Okay, so the first year of the Campus Climate Challenged is being wrapped up as I type this post. Yeah, it seems that its been more than a year, but that’s because you have been knee deep in the trenches kicking global warming pollution in the ass. Here is a quick recap of things that you collectively have helped to make happen. Mother Earth is breathing a little easier because of your efforts.
Feel free to add other successes in the comments. Or, even better, say what you are going to do to kick things up a notch or ten for year two.
* 251 presidents of colleges and universities have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Presidents signing the Commitment are pledging to eliminate their campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions over time. To read the pledge, visit http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/html/commitment.php. To see the list of signatories, visit http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/html/signatories.php.
* Students on over 575 college and high school campuses across the United States and Canada organized events January 29-February 2 calling for immediate solutions to deal with the potentially devastating impact of climate change caused by global warming. The demands were made as part of Rising to the Climate Challenge: Visions of Our Future, a week-long series of actions coordinated by the Campus Climate Challenge. The week of action coincided with the release of the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change report stating that man-made activities are a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. An estimated 50,000 students were reached during the week.
* Challenge partners organized 17 regional and state summits bringing together more than 1,200 students to participate in skills-building sessions, strategy discussions and community service projects. The summits took place in every region of the country.
* Student activists organized more than 120 community meetings and screenings of An Inconvenient Truth with members of Congress to discuss global warming solutions.
* More than 5,000 photos from young people across the U.S. were collected for the Campus Climate Challenge photo petition. Young people delivered the petition to members of Congress urging reductions in carbon emissions 80% by 2050. View the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/climatechallenge/.
* A new online advocacy community was launched to galvanize students around the Challenge. A groundbreaking effort in open-source organizing, the new site is a mash-up that combines advocacy tools with social networking functions to empower young activists to take effective action to cut global warming pollution on their campuses and in their communities.
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