Final Project Report
THE GROUP FORMERLY
KNOWN AS THE CARBON
KILLAS’
& Their Efforts to Reach UM’s Carbon Action Plan
2015 Carbon Reduction Goal
Charles O’Bosky, Crystal Whitmore, Zachary Bauerle, Kaya Juda-Nelson, & James Lyon
ENST 476
Environmental Citizenship
Professor Robin Saha
Final Project Report
Abstract
In 2010, the University of Montana signed the Climate Action Plan (CAP) which calls for a 10% reduction
in 2007 carbon emissions by 2015, and carbon neutrality by 2020. With the 2015 reduction deadline
approaching, and no definitive action taken to further reduce the University’s carbon emissions, we, as
concerned students, sought to assist the University in meeting the goal stated in the Climate Action
Plan. Over the last few months we have gathered funds from a multitude of sources including students,
academic and non-academic departments, and the administration in order to purchase $20,000 of
carbon offsets, which would offset exactly 10% of 2007 emissions. Through collaboration with the ASUM
Sustainability Committee, The Sustainable Campus Committee, MontPIRG, and other sympathetic staff
and students, we were able to gather roughly $7,500. It is our hope that this project is continued in the
future in order to meet the 2015 reduction goal, and eventually carbon neutrality by 2020.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
1
Goals and Objectives
2
Accomplishments
3
Recommendations
4
Evaluation
4
References
5
Appendices
A) Graded Project Proposal Plan
7-18
B) Project Proposal Revisions
19-24
C) “Ask” Letter
25
D) Info Sheet
27-28
E) Email List Spreadsheet
29-32
F) Pledge Card
33
G) Offset Fund Account Index Number
33
H) Kaimin Article
35
I) Summary of Correspondences
37-38
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Introduction
With the signing of the Talloires Declaration, the University of Montana has been active on the issue of
sustainability for 12 years. As a result of this declaration, the Sustainable Campus Committee (SCC) was
created in 2002 and charged with the task of “identifying and recommending projects that move the
University towards sustainability…” and the SCC “will provide momentum and guidance to UM
administration, faculty, staff and students to achieve environmentally and socially responsible living”
(OS, 2011). As growing concerns about climate change gained momentum around the world, and
sustainability became an increasingly significant global issue, President George Dennison became one of
the first 100 charter signatories in 2007 of the American College and University Presidents Climate
Commitment (ACUPCC), pledging the University to reduce and eventually neutralize its greenhouse gas
emissions. A greenhouse gas emissions inventory was conducted on campus and reported that UM
emitted a total of 61,072MTeCO2 in 2007. To address the ACUPCC, the University of Montana published
the Climate Action Plan (CAP) in 2010, outlining how the University could increase sustainability on
campus and reduce its carbon emissions. UMCAP is an aggressive plan to achieve carbon neutrality on
campus by 2020, with an interim goal of a 10% carbon emission reduction below 2007 levels, by the year
2015. To reach these goals, the CAP focused on three approaches to reduce emissions on campus:
building energy efficiency and lighting retrofit projects, investment in a large-scale renewable energy
infrastructure, and the purchasing of carbon offsets to offset emissions that could not be reduced, such
as transportation (Peacock, 2010).
The campus community of University of Montana (UM) consists of around 15,000 students, 1,500 staff,
700 faculty, administrators and additional personnel (Rocke, Phear and Peacock, 2014). Our beautiful
campus is located at an elevation of 3,200 feet above sea level in the northern Rocky Mountains. Our
environment is expected to experience more intense drought and forest fire regimes, with more
unpredictability, because of climate change (Dalla Vicenza, 2012). Most campus community members
are likely to know this because our environmental education. The exact campus activities that
contribute the most to climate change however, may be less known. “The campus occupies 200 acres
with 64 buildings and a 25,200-seat football stadium” (UMa). Most of the carbon emissions we produce
are a result from the energy consumption of operating buildings. (Olsen, Finnegan and Mudler, 2013b).
Ideally we will shift to alternative energy and mitigate this sector of emissions. Reducing our carbon
emissions will reflect our community’s value of a healthy environment.
The political landscape of our community has three main parts; the Associated Students of the
University of Montana (ASUM), the student government on campus; the Department of Administration
& Finance, headed by Vice President Michael Reid; and President of the University, Royce Engstrom. In
the past few years ASUM has shown interest in the University’s state of sustainability and has passed
several resolutions that support climate change mitigation, particularly SB42-13/14. The Department of
Administration and Finance manages payroll, budgeting, and human resource services. Although
President Engstrom stated, “We aim to foster principles of sustainability within the culture of this
institution” (Houghton, 2013), the Administration has made little to no preparation towards the
purchasing of carbon offsets. In the past, President Engstrom showed support of climate change action;
however, after sponsoring a regional Power Shift conference in 2011, the University leaders have shied
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away from climate change events when an outcry from Montana conservative legislators criticized
Engstrom for going against Montana’s natural resources development. The University receives much of
its funding from the State and therefore, decisions makers like President Engstrom and Vice President
Reid must consider the political implications of investing in carbon offset projects.
