Proposal: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory at St. Mary’s College of Maryland
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2015
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St. Mary's College of Maryland. Environmental Studies Program
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The author owns the copyright to this work. This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by SMCM for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the author.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States
Abstract
In order to see progress towards climate neutrality, and sustainability in general, a baseline measure of campus emissions must exist. The goal of this project was to build a foundation for this baseline measurement by augmenting St. Mary’s College’s current efforts to quantify greenhouse gas emissions with other institutions' metrics and practices such that St. Mary’s College could eventually publish its own greenhouse gas emissions inventory report. This would have many benefits for the college including more targeted efforts to reduce environmental impact, increased financial savings, an engaged student body with an expanded educational experience, and increased value of the institution as a whole. After summarizing current efforts at St. Mary’s College and reviewing other institutions' greenhouse gas emissions inventories, I developed a list of emissions metrics that should be used at St. Mary’s College, as well as the sources, or likely sources, of those data. Further, I outline a system of reporting these data that incorporates individuals across campus, including students, faculty, and staff, into a relatively effortless and highly educational collaborative process of updating the emissions inventory. While this project was limited by time, the next step is clear: contact and organize the various individuals (outlined in this proposal) necessary for data collection. Successfully doing so initiates the process of annual reporting necessary for a greenhouse gas emissions inventory at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.