Wheelock President Jackie Jenkins-Scott Joins Climate Leadership Summit

Wheelock College President Jackie Jenkins-Scott along with faculty and staff representatives will support the 2014 Presidential Summit on Climate Leadership in Boston on October 1 – 3. The Summit will bring together more than 250 college and university leaders from across the U. S. to focus on ways to strengthen campus climate action and sustainability initiatives, as well as higher education’s leadership role in developing strategic responses to climate and sustainability challenges in community, regional, and national contexts. Like Wheelock College, most Summit participants are signatories of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

President Jenkins-Scott and Lisa Lobel, assistant professor of Biology and director of Colleges of the Fenway (COF) Center for Sustainability for the Environment serve as members of the Host Committee, a group of leaders who have dedicated their time and knowledge to ensure the Summit experience is a memorable one. Additionally, Ed Jacques, director of Facilities and lead on Wheelock’s sustainability initiatives and Julie Bolduc DeFilippo, government and community relations manager, will be in attendance at the conference.

Convened by Second Nature, Inc. the supporting organization for the ACUPCC, the Summit reflects the centrality of higher education’s role in preparing new generations to meet the challenges of climate change. The program focuses on ways to build on the success of climate action plans and sustainability initiatives on ACUPCC campuses and develop solutions to the most pressing environmental problems facing our communities.

More than 680 colleges and universities in the U. S. are current ACUPCC signatories, representing all 50 states, D. C., and every category of public and private higher education institution. These signatories are committed to achieving carbon neutrality and represent more than 6.5 million students – one third of all college students in the nation.

“Sustainability is vital to preserve our environment for future generations,” said President Jackie Jenkins-Scott. “Wheelock strives to maintain a sustainable campus through recycling, LEED certified buildings, energy efficiency, minimizing food waste, and other key initiatives. This Summit is an opportunity for presidents and their sustainability teams to work together to shape higher education’s critical role in advancing sustainability and addressing climate change at the national level.”

The Summit was designed by a group of 30 college and university presidents with the support of a committee of seven local institutions, and is organized into five tracks: Knowledge and Solutions for a Changing Climate, Higher Education’s Climate Leadership Imperative, Creating a Campus Culture of Sustainability, Investment Strategies and Institutional Risks, and Corporate Partnerships for Climate Leadership -- along with a session on the Alliance for Resilient Campuses, Second Nature’s newest initiative focused on climate resilience.

Highlights include keynote addresses by Brian Swett, Chief of Environment and Energy for the City of Boston, and Kate Gordon, Executive Director of The Risky Business Project. Kathy Jacobs, Director of the Center for Climate Change Adaptation Science and Solutions and former Director of the U. S. National Climate Assessment, is speaking about and facilitating discussions about climate resilience throughout the event.

CO2 impact from attendee travel, meeting space, and guest accommodations is being offset through purchase by The Revere Hotel of carbon offsets from Native Energy, Inc. Summit sponsors include Xerox, Cenergistic, Altenex, and ecoAmerica.

For more information about the Summit, visit http://www.secondnature.org/resources/summit-2014.