Various attempts to invest in a biomass plant ended in community concerns about air quality, and offcampus wind energy resulted in the realization it was an extremely expensive up-front investment. At
the beginning of the semester, the University had reduced its emissions by 2% below 2007 levels, and it
seemed unlikely the 10% goal would be reached by 2015 (Deedy, 2013). After meeting with Eva Rocke,
ASUM Sustainability Coordinator, our group decided to tackle the challenge of raising funds for the
University to purchase carbon offsets which would allow them to reach their UMCAP 2015 goal.
Goals and Objectives
Our initial primary goal was to encourage members of our campus community to financially contribute
to climate change mitigation by purchasing enough carbon offsets to achieve our 2015 UMCAP goal. Our
primary goal has not changed. However, our group initially established secondary goals that have been
amended or abandoned as our campaign progressed. Originally, while brainstorming potential ways to
further engage the campus community in reaching the 2015 goal, one goal discussed was to set up a
faculty sustainability fee. Since $5,600 of our total funds raised came from the student sustainability fee
through a KRELF grant, our group felt it would be reasonable to have the faculty contribute to campus
sustainability as well. After further discussing this option with human resources and informally polling
faculty, we realized that, along with endless bureaucracy of setting up this type of optional payroll
deduction, there was limited support for a faculty sustainability fee and this goal was dropped from our
project. We then focused on three secondary goals that would contribute to the success of our primary
goal.
Our first goal was to institutionalize fundraising by establishing an account within the University that
would house the carbon offset funds and create the means through which departments wishing to make
a contribution could easily transfer funds. Our objective to achieve this goal was to meet with Rosi
Keller, the UM Accountant, and discuss the logistics of setting up the account. Keller conveyed the
simplicity of assigning an index number for this account, however, in an effort to minimize unnecessary
paperwork and ensure our request was authentic, she encouraged us to obtain $10,000 in contribution
commitments before she created the account.
Our second goal was to ask for contributions from the different departments on campus. There were
many objectives necessary for our group to achieve this goal. First, we had to create a list of possible
contributors. With help from Eva Rocke and Nicky Phear, we developed a list of sympathetic faculty
based on previous involvement with campus sustainability efforts. After speaking with some
sympathetic faculty such as Suzanne Tillman with the School of Business and Amy Ratto-Parks with the
English Department, we were advised to start our fundraising with Department Chairs. Therefore, our
next objective was to create a list of all department chairs including their name, title, and email address.
Our third objective was to create an “ask” letter that would be emailed to the department chairs. In
order to best prepare for meetings, our group members had to do further research on carbon offsets
and create an information sheet to briefly explain our project to potential donors. To research our offset
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purchasing options, we met with Brian Kerns, UM Energy Manager who has also worked as a carbon
offsets broker. After sending out emails to department chairs, our team then went to task scheduling
meetings with those who responded. Typically, these meetings were attended by no less than two group
members and department chairs were given an information sheet along with a pledge card in the event
a contribution was agreed upon. A final objective for this goal was to perform follow-up correspondence
with all department chairs, including thank-you letters to those who donated.
Our third goal was to ask the administration for a contribution that would essentially be equal to that of
the student contribution, or about $5,000. Our first objective to achieve this goal was to set up a
meeting with President Engstrom. After meeting with the President, we recognized Engstrom’s
hesitation as he expressed two major concerns. First, he communicated that, if the administration were
to make a contribution, the money could not come from the general fund. Second, the President
conveyed his lack of conviction that carbon offsets were a good way to spend the University’s money.
He then requested that a meeting be scheduled where Brian Kerns would do a presentation for the
President and his leadership team to clarify the issues concerning offset projects. Members of our team
met again with Brian Kerns to discuss and prepare for this presentation. Kerns exhibited enthusiasm at
the chance to talk with the President about carbon offset purchasing options and was more than willing
to be available for this meeting. We also discussed with Brian the possible purchase of Renewable
Energy Credits (REC) and possible investments in local projects. There are very few, if any, Montana
offset or REC projects that are third-party certified. A follow-up letter was sent to President Engstrom
requesting a second meeting be scheduled. Currently, there has been no response from Engstrom and
this objective needs further follow-up action if this goal is to be successful.
