Lafayette College has implemented the Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0 to help mitigate its contribution to carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Lafayette College is seeking to address the problems we all face with climate change in implementing different sustainable solutions on campus to mitigate those effects. Climate change is a crisis that “does not respect national boundaries… nor does it care about public opinion” (Paul Hardisty, Sivapalan, & Brooks, 2011, n.p.); therefore, Lafayette College is taking the initiative with the CAP to set an example that solutions can be implemented and tested at the campus level. More specifically, with Lafayette College taking action to redesign its initial CAP, it opens the opportunity for groups on campus and others to implement sustainable solutions that will help us reach carbon neutrality by 2035. Having the CAP pushes Lafayette College to implement different solutions, such as CCS at Metzgar Field, and model the different ways communities and schools can implement sustainable solutions at a more local scale.
There are many ways communities, schools, organizations, etc., that can get involved in learning more about sustainable practices and technologies that can help with improving the environment and ensuring there is a habitable world for future generations. Also, people who have the resources and are knowledgeable on the issues surrounding climate change and possible solutions to this can help motivate others in implementing technological, political, and social fixes, which Lafayette College is going through with the CAP 2.0. It is crucial to understand, though, the importance of why the Lafayette College community has enacted this plan; they have also recognized that we, as citizens of the world, are facing a global climate crisis. There has been an increase in social responsibility driving people to take action in decreasing carbon emissions because of the adverse effects of climate change and variability in weather experienced in the United States (IPCC, 2007, n.p.). It is also clear that anthropogenic activities have been exacerbating the effects of climate change, so it is everyone’s responsibility to make changes that can benefit not only themselves but the people surrounding them and their environments (IPCC, 2013, n.p.). Even focusing specifically on communities that live in poverty and do not have access to resources that can help them mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, they are disproportionately affected by these effects. Some communities live in poverty and lack the resources to help them implement sustainable solutions that can help improve some of the impacts of climate change. Therefore, in researching and establishing sustainable solutions in Lafayette College, it can help communities understand what the most feasible solutions are that can help communities at risk of facing more significant effects of climate change. Lafayette College is experiencing a shift in practices and research working towards implementing different solutions that can help reach the CAP’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2035.
Within the United States, some numerous industries and institutions are making moves to reduce their carbon footprint. Over the past decade, colleges and universities throughout the country have developed their plans to combat the growing issue of climate change. This dramatic increase in involvement is linked to the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The ACUPCC originated in 2007 when 152 college and university presidents agreed to work towards carbon neutrality within their institution, which further increased by 525 schools by 2014 (Sirianni, P., & O’hara, M., 2014, p. 503). The success of each institution has varied, often dependent on the goals set and the funding they were willing to contribute (Sirianni, P., & O’hara, M., 2014, p. 517). By analyzing the shortcomings and successes of various institutions, as well as considering the ever-increasing research, it will be possible for colleges to develop more effective plans of action. Colleges who have implemented different solutions towards mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change are especially influential and serve as a crucial stepping stone for Lafayette College to follow.
Using these past cases, Lafayette will be able to understand what solutions are the most feasible for its size and characteristics and pursue the end goal of carbon neutrality by 2035. Specific schools, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is working towards integrating sustainability practices and knowledge across their whole school, from students to partners, in which “education, research and innovation [are] on [their] campus” (“MIT Sustainability,” 2019, n.p.). Some of the methods MIT has introduced and implemented on their campus focus on community engagement and ensuring people are part of this experience. Their school focuses on five different scales, which include sustainable campus systems, leadership and capacity, building, urban living laboratory, collaborative partnerships, and you. These specific sectors come from MITs, MITOS Strategy framework which is broken down into four different areas of responsibility, which “MITOS inspires and enables the continuous generation of breakthrough sustainability solutions to transform for campus, city and globe” (“MIT Sustainability” 2019, n.p.). MIT has taken into consideration many of the aspects focused on these projects, which include the partnership with communities and creating collaborative space between people. Another college that has been working towards being more sustainable practices and solutions is St. Olaf College, located in Minnesota. St. Olaf has Sustainability Principles, which focuses on many ideas such as educating students on sustainability, “restor[ing] natural landscapes for both practical and aesthetic reasons,” and “explor[ing] the spirit of nature in religious study and practice.” For example, St. Olaf College already has existing natural areas that are responsible for absorbing carbon, including both agricultural and forest lands (Natural Lands, 2019, n.p.). Still, it has also used reforestation techniques to increase carbon absorption. In the area referred to as the “Big Woods”, St. Olaf has planted “over 40,000 tree seedlings and nursery stock trees…over 90 acres of woodland habitat” in addition to seven acres of coniferous forest throughout its forest restoration attempts (Restored Woodlands, 2019, n.p.). In a study conducted by a St. Olaf student, the biotic carbon sequestration abilities of natural forest on campus, Norway Valley, is compared between the years of 2012 to 2014. The techniques used so far with St. Olaf’s are the closest to what we propose for Lafayette’s CAP. As seen in the above cases, smaller schools are entirely capable of implementing natural carbon capture methods. Therefore, this shows that Lafayette College can implement solutions in the community that will allow for an educational purpose use of the Metzgar Field in implementing CCS.
