Sustainability Expert Facilitates Discussion on Climate Neutrality

February 3, 2012

Dr. Peter Bardaglio
Lecture on Campus/Community Sustainability
2/9, 7 p.m. in Gates Recital Hall

Peter Bardaglio believes that college campuses can collaborate with their local communities to protect the climate.

His confidence comes from experience. Bardaglio is a member of the Senior Council of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and sits on the editorial board of Sustainability: The Journal of Record. He is a Higher Education Sustainability Fellow with the Society for College and University Planning and senior advisor to Second Nature, which supports senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just and sustainable living the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.

Bardaglio will share his knowledge in a free public lecture at West Chester University on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. in Gates Recital Hall, Swope Music Building. "Leadership by Example: Campus-Community Collaboration on Sustainability and Climate Protection" offers real-world solutions for campus and community members who are concerned about climate change.

West Chester University has already taken a number of steps toward climate sustainability, from installing energy-saving lighting and hand driers to its most visible initiative: connecting most of the North Campus buildings and a South Campus apartment complex to geothermal heating and cooling.

Several years ago, West Chester University enhanced its commitment to climate neutrality when president Greg Weisenstein joined more than 250 other university presidents in signing a promise with the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). The administrators pledged to create climate action plans and implement measures to achieve carbon neutrality for their individual institutions within a reasonable timeframe.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. About 500,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

Drawing from his long history in education, Bardaglio is able to effectively communicate why it is crucial for colleges to embrace sustainability in practice and in the curriculum.

A member of the Goucher College (Baltimore, Md.) history department for 19 years and an interim vice president and academic dean there, Bardaglio later served as provost and vice president of academic affairs from 2002 to 2007 at Ithaca College, where he helped to launch the college’s nationally recognized sustainability initiative.

In his advisory role with Second Nature, he notes, "Universities and colleges in the United States have historically been crucibles of social change and laboratories for new ideas and creative solutions to some of society’s toughest problems. … Campuses can only truly become sustainable if the communities around them are sustainable. … Implicit in the ACUPCC is the commitment to not only dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the university or college, but also collaborate with the larger community in doing so."

Co-author of Boldly Sustainable: Hope and Opportunity for Higher Education in the Age of Climate Change (2009), Bardaglio is also coordinator of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative, a collaborative effort in the Ithaca, N.Y., area to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. In addition, he is board vice chair of the New Roots Charter High School, an innovative secondary school that integrates sustainability and social justice across the curriculum, and on the executive committee of the Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming.

Bardaglio will continue his visit at West Chester with an all-day lecture and workshop series for the region’s educators on Friday, Feb. 10, when he discusses “Engaging Students by Integrating Sustainability into the Curriculum.” It will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Philips Autograph Library, Philips Memorial Building. Registration fee of $50 includes breakfast and lunch.

Information: Paul Morgan, WCU Sustainability Coordinator: pmorgan@wcupa.edu or 610-436-6945.