Trump vs. Wippman: Presidential stances on sustainability
by Features Editors
This March, Michael Cox left the Environmental Protection Agency after more than 25 years of work. He departed with a biting letter directed at the Administration, particularly Scott Pruitt, President Trump’s appointee for EPA Administrator: “This is the first time I remember staff openly dismissing and mocking the environmental policies of an Administration and by extension you, the individual selected to implement the policies. The message we are hearing is that this Administration is working to dismantle EPA and its staff as quickly as possible.”
Almost a year later, Cox’s fears have come to fruition as Trump approaches the one year mark of his presidency. Trump’s administration has both enacted new policies with harmful environmental effects and reversed existing environmental protections. Those receiving the most attention include removing climate change from a list of national security threats, approving the Keystone XL Pipeline, scrapping the Clean Power Plan, and announcing that the United States will pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Beyond policy, the Administration continues to scrub government agency language of climate change diction. As it leaves agencies struggling to sustain employees, it imperils those agencies’ ability to carry out their duties.
Yet at the same time, college campuses can’t seem to get enough green. The past five years have seen rapid expansion of sustainability programs in colleges, ranging from academic expansions to full building plans dedicated to sustainable construction. Many of these tangible steps towards combating climate change are a product of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Signed by Hamilton President David Wippman, the pledge commits over 700 colleges and universities to eventual carbon neutrality.
The pledge consists of three parts: colleges commit to initiating a comprehensive plan to achieve carbon neutrality, enacting two or more “tangible action options” to reduce emissions while the comprehensive plan develops, and making all decisions transparent through reporting to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Brian Hansen, Hamilton’s Sustainability Director described some of the tangible actions Hamilton has pursued to reduce emissions. “How we build and renovate our spaces on campus is the major action we employ to reduce carbon emissions,” he said. “We consistently invest heavily on insulating our newest (and/ or) renovated buildings, and heating/cooling them in a way that maximizes efficiency.” Brian added that college carbon neutrality is a slow process that is completed in stages, which can make it difficult to notice for the casual campus observer.
Other sustainable ventures are easier to spot. University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Sheryl D. Breen looks at colleges’ environmental initiatives and noticed that they are quick to advertise campus sustainability whether through features on university websites, LEED certified buildings, or conspicuous alternative energy producers like wind turbines.
Though Breen appreciates these efforts, she worries that environmentalist campaigns may not be as effective on students as colleges make them out to be. Breen’s concerns are grounded in questions about “decorative sustainability’s” ability to instill ethical values upon students. Hamilton describes its students as future leaders of the world; however, does this mean that students are also effective stewards of the earth? An unfortunate example of decorative sustainability is the process of “offsetting” emissions, which means counting natural sequesters of carbon, like forests, as credit towards carbon neutrality.
Brian Hansen, along with the Hamilton Sustainability interns, Olivia Shehan ’18, Emma Karsten ’18, Nick Pace ’19, and Hayley Berliner ’19, have determined how to make specific improvements to the forested plots that will offset an additional 1,000 tons of carbon annually. This includes improving non-invasive recreational opportunities, protecting the plots from future development, and facilitating limited timber harvesting and invasive species removal to promote tree and forest health.
While useful, tangible actions do not represent all of Hamilton’s efforts towards sustainability. Victoria Blumenfeld ’16, a past sustainability intern, put together a report of suggestions that can point students towards more sustainable lifestyles. Blumenfeld gathered ideas from neighboring colleges, such as Colgate which offers environmental field resume workshops, Skidmore which offers composting in student apartments, and Union, which educates first years during orientation about how to live sustainability for the next four years. The purpose of these ideas is to encourage students to embrace sustainability not just as the physical world, but also as a foundational part of students’ morals. A sustainable lifestyle should have the same emphasis as traditional values like intellect, integrity, and active citizenship.
The initiatives at these other institutions demonstrate that sustainability is more than just an on-campus experience. Colleges expanding their environmental education programs show the greatest promise for students hoping to enter the fast-growing sustainable energy job market.
Trump’s efforts to remove facts about climate change from government websites, does not impact institutional policies around the nation. Institutions will only continue to embrace sustainability through teaching, building, and learning. Hamilton is one of many other institutions whose efforts towards sustainability implicate a larger goal. Like many other colleges, Hamilton aims to make sustainability a priority among student life, even after four years.
