[Save] First US College in Kyoto Compliance

[George Mokray]

How close is MIT?

To: urban-ecology at yahoogroups.com, tree at listserv.vt.edu,
    Aubrey Nease <terraphytes at yahoo.com>,
    Climate Watch listserv <climate-watch at topica.com>
From: "Richard.Rich" <urban at vt.edu>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 08:41:25 -0500
Subject: [urb-eco] Kyoto Compliance is Cheap, NW College Shows


Lewis & Clark College is first to achieve Kyoto Protocol compliance

(Portland, Ore.)-For the cost of a movie and popcorn for each 
student, Lewis & Clark College has become the first campus in the 
nation to comply with the greenhouse gas emissions targets called for 
in the Kyoto Protocol.

The achievement means that the campus has reduced emissions of the 
gases that contribute to global warming to 7 percent below what it 
produced in 1990.  The reduction was achieved through the purchase of 
carbon dioxide offsets.

Offset projects reduce greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere and 
help mitigate climate change by funding efforts such as 
reforestation, green building practices or wind farms. The result is 
a cost-effective method that enabled Lewis & Clark College to 
minimize its net carbon impact. Students at the private liberal arts 
college spearheaded the effort. The cost to achieve compliance is 
estimated at $10 per student.

"Our goal was to demonstrate that individuals can make a difference 
in fighting global warming," said Laura Matson '05, an economics 
major from St. Louis Park, Minn.  Students raised $16,400 to purchase 
carbon offsets through the Climate Trust, a Portland-based nonprofit 
organization that promotes climate change solutions by providing 
greenhouse gas offset projects and advancing offset policy.

"Offsets are an important tool in reducing our impact on the global 
climate," said Michael Ashford, deputy director of the Climate Trust. 
"Offsets enable more reductions to occur with already limited 
resources."

The College's achievement comes as a Senate vote is expected  October 
29 on the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. The bill would 
cap emissions of the gases that cause global warming, but at a level 
below the Kyoto Protocol targets.

Matson, along with Brian Erickson '06, a biology major from Kirkwood, 
Mo., and Julian Dautremont-Smith, from Allentown, Pa., an 
environmental studies major who graduated last May, inventoried the 
amount of campus emissions, suggested methods of reduction, lobbied 
for funding to purchase offsets, and launched an educational campaign 
to explain the protocol's relevance to the campus community. 
Students from the campus group Students Engaged in Eco-Defense helped 
organize the campaign.

	"This achievement is the result of students being engaged at 
a very high level in environmental policy," said Eban Goodstein, 
professor of economics at Lewis & Clark.  "The students engaged the 
science, economics and politics of global warming. Kyoto Protocol 
compliance through offset purchases appears to be quite affordable. 
The example of Lewis & Clark College indicates that colleges and 
universities are the perfect laboratory in which to examine the 
larger implications of emissions reduction efforts."

	The college will receive a certificate honoring the protocol 
compliance effort in November from College Climate Response, an 
organization of faculty members from across the country who are 
engaged in analyzing greenhouse gas inventories.  The campus plans to 
mark receipt of the certificate with a lecture about global warming 
issues.

The Climate Trust is a nonprofit organization formed in 1997 in 
response to landmark Oregon legislation requiring new power plants to 
counter their global warming impact. This innovative legislation 
allows power plant developers to meet this carbon dioxide emission 
standard by making a payment to the Climate Trust. These funds and 
the funds provided by participants in the Greenhouse Gas Partnership 
Program are used to stimulate projects that avoid, displace or 
sequester CO2 emissions. These projects are called offsets because 
they offset the production of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

	For more information, visit www.lclark.edu/~seed/kyoto.html 
or the Climate Trust Web site at www.climatetrust.org.

###

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Contact:	Tania Thompson, Senior Communications Officer, Lewis 
& Clark College
503-768-7961 or taniat at lclark.edu

--
Prof. Richard C. Rich, Director
Center for Environmental and
       Energy Studies
531 Major Williams Hall
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA  24061-0130
Office line: (540) 231-6571
FAX line: (540) 231-6078
Email:  urban at vt.edu