Abram Katz

Register Science Editor

August 13, 2007

An avalanche of post cards, photo petitions and letters and a tempest of telephone calls finally convinced the president of Southern Connecticut State University to make the school carbon-neutral. It's a victory for the Environmental Futurists, a group of SCSU students who proposed the ambitious plan about six months ago.

And reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced by Southern's buildings and the cars of commuters might even help stave off a little bit of "global warming."

Cheryl Norton, president of SCSU, apparently agreed to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. She will become the 337th college president to sign, alphabetically between Douglas M. North, president of Alaska Pacific University, and Robert A. Oden Jr. president of Carleton College.

The statement reads in part, "Colleges and universities must exercise leadership in their communities throughout society by modeling ways to eliminate global warming emissions, and by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality."

"We met with the president and explained what we wanted, and that it is time to take action," said Colin Bennett, outreach coordinator for the Environmental Futurists and a graduate student at Southern.

At first, Norton said signing the document would be inappropriate, he said, but the outpouring of opinion against carbon at SCSU changed her mind.

Had the more sedate letters and signatures failed, the environmentalists might have escalated to sit-ins and protests, Bennett said.

The goal of the group is to reduce Southern's carbon dioxide emissions to zero. Meanwhile, the group wants to cut Southern's carbon footprint as much as possible.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero would be virtually impossible because students depend on electricity for lights, telephones and computers, and the buildings are heated with fossil fuels, Bennett said.

"We could use energy as efficiently as possible," he said, but not heating, cooling or illuminating unused rooms. Choice parking spots nearest the buildings and currently assigned to faculty could instead be reserved for car pools, hybrid cars, and other fuel-efficient vehicles, he said.

The campus could also install solar panels, and other sustainable energy sources. Greater use of bicycles by students, and improved shuttle service to Union Station would also ease emissions, he said.

Students in the state university system would pay $5 to $10 per semester into an envisioned sustainabilty fund, to be used to implement carbon cuts.

"We have all kinds of ideas. We will work with the university. Even if it takes 10 years, once we achieve carbon neutrality we'll be there for decades and decades," Bennett said.