Cape Cod Community College Praised for Sustainability & Carbon Neutrality Efforts

The National Wildlife Federation Repeatedly Cites Cape Cod Community College’s Efforts to Promote Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality

The National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Campus Ecology program repeatedly cites Cape Cod Community College’s efforts in environmental management and sustainability in its just released 60-page report titled: Higher Education In A Warming World: The Business Case for Climate Leadership On Campus.  This exhaustive look at the best in higher education’s response to global warming includes multiple references to the work of the College among examples from more than 100 campuses from 32 states.

Cape Cod Community College’s leadership was noted in three areas:

• it’s commitment to renewable energy through its installation of solar panels throughout the campus and its use of rechargeable electric vehicles by its Facilities Management department;
• its commitment to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards for campus building/renovation projects and its opening of the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building, the Commonwealth’s first LEED Certified building constructed with state funds;
• and its overall commitment to sustainability and reduction of green house gas emissions as noted in its National Wildlife Federation “Chill Out” competition entry for 2007 – outlining the wide variety of environmentally important management choices made by the College over the past year. 

As the world confronts global warming, the NWF’s report illustrates the many ways colleges and universities are making significant and essential cuts in CO2 emissions while reaping financial, educational and other benefits. Locally, Cape Cod Community College’s efforts have: made major reductions in its water use and the resulting processing of wastewater; returned 80% of what had been intensively managed and mowed landscape to natural meadow, eliminating large amounts of  environmentally damaging fertilization and repeated mowing; and increased the amount of electricity gained from renewable energy sources by continuing to add solar panels on campus and moving forward with plans to erect a wind turbine.

According to Julian Keniry, Director of Campus and Community Leadership for the National Wildlife Federation, the College’s efforts joined with over 100 institutions around the country in this year’s “Chill Out” competition to model, “exactly what the science says should be done, (and they) are well on the pathway to climate neutrality before mid-century.”

The complete Business Case for Climate Leadership On Campus report can be found at: http://www.nwf.org/CampusEcology/BusinessCase. Visit the National Wildlife Federation's website here.  Visit Cape Cod Community College's website here.

Release courtesy of Cape Cod Community College.