SA: R. 38: In Support of Climate Neutrality at All Ivy League Institutions

As discussed Thursday, 29 March 2007.

Brown � Columbia � Cornell � Dartmouth � Harvard � Pennsylvania � Princeton � Yale

A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF CLIMATE NEUTRALITY AT ALL IVY LEAGUE INSTITUTIONS

Sponsored by David Ali ‘07, and the Ivy Council Steering Committee

PREAMBLE

Global climate change as caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions poses an unprecedented threat to our global community. The urgency of this threat necessitates action now. Universities have the resources and the responsibility to lead the way in reducing emissions, encouraging renewable energy sources, providing the research on solutions, educating the next generation of leaders and professionals to help society neutralize this threat and facilitating stakeholder involvement.

WHEREAS, the Ivy Council is an institution for articulating the sentiments of Students across the Ivy League;

WHEREAS, global climate change is the greatest problem facing our generation as it threatens our world with:

• rising temperatures
• drought
• sea level rise
• increasingly destructive extreme weather
• loss of biodiversity
• changes in availability of water resources
• public health implications
• the exacerbation of poverty and injustice by disproportionately affecting low income

areas and other marginalized communities

• the displacement of millions of people
• debilitating the US and world economy;

WHEREAS, the disproportionate impacts of climate change on developing countries and those who contributed least to the problem is one of the starkest examples of global injustice;

WHEREAS, solving global climate change to create a just, safe, and prosperous world is an opportunity and a challenge that our generation can meet with:

• clean, renewable energy solutions such as wind, solar, and geothermal technology
• an emphasis on energy efficiency
• redesigning urban areas and transportation systems;

WHEREAS, a just transition to a clean energy future will have benefits that flow across society, such as:

• cleaner air and reductions in pollution that today harm the health of millions of Americans and countless more around the world
• the creation of new, stable jobs in the areas hardest hit by the loss of American manufacturing, long-lasting rural jobs related to dispersed energy technology, and a future for American automakers
• a safer world where America’s foreign policy need not be based on securing oil reserves;

WHEREAS, embracing environmental sustainability and clean energy is in concert with universities’ existing goals and values, including service to society, realization of social justice, the training of future leaders, and technological advancement;

WHEREAS, Ivy League universities are in a unique position in society to demonstrate leadership in addressing global climate change and have the academic and financial resources to be global leaders on this issue;

WHEREAS, we recognize that this problem, which nations, states, cities, corporations, community groups and other educational institutions have already begun to address with binding policies, requires a truly global effort;

WHEREAS, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and America’s best climate scientists have warned that global carbon emissions must peak and begin declining within ten years and be reduced by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 if we are to avoid the worst projected effects of global climate change;

WHEREAS, a large number of college and university presidents have created the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a joint effort committing each institution to greatly reduce and eventually neutralize their carbon emissions and educate the next generation of graduates to do the same;

WHEREAS, this resolution was drafted and ratified by an inter-Ivy coalition consisting of emPOWER (Brown University), Eco-Reps (Columbia University); KyotoNOW! (Cornell University), Sustainable Dartmouth (Dartmouth College), Harvard Environmental Action Committee (Harvard University), Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (Princeton University), Penn Environmental Group, (University of Pennsylvania), and Yale Student Environmental Coalition (Yale University);

WHEREAS, the Ivy Council passed a resolution expressing related sentiments in 2003;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT:

• The Ivy League Universities must respond to this moral responsibility by adopting the goal of individual and collective climate neutrality through a combination of, but not limited to, increased energy efficiency, renewable energy generation, and the purchase of carbon offsets.
• Total emissions reductions should be in line with or exceed scientific recommendations of 80% reductions below 1990 levels by 2050.
• It should be ensured that any existing emission reduction plans are on a trajectory toward this goal and that all Ivy League Universities that have not already adopted emissions reductions plans do so immediately and aim to meet or surpass this long term goal.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:

• In adopting new energy sources, our universities should guarantee that we are purchasing truly clean, renewable energy that does not include sources, such as waste incineration, that are passed off as “renewable” yet are detrimental to human health and to the environment, especially of marginalized communities in which these tend to be sited.
• When purchasing carbon offsets, our universities should ensure that we can be confident that we are investing in effective and just solutions to global climate change.
• Our Universities should become signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Respectfully Submitted,

Daniel Budish ‘09 AAP Representative

Ivy Council Steering Committee, 2006–2007

April 15, 2007

[This is the tentative date to submit this resolution to the Ivy Council at the Spring Conference, Brown University.]

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