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UW hypocritically neglects climate

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by Letters to the Editor

Friday, February 23, 2007

The University of Wisconsin-Madison lauds its self-proclaimed progressive tradition. UW's "Wisconsin Idea," set forth in 1904, holds that the boundaries of the university should be the boundaries of the state, and that the research conducted at UW should be applied to solve problems and improve health, quality of life, the environment, and agriculture for all citizens of the state. Our failure to sign the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment proposal proves hypocritical to a university with such lofty goals of progress.

The Presidents' Climate Commitment, as mentioned in Tuesday's article by Cassie Kornblau, provides an excellent opportunity for UW-Madison to suit up in the ranks as a national forerunner in environmental university policy. The agreement pledges a real dedication to the unique responsibility that colleges and universities have to serve as role models for their communities and in training the people who will develop the social, economic and technological solutions to reverse global warming.

The Commitment aims to obtain at least 200 presidents' signatures by June of 2007 and 1,000 by September of 2009, all of whom will commit to moving towards a climate neutral campus. Madison's opportunity to become a charter member is the chance to boldly voice our national leadership on global warming and hold true to our Wisconsin Idea. A list of signatures will be released on March 1st to over 4,000 higher education institutions. I urge Madison students, faculty, legislators, and citizens to demand UW-Madison and Chancellor Wiley to be among this elite group.

Modeled after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the Presidents' Climate Commitment would require their signers to make consistent and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately leading to climate neutral campuses. While each approach is unique, UW-Madison has several ways in which to improve. While I applaud the university's efforts to conserve energy with its "We Conserve" program, key problems still exist. These include building inefficiencies such as overheating dorms to the point where students must open windows during winter, using non-biodegradable products such as Styrofoam in campus eateries, failure to switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs campus-wide, no plan to phase out our coal power plants, and the fact that students are not fully aware of the environmental implications of their everyday actions. In addition, I ask as part of signing the Presidents' Climate Commitment the university commits to have all future campus buildings to be green (LEED certified).

There are student efforts to make this campus sustainable. Currently WISPIRG's Big Red Go Green campaign is gathering support for the Presidents' Climate Commitment and the upcoming Midwest Student Clean Energy Conference March 2-4 in Madison promises to spur this movement. I urge students to join these efforts to convince UW-Madison to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment.

Joe Silberschmidt (silberschmid@wisc.edu)

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Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 7:48am):

The old caol plant should have been replaced with a pebble bed nuclear power plant. That would make a possitive difference in CO2 output.

Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 1:02pm):

It's useful as well to look at other UW schools within the state. UW-Stevens Point, for instance, has a few dorms that are completely solar powered. It appauls me that UW-Madison has never taken lead on these sorts of ideas. We are one of the largest research-based institutions and known for being politically and socially progressive, we could be a leader even among Big Ten Schools by making these choices.

Great article!

Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 2:37pm):

We don't need any more new "green buildings." Why is there a desire to build new buildings to replace perfectly good ones every 5 years? The university is propagating blind consumerism.

Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 4:39pm):

I don't think this is a call to build more buildings. It seems to me that Joe just wants new buildings that are going to be built either way to be green.

Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 7:35pm):

Solar powered? I beg to differ unless no one uses power in the place (and where are they going to bury all those lead acid batteries needed to store power when the sun is not out.

I could believe a solar HEATED dorm, that would be quite doable. Solar for power (electricity) is a bad thing for many reasons, solar for heating on the other hand makes great sense.

Anonymous (February 23, 2007 @ 8:17pm):

At UWSP, one dorm uses solar panels to heat water (the best use for solar), NOT produce electricity. There is a huge difference.

http://www.uwsp.edu/news/pr/tmKnutzenGoesSolar.htm

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