Southern Miss President Signs American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment

HATTIESBURG, Miss.  - University of Southern Mississippi President Martha Saunders today signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a nationwide initiative of college and university presidents and chancellors dedicated to counteracting climate change by taking steps to make their campuses climate neutral.

"We will think ecologically with a commitment to actions that reduce, reuse and recycle. Our buildings will be designed with the environment in mind. Our physical plant will re-think operations to minimize our environmental footprint," Dr. Saunders told an audience at a campus Earth Day event. "Good for the environment yes, but these actions will mean bottom line savings."

By signing the commitment, Saunders is committing the university to completing an emissions inventory, setting milestones for becoming climate neutral, taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and integrating sustainability into the curriculum.

Several Southern Miss sustainability initiatives are already underway.

Over the past year Southern Miss officials began work on a new strategic plan, and as a result, identified creating a culture of healthy minds, bodies and campuses as one of four areas of strategic emphasis. This area, said Saunders, is important because "it enables us to put the full force of the university community behind the tenets of sustainability."
 
In addition, the university has established a 25-member committee as a sustainability initiative and pilot program in the Student Affairs area. Co-chaired by John Byxbe and Larry Lee, the group is looking at how to incorporate sustainability efforts throughout all aspects of the university, including recycling, educational practices, facilities and consumption.

"The university has a great opportunity here," said Lee, contracts manager for Student Affairs. "Southern Miss will be the leader in sustainability in South Mississippi. We will be the example that everyone else follows."

A new residence hall for the Hattiesburg campus is in the planning stage and when completed will be the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified residence hall in Mississippi. The LEED Green Building Rating System™ is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The LEED certification is an initiative of the U.S. Green Building Council. To learn more, online visit www.usgbc.org.

The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment is a high-visibility initiative to make campuses more sustainable and address global warming by garnering institutional commitments to reduce and ultimately neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on campuses.

Organizers of the initiative also believe America's higher education community can play a major role in addressing climate change through leadership in research and education. The effort has been developed and is being coordinated and supported by Second Nature, ecoAmerica and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. To learn more, online visit www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org.

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