Accomplishments
Throughout the semester our group faced many challenges and, although we did not complete our
primary goal, this project has had many accomplishments and we hope to have many more as this
campaign is still a work in progress. To date, we have raised nearly $8,000 of the $20,000 funds needed
to reach the 2015 carbon reduction goal. This includes $5,600 student contribution through a KRELF
grant secured by a COIN group, $1,400 from the Athletic Department, $200 from EVST, $100 from
Geography Department, and $200 from Psychology Department. We hope to further receive a $5,000
donation from the Administration, and more recently, Mark LaParco from UM Dining Services pledged
$1,000 matched for every subsequent $1,000 raised, up to $4,000. Although Rosi Keller suggested
raising $10,000 before she created an offset fund account, she agreed that our group was determined to
see the project through and set up the account to house the current funds collected before the
semester ended.
Another accomplishment our group achieved was a media event covered by several local news stations
including KPAX and NPR. Our group was also featured in a Kaimin article about the University’s progress
towards the CAP 2015 goal.
Most importantly, our group sparked a conversion amongst University leaders regarding climate change
mitigation. Our team facilitated the communication necessary to get the campus community educated
and talking about the UMCAP. We contributed to the bridge that will hopefully close the gap between
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the Administration and UM’s Energy Manager, Brian Kerns. Overall, our campaign was a success and our
team looks forward to maintaining momentum and seeing the completion of this project.
Recommendations and Follow up
It is our recommendation that this report be sent to the ASUM sustainability office so that further action
can be resumed by the new Sustainability Coordinator. Many department chairs expressed an interest in
seeing leadership from the administration on this issue and therefore it is vital that the meeting with the
President, his Cabinet, and Brian Kerns takes place. Members of our group will attempt to facilitate this
meeting even though the semester and our official involvement in this project is over. Also, there were
several department chairs who showed interest in this project but were not met with before the end of
the semester. Future correspondence with these leaders would be beneficial to the completion and
success of this campaign.
Evaluation
Throughout the semester, our group was met by both successes and failures. Capitalizing on
accomplishments and learning from mistakes has been an inaugural aspect in our group dynamics.
Overcoming the logistical aspects of this project, such as contacting departments, creating a financial
account, and consistently engaging the administration represent only a few of our groups general
accomplishments. The source of our accomplishments started with excellent communication. In order to
complete our goals it was essential that we all maintained consistent contact with one another. Great
communication allowed us to schedule meetings with departments quickly and efficiently, and report
the content of those meetings back to the group.
The distribution of work for our project was also another successful aspect of our group dynamics. We
quickly found that it would be nearly impossible to complete all the necessary tasks for fundraising and
organization for offset purchasing, without efficient distribution of labor. Because of the time limitation
of a single semester project, we needed to complete tasks quickly, but more importantly, correctly. In
order to address both the speed and quality of our work, we would often distribute smaller tasks
individuals within the group instead of everyone working on one task simultaneously. After individual
work was completed, we would often peer edit and review their work through the google docs program.
This would allow for us to complete as many tasks as possible, while still ensuring quality through
detailed peer-editing.
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References
Dalla Vicenza, Sarah. 2012. "Forest Vulnerability to Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains Under Climate
Change." University of Lethbridge (Canada), Ann Arbor
(http://search.proquest.com/docview/1400010158?accountid=14593).
Deedy, Alexander. 2013. “Carbon crisis: Campus not on track to meet environmental goals” Montana
Kaimin, September 12th.
Eva Rocke, ASUM Office of Sustainability, personal communication, February 26th, 2014
Eva Rocke, Nicky Phear, Cherie Peacock, ASUM Office of Sustainability, personal
communication, March 5th, 2014
Houghton, Katheryn. 2013. “Enrollment down at UM – again” Montana Kaimin, March 5th.
Office of Sustainability (OS). 2011. “Greening UM” http://www.umt.edu/greeningum/ DOA: March 14th,
2014.
Olsen, Chris, Michaela Finnegan, and Alia Mulder. 2013. “University of Montana Carbon Offsets Use.”
Carbon Offset Initiative Network, University of Montana, Missoula.
Peacock, Cherie and Erica Bloom. 2010. “The University of Montana Climate Action Plan” (UMCAP).
http://www.umt.edu/greeningum/
Phear, Nicky, Eva Rocke and Harper Kaufman. 2013. “Data Summary from Spring 2013 Campus
Conversation” http://www.umt.edu/greeningum/Summary%20Report%20FINAL.pdf
University of Montana (UMa). “UM Facts” http://admissions.umt.edu/um-facts/ DOA: March 14th,
2014.
University of Montana (UMb). “UM Releases Greenhouse Gas Inventory”
http://www.umt.edu/stories/2008/10/greenhouse_gas_inventory.php DOA: March 14th, 2014.
University of Montana (UMc). “President Dennison Announces Campus Climate Action
Plan” http://www.umt.edu/stories/2010/04/climateactionplan.php
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