Boston College Office of Sustainability
Fall 2015
BC Green
The Official Newsletter of the
Office of Sustainability
An Energy Pledge Jake Miller ‘16
Pumpkin painting, apple picking, bunny
burritos in the O’Neill quad – not only are these
surefire signs of Fall, but they are also definitive
symbols of EcoPledge’s Harvest Fest at Boston
College. Contrary to what you may think, though,
EcoPledge does far more on campus than simply
deliver soft farm animals into the hands of students.
With the fall semester of 2015 came a
reshuffling of priorities for EcoPledge. After
consecutive years of only moderate success in
changing the food sustainability scene of Chestnut
Hill, it became time for the club to aim elsewhere.
Under the leadership of President Liza
DeGenring,’16, BC’s student-run sustainability
organization shifted its gaze toward improving
campus-wide energy efficiency.
The newly formed Campaign Committee
has narrowed its fall semester scope to increasing
energy usage awareness in residential buildings. If
not already, then you will soon be seeing the fruits
of their labor in dorms across campus.
Holding steadfast to its conservationist
roots, EcoPledge’s Campaign Committee has
chosen what it deems to be the most efficient means
of educating as many student as possible in
its outreach push. Canvassing light switches across
campus with the Sustainability Department’s “Turn
Off The Lights, BConserves” stickers, developing
informational bulletin boards for dorm hallways in
coordination with Resident Assistants, and even
rolling out an inter-club intervention program to
teach students about sustainability are all on the
Campaign Committee’s agenda for the rest of this
semester and into the next.
EcoPledge and its Campaign Committee
want to enact real change on campus by educating
students about the impact of their lifestyles and
how easy it is to conserve energy, produce less
waste, and promote environmental health with
almost no additional effort required. If Boston
College really is a school of men and women for
others, then students should see the importance of
sustainability and how it is far more than a smallscale solution to a much larger issue.
Be sure to like EcoPledge of Boston College on
Facebook and do not hesitate to contact
ecopledge@gmail.com if you are interested in joining!
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Office of Sustainability
COP21 in Paris
Liza DeGenring ‘16
COP21 is a United Nation’s climate
conference being held in Paris in December 2015
where leaders from around the world will convene.
The conference aims to reach a new universal
climate change agreement that will “put the world
firmly on track to a low-carbon, sustainable future
that keeps a global temperature rise under 2 degrees
C” (UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change). The UNFCCC has 196 Parties, a near
universal membership, all of whom will be
attending the COP21 conference. After the release
of the Pope’s Encyclical and in preparation for the
conference, many countries have started to set new
emission standards. China, the world’s largest
emitter of carbon dioxide, has already pledged that
their emissions would peak around 2030 and have
decided to introduce a national cap-and-trade
system in 2017. On a September visit to the United
States, the Chinese president announced that they
would commit $3.1 billion in climate finances for
developing countries; signaling their leadership role
in COP21 and their commitment in helping the
developing world mitigate and adapt to climate
change. These commitments come in stark contrast
with those coming from the US, the largest emitter
of carbon dioxide on a per person basis. The United
States has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions economy-wide by 26-28% by 2025, a
Fall 2015
rather ambitious
goal for a departing
President.
The
United
States
pledged $3 billion to
be given to the
Green
Climate
Fund, a UN body
designed to help
provide
funding
from
developed to developing countries. It has been
projected that in order to keep developing countries
from following the industrialized track dependent
on fossil fuels, developed countries would need to
pledge over $100 billion. On October 30, the
United Nations released a report saying that over
140 countries have submitted their national climate
actions plans ahead of the Paris talks, covering 86%
of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the
United Nations has confirmed that while these
plans could make a serious dent in the emissions, it
would not be enough to maintain a rise in global
temperature below 2°C. While COP21 seeks to
bring countries together in a unified climate change
agreement, it is urgent that more than just promises
are made. Serious action needs to take place if we
are to prevent the global temperature from rising
over 2°C and changing life on our planet as we
know it.
A Focus Outside of Divestment Fitz McGowan ‘16
On November 4th, Obama turned down
Transcanada Corp’s motion to delay review of the
Keystone XL pipeline, a controversial project that
would cost 10 billion dollars to carry oil and tar
sands from Alberta, Canada and cross six states
to Steele City Nebraska, and further down to
Texas to be refined. Less than a week later
Obama came to a controversial decision on the
matter before the end of his term, an issue vice
president Biden and Secretary of State Kerry have
openly criticized within his administration. He
ultimately decided to veto the XL pipeline.
