OUR GREEN FUTURE 2.0
EARTH WEEK 2023- OGF UPDATES
Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future: Town Hall
Tuesday, April 25th | 5-6 pm | Stoneman classroom, Murdough
Also available virtually at Zoom ID: 971 0802 5483, passcode 494775
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Dartmouth and the Upper Valley community are invited to our annual Earth Day panel organized by the Sustainability Office. This year, panelists will update the community on progress made in the past year toward achieving our campus wide carbon emissions goals and efforts to accelerate Dartmouth’s decarbonization. Panelists will also take questions from the public during a concluding Q&A session. Light refreshments will be served after the event.
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This event is sponsored by the Dartmouth Sustainability Office
Planning process
WHAT IS THE "OUR GREEN FUTURE REPORT?"
"President Hanlon has called on Dartmouth to play a leadership role in improving global sustainability and overcoming the challenges of climate change. The Sustainability Task Force has been charged with developing plans supportive of this goal. Although Dartmouth has substantially reduced campus energy use and made other significant advances over the last decade, we lag our peer institutions with respect to commitments, actions, and reporting in the sustainability domain.
The best available science indicates that, in order to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees centigrade, greenhouse gas emissions must be decreased by at least 80% by 2050. Our report recommends principles, standards, and commitments in the areas of energy, waste and materials, water, food, transportation, and landscape and ecology. Energy is the largest contributor to Dartmouth's greenhouse gas emissions and is also the area where prior analysis best positions us to take action. We believe that providing 50% of campus energy from renewable sources by 2025 and 100% by 2050 is feasible.
For campus operations other than energy, we recommend timelines for data gathering and goal-setting. Looking beyond campus operations, Dartmouth has opportunities to maximize our impact by initiatives involving integration of sustainability into our curriculum, out-of-classroom activities and research and scholarship. We believe that the tension between fiscal and operational constraints and sustainability imperatives is healthy. This tension focuses the tradeoffs and allows us to determine how we might gain the most benefit possible per unit of spending. Open discourse and continuous fine-tuning of our goals will allow our investments to produce the greatest possible impact, and enable us to build a model that can be sustained and replicated."
[From the Office of the President]
WHAT IS OUR PROCESS FOR UPDATING THE GOALS?
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5 years after the release of the original "Our Green Future Report," the College seeks to review and update the campus sustainability goals.
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The OGF 2.0 planning process was designed to identify common goals & values to build lasting buy-in across key stakeholder groups – bringing together staff in implementation roles, faculty with research knowledge, highly-involved students, and community members to create a plan that is led by vision, grounded in expertise, and supported by action.
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Through multiple rounds of facilitated sessions, the OGF Working Groups, made of members from across our campus and local community, will develop a set of draft recommendations for visions, goals, & strategies across seven major categories: waste, water, landscape & ecology, transportation, energy, food, and community. After several stages of review by the Advisory Group and key stakeholders, our campus will have new sustainability goals ready to enact.
GOAL FOCUS AREAS
WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS
CAMPUS LISTENING & LEARNING
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Parallel to the planning process, the campus community is invited to engage through multiple platforms that allow for a better understanding of the most common questions & concerns and provide opportunities for students/staff/faculty to learn more.
Missed our community forums? Catch up on the process by watching our video.
We'd also love to hear your suggestions and feedback along the way. You are invited to fill out our "Community Suggestion Box & Survey" at any point during the goal-setting process to let us know what YOU think.