Lafayette College designed the CAP to create the most efficient campus by implementing sustainable solutions by engaging the Lafayette community in hopes of encouraging students, communities, and other schools the process of becoming a carbon-neutral college (2019 Climate Action Plan, 2019, n.p.). The effects of climate change are a wakeup call to many and Lafayette College is using it as an opportunity to “use [the] campus as a living laboratory that enables transformational learning experiences for students and teaches them to live within environmental bounds” (2019 Climate Action Plan, 2019, p. 3). Furthermore, many organizations on campus are student-led, focusing on sustainability and educating the community on different topics such as sustainable living tips, how to recycle and what are common misconceptions, food justice topics, and more. Some of the organizations that had a considerable contribution towards pushing implementing the CAP are the following: ECOreps, Lafayette Food and Farm Cooperative (LaFFCo), Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP), and the Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES) (2019 Climate Action Plan, 2019, p. 10). Not only are student organizations taking charge of helping with the CAP, but there are also faculty and staff that have been researching ways that Lafayette College can implement different solutions that will the campus reach carbon neutrality by the year 2035. It is an incredibly perfect opportunity for Lafayette College to model the implementation of sustainable fixes to help mitigate the effects of climate change and help understand the implementation process to help reach carbon neutrality at a college.
Lafayette College has many opportunities to meet the CAP goal by 2035. The CAP describes the different ways the college can reach carbon neutrality, which include transforming campus heat and hot water generation, installation of HVAC systems, improving transportation, and many others mentioned in the CAP. One of the other methods that can help Lafayette College reach carbon neutrality is the technological solution of CCS. There are many benefits when it comes to implementing CCS, especially when considering it will be a new technical method Lafayette College will implement. Lafayette College will be using the 125 acres of land at the Metzgar Field to implement CCS solutions, specifically reforestation, which we will mention in the upcoming sections. The goal is to implement CCS at Metzgar Field, which will help in opening up the opportunity in community engagement and allowing this project to be an educational experience for students at Lafayette College. Having the chance to implement CCS at Lafayette College and using it as a teaching tool can help push towards educating people about climate change, its effects, and the solutions that can help in mitigating and adapting to those effects. The groups focusing on sustainability, and classes willing to take part in this opportunity, can have the chance to take part in implementing CCS, learn how it is beneficial towards the environment, and learn how it will benefit everyone in the long run. However, one of the constraints is that there is not enough research on CCS because it is such a new technological solution towards capturing and storing carbon and findings ways that it will be the most effective and economically feasible (Markusson et al., 2012, n.p.). Other countries such as Norway have extensive research on CCS engagement, which has benefited them; however, because of the scope we are working with, Lafayette College falls under a more local based model in implementing CCS solutions. Because Lafayette College has taken the initiative to focus on finding solutions to reach carbon neutrality, it shows that the Lafayette community is active and wants to make a change towards improving our environment and ensuring there is a habitable planet for future generations.
Lafayette’s presence in the Easton community and partnership with other colleges in different sectors will help set a standard for communities and colleges to follow and implement solutions that can help improve their carbon footprint. Using Metzgar Field as a model that Lafayette College can use CCS as one of the many options for reaching carbon neutrality can help motivate others to use CCS as a solution towards storing carbon. CCS, however, is not the only solution towards assisting Lafayette in reaching carbon neutrality by 2035, especially in considering its carbon footprint, which we will mention in the upcoming sections. Some of the solutions that help reduce carbon emissions are through the “land-use changes (forest clearing and agricultural practices), building design and operation, transport, and notable electrical power generation” (Paul Hardisty, Sivapalan, & Brooks, 2011, n.p.). Most of these other solutions are already being planned out by other capstone groups and Lafayette College, so this puts the campus in a better position towards reaching carbon neutrality. Also, there are contributions towards reducing GHGs by other countries. Still, much of this information cannot be compared to because “on a global scale, the tangible effects of actions taken to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases… have been minimal” (Paul Hardisty, Sivapalan, & Brooks, 2011, n.p.). Implementing CCS solutions at Lafayette College can help in many ways, especially in reaching carbon neutrality at the Metzgar Athletics Complex first and modeling in a form that others can potentially follow. Doing so will also help understand what the most effective ways are to implement sustainable solutions on a more local level rather than at the industrial scale. Even though CCS is a small portion of the resolution, there are many other ways the college is participating in reducing their carbon footprint.
There is now a lot more awareness in the issues surrounding climate change and research on how the implementation of different possible solutions work in different communities, industries, schools, and others. Mainly, this can help in allowing people to learn more about the effects of climate change and how they can implement individual solutions in their households or whatever they represent, which works towards engaging communities in implementing sustainable solutions. Lafayette College can follow previous plans implemented by other colleges that can help reach its goal of carbon neutrality.
In our next section, we get into more specifics regarding who are the political actors to either help or constraint the project from moving forward in the implementation of CCS at Lafayette College. Also, it gets to specific policies that must be considered when implementing this project in the future, which you can access here.