The UW-Milwaukee Office of Sustainability is reaching the final stages of producing its climate action plan and held an open forum in the student union concourse to review the draft on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Along with other schools in the UW System, UWM is preparing a detailed plan addressing climate change and the university’s role in it. But unlike others, UWM is adding plans to help adapt students and the campus to current or inevitable effects of climate change.
At the forum, students were encouraged to walk around and leave a sticker on points they wanted to emphasize. Rather than asking questions and sharing their thoughts directly, participants could leave their comments on whiteboards outlining sections of the plan.
“Students need to make their voice known on the urgency of these things,” said John Gardner, the program and policy analyst for the Office of Sustainability. “Their voice is easily the most powerful thing, even though it doesn’t seem that way at times.”
There were comments on nearly every board, primarily on health and wellness and transportation sections. Students suggested more bike lanes around campus, working with the Milwaukee County Transit System and electrifying university vehicles on a section about transportation.
Gitte Kremling, a Ph.D. student from Germany, liked the section on reducing campus emissions by transitioning to zero-emissions vehicles in UWM’s fleet and using campus space more efficiently. These are two ways the university hopes to reach its “ideal state”, which the climate plan says is to switch to low-carbon heating and a zero emissions fleet.
Another Ph.D. student, Steffen Domke, said he enjoyed the content of the plan but felt the presentation could be more attractive in order to get more students interested.
“People who are not interested probably wouldn’t bother reading this stuff,” Domke said. “But I’m interested. I think everyone should do more and that starts with me.”
Beyond the sustainability plan, there were conversations about general climate concerns.
“Students are worried about the future,” said Kate Nelson, the chief sustainability officer for the Office of Sustainability. “Not necessarily their own future, but they’re worried about the future in general–we call it eco-anxiety or climate anxiety. It was really a good space to just be heard.”
The plan is divided into two main parts: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. Mitigation deals with how to reduce UWM’s negative impact on the climate, such as reducing carbon emissions. The latter considers how to respond to the effects of climate change that have or will occur, such as updating buildings to resist flooding.
By 2030, UWM is set to reduce emissions 45% based on 2010 emission output levels, and to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The university is currently around 20% there, according to the Office of Sustainability. However, science-based targets can change.
“We’re a research university, and we really want to reflect the research that’s been done across the globe. And it changes,” Nelson said. “If the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) comes back in two years and says we need to be far more aggressive, then we need to be far more aggressive.”
The university’s 2010 master plan included a section dedicated to sustainability, but this is the first in-depth plan that the university has produced.
In 2017, Chancellor Mark Mone signed a climate commitment through Second Nature, a climate leadership network that works through higher education. This put UWM on the path to reduce emissions and plan for resiliency, according to the Office of Sustainability’s website.
This planning effort will conclude in 2022, according to the Office of Sustainability’s website.
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