Why it matters:
When the pipeline was initially proposed,
it gained popular appeal by promising it would
create jobs and bolster the economy with minimal
environmental side effects. Once the real risks of
the pipeline became known, especially that the
risks far outweighed the benefits, climate action
groups came together to stand against
Transcanada to fight for those who would be
exploited through the invasion and pollution of
our land. Last year, I joined the movement
through Climate Justice@Boston College to
protest Keystone XL in Washington D.C. as over
300 people chained themselves to the White
House fence in a supreme show of nonviolent
civil disobedience. The most important reforms to
law in American history have occurred through
Ø Continued on pg. 3
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Office of Sustainability
Fall 2015
people power (e.g. civil rights, gay marriage), and
that energy must now be focused on America’s next
greatest challenge: climate change. Uniting with
similar interest groups during the rally empowered
us to win an improbable victory over fossil fuel
conglomerates, just as we are working to divest
from fossil fuel companies here at BC. Obama’s
decision highlights one important theme: People
Power Works! We must continue to advocate for
environmentalism, and never give up in the face of
influential fossil fuel lobbyists that hold profits in
higher priority than the lives of their neighbors.
Without assertive measures from the people
themselves that amplify the message, legislation
will never reflect the changes we truly desire, so let
your voice be heard!
Bringing Composting
to the Dorms
Delia Ridge Creamer ‘16
EcoPledge members
tabling about student
energy use at Harvest
Fest 2015.
Boston College
students meeting with
Cardinal Turkson to
discuss the
implications of
Laudato Si’ on BC
campus and beyond.
In October the Office of
Sustainability launched a pilotcomposting program in the
sustainability wing of Edmonds
Hall. The program seeks to
decrease food waste on campus and
increase overall education about
composting in the BC community.
The sustainable living and learning
floor is an applicant-based program
for sophomores interested in
environmental issues who want
sustainability to be a larer part of
their life at BC. “By starting the
program on the sustainability floor,
we are engaging with interested
and passionate students about
composting with the hopes that
they can carry their passion to
other parts of campus”, says Liza
DeGenring (‘16). While BC’s
overall composting rates have been
steadily increasing, composting is
relatively limited on campus
outside of the dining halls. Only
dining service employees access it
and BC students are largely
removed from the actual act of
composting, even if it is their own
excess food that is being
composted.
Our two main goals for
enacting this composting program
are to educate students and to
decrease food waste on campus.
Each quad on the floor was given a
small compost bin for their kitchen
area, along with compostable bags
for the bins. They were also given a
presentation
and
informative
pamphlets on what is or is not
compostable. We began this
program with the hope that they
will compost weekly, and their
average trash will decrease. Save
That
Stuff
is
the
waste
management company BC uses for
its composting needs. There, the
compost is processed at a local
farm and the final product is sold
with proceeds supporting youth
arts and medical research. After
two weeks of the program
participants
responded
with
positive feedback! A survey found
that 66% of participants said they
compost every day, with the other
33% composting when they
remember to. 100 % of participants
noticed a decrease in their trash as
result from their composting.
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Office of Sustainability
Fall 2015
Carbon Charge El Hadj Dieng ‘18
This article shares some
highlights from a White Paper
on “Internal Carbon Accounting
at a Small Liberal Arts College”
published by Vassar College.
The paper outlines different
theories and strategies for
implementing a carbon charge
in a college or university. The
goal of a carbon charge in a
higher education institution is to
increase personal accountability
on campus. Colleges and
universities produce a great deal
of carbon emissions but never
truly see the result of their
environmental impact. Poorer
communities often suffer the
effects from the damage done to
their environment by the
emissions
from
college
campuses, factories and other
institutions in the developed
world. A carbon charge seeks to
change the “Business as usual”
mentality and come to terms
with long term environmental
impacts - such as land
degradation, threat to human
health, flood risk, and increased
energy consumption. Scientists
call this the Social Cost of
Carbon, which is measured in
metric tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent (MTCDE). .
The money from a
carbon charge is to be set aside
for implementing sustainable
projects
around
campus
eventually leading a goal of
carbon neutrality. The paper
notes some major impediments
in
implementing
sustainable
change. One of the more notable
obstacles is labeled “the principal
agent problem.” This problem
“describes the fact that those
asking for action are not the ones
necessarily who carry out that
action.”
The more obvious obstacle
when instituting sustainability
projects is capital. Often the
sustainable projects such as a solar
energy system require a significant
amount of initial capital. Although
many studies confirm that these
capital investments will not only
pay for themselves, but will also
save money; many institutions are
still hesitant on the investment.
Yale is attempting to
conquer the obstacle of initial
capital with their redistributive
charge strategy being piloted this
fiscal year. This plan is designed to
charge more to underperforming
departments and then redistribute
those charges as rebates for the
departments that are exceeding in
reducing carbon emissions. The
redistributive charge uses a
baseline of average carbon
emissions reduced in the school
and compare them to the
emissions
reduced
in
each
administrative department. The
tax and rebate system would
ideally promote a “revenue
neutral” charge as it is not drawing
from a central fund. This system
would also encourage personal
accountability, as departments
would be paying or receiving funds
Game day
ambassadors
helping BC
campus recycle!
Climate Justice
coordination team
members at a
weekly meeting.
based on their emissions.
This innovative and
radical idea deserves a close
watch to see what impact it can
have on an institution’s carbon
footprint.
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