Northland College President Karen Halbersleben recently signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. The commitment provides a framework and support for institutions of higher education in the U.S. to increase the sustainability of their campuses, address global warming, and ultimately neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on college and university campuses. The effort is modeled after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

Northland College is among the Leadership Circle of the commitment signatories, which involves Halbersleben helping to lead the initiative, promote it, and recruit colleagues to join.

“We believe that exerting leadership in addressing climate change will stabilize and reduce long-term energy costs, continue our attraction of excellent students and faculty, draw new sources of funding, and increase the support of alumni and local communities,” Halbersleben said.

College presidents who sign the climate commitment pledge to eliminate their campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions over time. This involves inventorying emissions, setting a target date and milestones for becoming climate neutral, taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, integrating sustainability into curriculum material, and publicizing the action plan, inventory, and progress of efforts to go “climate neutral.”

Over the 2006-2007 school year, President Halbersleben convened the “Northland College Green Team,” in cooperation with the Alliance for Sustainability in Ashland, Wis. Halbersleben charged the team with helping the college implement “The Natural Step” (a science-based framework for organizations, individuals and communities to use to move toward sustainability), and address the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

Prior to signing the climate commitment in 2007, and with the guidance of former Director of Sustainability Kim Bro, Northland College had already compiled baseline data on campus renewable energy generation, natural gas and electricity use, waste production, and paper use.

Since July 1, under the leadership of Sustainable Systems Educator Clare Hintz and as a combined result of the Northland College Green Team initiative and the climate commitment, sustainability efforts on the Northland College campus have already been centralized at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. This centralization has required the collaboration of staff and students, such as Charissa Bujak, a Northland College junior who is working closely with Hintz.

“I’ve never taken such a leadership role in coordinating things before,” Bujak said. “I’m learning when decisions need to be made, and I’m learning to take charge and direct when it’s needed.”

As a result of the work already accomplished by the Northland College Green Team, area organizations have requested that interns from Northland College help evaluate business operations in the greater community.

“The world is much more complex and less black and white than idealism often leads us to believe,” Hintz said. “Our job is to teach ourselves, our students, and our community about how to manage that complexity.”

Contact Information

Clare Hintz, Sustainable Systems Educator  chintz@northland.edu