Focusing on a Healthy Environment

UConn is putting the focus on a healthy environment with CIMA, a week-long celebration of environmental responsibility that begins March 26.

Icebergs melting.

Icebergs melting.

CIMA logo.UConn’s commitment to a healthy environment is being showcased in a series of on-campus events called Climate Impact, Mitigation, and Adaptation (CIMA): A Reflection on Our Future.

Beginning with an opening ceremony on Monday, March 26, at which President Susan Herbst will deliver greetings and sign an updated commitment that expands upon the University’s current Climate Action Plan (CAP), through to the Teale Lecture on Thursday, March 29, where noted climate activist Michael Mann will speak, CIMA events include activities for faculty, staff, students, and members of the greater-Mansfield community.

“The original Climate Action Plan was developed through the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and it gave us a great start,” says Richard Miller, director of the Office of Environmental Policy, “but its focus is on mitigating the effects of climate change. We’ve made significant strides in that respect here at UConn, but on a broader level it’s possible we are not going to see the progress we’d like in terms of greenhouse gas mitigation and carbon footprint reduction.

Miller says the University has added a section on adaptation to the Climate Action Plan that speaks to UConn’s ongoing efforts at being a resource – through academic departments, the Department of Extension’s outreach efforts, and various centers and institutes – to help provide a better response to environmental challenges and make the University’s resources available to local and state governmental agencies, citizen groups, and others who can benefit.

The events that will take place during the week have been developed by an ad hoc committee that, in the words of Greg Anderson, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology, “grew out of a gathering of like-minded friends who share an interest in protecting the environment.”

He says the effort started over coffee at the Up & Atom café last summer, when George Rawitscher, emeritus professor of physics, said he wanted to do something that would engage our new president – as well as the whole university – in an awareness of the effects of climate change.

“Our efforts just grew,” Anderson says, “and before we knew it, a committee was formed that included people from all areas of the University who are interested in the environment. We have the full support of the administration, and we’ve had a great response from both within and outside the University.”

Among those participating in Monday’s event will be visiting distinguished research professor and newly appointed environmental advisor to President Herbst, Gene Likens, who will speak about UConn’s sustainability footprint.

Likens, a veteran of the climate debate, says, “In today’s political climate, it’s easy to get frustrated and pessimistic. We’ve become a fractious society where people aren’t willing to listen to anyone else’s ideas. But I’m very excited about CIMA, because it is a grassroots effort and it’s a chance for UConn to lead the way in examining an important subject by fostering intelligent dialogue.”

Although a recently released study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology indicates that today’s young people – the ‘millennials’ in popular parlance – are less interested in environmental sustainability than their predecessors, Likens does not think that’s true, at least not as far as UConn is concerned.

“I’m pretty familiar with these issues,” he says. “They seem to wax and wane from generation to generation. It’s been my experience when I’ve been on campus teaching that, for the most part, UConn students are engaged and dedicated to making the world a better place. I wonder what a poll taken at Storrs would look like. I suspect the results might be very different than the numbers shown [in the journal article].”

The CIMA website contains a complete list of activities. All events are free and open to the public.