Now that the University has announced plans to reduce its carbon emissions, the Undergraduate Council of Students is looking for other ways to make Brown green.
Along with setting greenhouse gas reduction goals to 42 percent below current levels by 2020, the University has begun to take further steps toward environmental progress, UCS President Michael Glassman '09 told The Herald. UCS advocated for the emissions reduction goal, Glassman added in an e-mail to The Herald.
The University will also work with UCS and other students and faculty to hold a "Brown is Green" conference in late April, said Lauren Kolodny '08, UCS vice president. The conference aims to "start a dialogue" between campus groups working for environmental change, Kolodny said.
Co-coordinator Dan MacCombie '08.5, said the idea for "Brown is Green" sprang from a meeting with Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president, and several faculty members and students to discuss opportunities for uniting environmental activist groups on campus.
The conference coordinators are hoping to enlist the help of Ira Magaziner '69 P'06 P'07 P'10, who works as the chairman of the Clinton Foundation Policy Board and with the Clinton Global Initiative, "offering recommendations to governments as to how to make green changes," Kolodny said.
Glassman said Magaziner expressed interest in visiting the University during the semester to speak with students and make suggestions as to how Brown can help fight climate change and create more green initiatives.
Along with keynote speakers in areas such as architecture and politics, the conference coordinators hope to bring in researchers and activists from around Providence, Glassman said. There will also be panels and more "interactive" events run by students from a wide range of concentrations, Kolodny said.
The green issue is "really good for fostering community," Kolodny said. "A lot of people can get behind it."
Organizers are "hoping to generate awareness and enthusiasm, not only at Brown but with local policymakers," Kolodny added.
UCS is also working with Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown, a pilot program funded by a $150,000 allocation from the president's office and a $200,000 donation from the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Glassman said. The program seeks to make Brown carbon-neutral by allowing the University to pay and receive carbon offset credit for projects that would reduce carbon emissions in Providence, he said.
Because University officials "can only reduce Brown's carbon emission to a certain point," Glassman said, they came up with a solution that would develop Providence-based green activist projects run by students and faculty.
For instance, the plan would have Brown students distribute and install compact phosphorescent light bulbs to low-income households in Providence, Glassman said. The bulbs, which cost almost 10 times as much as regular bulbs, would reduce carbon emissions and cut household electricity bills by $100 to $300 a year, he said.
Though local residents would keep the money they saved on electricity, Brown would "keep the credit" for the carbon emission reductions, he said.
UCS, along with the other student activists, has been working with President Ruth Simmons' office on the environmental initiatives, Glassman said. "They've been terrific," he said of the president's staff. "They're really supportive."
As the University and UCS move toward establishing more environmentally friendly policies, MacCombie, a student organizer, said he can sense the change.
"It kind of feels at Brown right now like we're on the verge of consciousness about this issue," MacCombie said. "We're college students, so we often operate on the assumption that we have to wait until we graduate (to start working on these issues). While we're here, we have such a great opportunity."
