EnviSci society have recently launched their petition for the University of Nottingham to have a target of being carbon neutral by 2028. Nottingham city has a target of being carbon neutral by 2028, as well as many other universities.
Professor Michael Mann, from Penn State University, asserts that in the past half-century important social movements have “begun on college campuses”. Consequently, the petition stipulates that the University of Nottingham should show leadership in the fight against climate change. Moreover, William Syddall, head of environmental sustainability at UNSW Sydney, contributes that universities need to “sound the alarm”about the climate emergency.
As announced in late 2018, the University of Newcastle will source 100% of its energy needs from renewable sources from 1stJanuary 2020. Moreover, they have a target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Professor Alex Zelinsky, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Newcastle, stated,
“Our recent rounds of community and student engagement delivered us an unequivocal message – environmental sustainability matters above all else and, as a University, we have an important role to play.”
The IPCC report states that we need to limit warming levels to 1.5C if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences of climate change. Additionally, the report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5C would involve “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities.
The last decade has seen a record-breaking influx of floods, forest fires, droughts, coral degradation, heat waves, and storms around the world, with only 1C of global warming. Unfortunately, the primary consequences of climate change are and continue to disproportionately effect the Global South posing serious ethical considerations for those of us who have the privilege of being able to protest against inaction.
The EnviSci committee, told Impact,
“We wanted to highlight that change is needed now if we want to tackle climate change and we feel the university can be a leader within the country when it comes to becoming carbon neutral.”
Ellie Stainforth-Mallison
Feature Image courtesy of UoN EnviSci Society via Facebook.
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