Schools struggle with greenhouse gas targets: study
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Janet Moore, BC Working Group and Network for Sustainability Education, 778.782.7884, jmooresfu@gmail.com
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B.C.’s colleges and universities lack sufficient funding, information and support to meet the provincial government’s requirement that they become carbon neutral by 2010, according to a new education-sector study.
Entitled, Taking Action: British Columbia's Universities and Colleges Respond to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, the report is the first independent assessment of the institutions’ progress in meeting the Campbell government’s 2007 Climate Action Plan sustainability targets.
It concludes that while some progress has been made, post-secondary institutions continue to face substantial barriers to achieving sustainability including bureaucratic inertia, a lack of money and lack of awareness and communication.
The 28-page report was written by Simon Fraser University urban studies graduate student Ashley Webster for the B.C. Working Group and Network on Sustainability Education (BCWG), which is spearheaded by SFU faculty member Janet Moore. It is based on interviews conducted between January and March this year with relevant staff at nine post secondary institutions and three government bodies.
“Institutions are at various points in the process of becoming sustainable,” the report notes, adding “some have considerable experience managing their energy use while others are only just beginning.”
The schools interviewed said financing was the greatest challenge they face in implementing the act and there was concern that without additional funding some institutions may be forced to cut in areas that could affect core programming.
The report can be found on the BCWG website at http://www.walkingthetalk.bc.ca/.
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