Indiana State University: Global Warming
Universities should combat global warming - 04/24/08
"Universities have an obligation to not only teach about climate change science, but also to work to mitigate their own affect on the environment, according to a climatologist who spoke at Indiana State University's Earth Day program "People look up to universities," said Brent Yarnal, professor of geography and director of the Center for Integrated Regional Assessment at Pennsylvania State University. "We have to put our money where our mouths are."
Yarnal spoke on "The Role of Universities in Climate Change Mitigation," during the Earth Day event that was funded by the Lilly Endowment and the College of Arts and Sciences. His research integrates climate change, natural hazards and land-use change and the use of environmental information in decision making. His current research focuses on greenhouse gas emissions inventories and planning their mitigation.
During his speech, Yarnal discussed evaluating Penn State's campus and that university's efforts to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Students conducted an emissions inventory studying what gases were emitted and how they were emitted.
Yarnal said 80 percent to 90 percent of the university's increase is energy costs. They have begun to decrease the emissions by buying 20 percent of the university's needs from alternative energy sources.
