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment framework; a greenhouse gas emissions assessment is required by all signatories to the commitment. Research of this kind is a major undertaking. This project requires a team of students working on it as a class project throughout the semester. It could also be accomplished by an individual student as part of an independent study over a year.

The four largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions from a school are likely: electricity consumption, on-campus combustion of fossil fuels for heat and cooling, commuter transportation, and air travel. If the size of the task is as issue, have the students concentrate in these areas.

Teaching Materials

American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment is a high-visibility effort to address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions, and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth's climate.

Clean Air-Cool Planet developed the greenhouse gas calculator available for download. Their tool has is widely used by colleges and universities.

Teaching Notes and Tips

The difficulty of compiling the data depends on the type and accessibility of records. Collecting data on an academic or fiscal year may be more reasonable, depending on how the college keeps data. For a more complete idea of this project used in an environmental studies senior seminar, read the course syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 26kB Aug19 08).

Course Procedure:

Assessment

References and Resources

Lewis and Clark College became the first college in the U.S. to meet the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. Lewis and Clark student-developed guidelines are the basis for this project.

Clean Air-Cool Planet has a more in-depth greenhouse gas calculator available for download. Their tool has been widely used by colleges and universities.

National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Program is a good source of information on energy related projects on campuses in the United States. Energy resources.

The University of Iowa, The University of Minnesota, The University of Oklahoma, and Tufts University all are full members of the Chicago Climate Exchange. Members have made a voluntary, legally binding commitment to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by four percent below the average of their 1998-2001 baseline by 2006.

In 1999 Tufts University committed to meeting or beating the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas reduction goal. Tufts University Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for 1990 and 1998 (2001).

The State of New Jersey adopted a Greenhouse Gas Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.5 %. Fifty-six colleges and universities were part of this project.

The course syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 26kB Aug19 08) for an environmental studies senior seminar using this project co-taught by Suzanne Savanick and Chris Wells at Macalester College, Spring 2008.


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Subject

Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric gases, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Greenhouse gas emissions, Biology, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Greenhouse effect, Environmental Science:Policy:Environmental Decision-Making, Environmental Science:Energy, Biology:Biogeochemistry, Environmental Science:Policy:Local Policy, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Greenhouse gas emissions, Greenhouse effect

Resource Type

Activities:Project:Independent Research, Activities:Project, Project:Service Learning

Special Interest

Local Issue:Campus-Based

Ready for Use

Ready to Use

Grade Level

College Lower (13-14):Introductory Level

Earth System Topics

Atmosphere, Earth's Cycles:Carbon Cycle, Human Dimensions:Policy, Biosphere, Climate, Human Dimensions:Energy

Environmental Policy

Environmental Decision-Making , Local Policy

Topics

Atmosphere, Climate, Biosphere:Biogeochemistry, Ecology, Biosphere

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