This toolkit was written to help you to harness the power of your school in the fight to stop global warming. Inside you will find advice on organizing your campaign, researching and setting the right goals, and leveraging your power for off-campus change. Keep in mind that this toolkit is simply a suggested roadmap to guide you. Our advice is to use this toolkit as a starting point and to be pro-active about seeking advice from people who have run similar campaigns before and who know a lot about your campus. Creating lasting change takes courage and determination. Good luck!
CHECK THESE EXAMPLES OUT: CAMPUSES ARE LEADING THE WAY!
Both Evergreen State College and Western Washington University students passed a student referendum to purchase 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources!
Central Oregon Community College spearheaded a successful effort to have COCC get 75% of its electricity from clean energy, resulting in COCC becoming the largest clean energy purchaser among community colleges in the nation. Their efforts were endorsed by a Republican State Legislator, featured all over the local paper and TV news stations, garnered an editorial in favor by the city newspaper, and noted by the EPA this month.
The California State University Board of Trustees, following a two-year student-run campaign, unanimously approved a policy to 20 percent of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2010.
Yale University has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 10% below 1990 levels through investment in energy conservation and alternate energy sources.
University of California Students across California’s UC campuses ran a year-long campaign that has resulted in a major clean energy victory! The victory includes a commitment to get 20 percent of the university’s energy from clean, renewable sources by 2017.
The University of Southern Maine is participating in the Governor’s Carbon Challenge to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010. USM has taken steps like replacing inefficient exit sign bulbs with more efficient models and disconnecting lights in vending machines around campus. University of Wisconsin-Madison student’s convinced the administration to adopt a policy to reduce the campus’ energy use by 20% by 2010.
CU Boulder students convinced their peers to raise student fees to purchase a wind turbine. In spring 2004, the student government voted to extend and expand the wind purchase to 8.8 million kWh/year of wind, which reduces campus CO2 emissions by about 12 million pounds every year! CU also installed its first 7.5 kWh solar photovoltaic system in 2004.
Tufts University launched its Climate Initiative on Earth Day 1999, becoming the first institution of higher education nationally to commit to specific emissions reduction goals. In the interim, Tufts has nearly eliminated growth in university emissions of climate altering gases despite growth in the number of campus buildings through a significant number of creative initiatives ranging from a solar residence hall, to vending misers, to retrofits of existing buildings and green transportation initiatives. In May 2005, Tufts received the United States Environmental Protection Agency's prestigious Climate Protection Award. Tufts' climate change activities are complimented by a range of campus sustainability programs including recycling, comprehensive dining efforts, source reduction, transportation initiatives and landscaping. Campus Climate Challenge Toolkit – Fall 2006 – Page 6 of 32
“No institutions in modern society are better equipped to catalyze the necessary transition to a sustainable world than universities. They have access to the leaders of tomorrow and the leaders of today. They have buying and investment power. They are widely respected. Consequentially what they do matters to the wider public.” ~ David Orr, Author, “The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror”
Goals and Strategy
There are three overall, long term goals of the Campus Climate Challenge:
Goal #1: Reduce your campus’ global warming pollution to zero as quickly as possible. Long term, the goal is for the administration to adopt a plan to reduce its global warming pollution to zero. The short term goal, however, is to get the administration to adopt global warming solutions that can be implemented next year. These steps will range from replacing all university lighting with efficient compact fluorescent bulbs to putting a solar panel on the environmental studies building.
Goal #2: Instill a lasting ethic into the student body about our responsibility and ability as a generation to tackle global warming. This goal is equally important if we want our work to have a lasting impact as our generation graduates and assumes leadership in the “real world”. Ideally, global warming and its solutions get woven into the very fabric of the classroom, becoming a subject matter in every class and discipline. But this also means a steady stream of speaking events, visibility campaigns, and demonstration projects on the quad that appeal to everyone.
Goal #3: Promote your work off campus. We need to invigorate the public’s imagination and to use the work on campus to pressure key decision makers. Ideally, you will take every policy win to the press and expand the public’s imagination for what is possible. You will meet with local elected officials like mayors, city councils, state legislators, and Members of Congress to challenge them to match our leadership in the legislature and Congress. After each win, you will get a press release out to local media and plan to have face to face interaction with each elected official who represents the campus. This point is at the crux of catalyzing the global warming movement in America.
Here's a set of steps and questions to help you plan the best campaign possible.
Who is a part of your challenge team? Who has worked on this Campaign Planning Matrix? What is your organization’s name? How many people are currently involved?
What are the current energy policies at your school? Are other students already involved? Is your school taking any steps to reduce its environmental impact?
What are your goals for clean energy at your school?
How will you use this campaign to grow your organization and develop new leaders? How many group leaders, active members and supporters (i.e. email list signups, new core leaders, new coalition partners) will you recruit during the campaign?
What are 5 strengths of your group and how will this impact the campaign? What resources do the group and individuals bring to the campaign? What are 5 weaknesses and how will this impact your campaign? How will you try to address these weaknesses? How can you try to strengthen your group?
Are there specific groups of supportive students who you should direct outreach and recruitment towards? What are some student groups, academic or administrative units at your school that would support your campaign? Who are some unexpected but potential allies? Who are the leaders of these groups? Who cares about global warming and your campus enough to join you in your campaign effort? Who can you bring in to help? (i.e. Professors) Who else is affected by the issue you are working on? Who might oppose your campaign? What are you opponent’s strengths and weaknesses?
Will you win by getting the college President to approve a plan? Winning a student referendum? Through a different venue?
A primary target is a person (or group of people) who has the power to implement your goal.
Who do you need to convince in order to win? What power do you have over your target? What kind of relationship do you have with your target? How does your target view your group? Does your target have any vested interest in listening to or working with your group? Is that person a friend, an enemy or neutral?
Secondary targets are people who have influence over your primary target.
Who besides your group has power over your target? What motivates or interests your target? Who are some influential people on campus who could help convince your primary target? Who has contacts or is friends with your target?
See the section on Power Mapping to better strategize how to approach secondary and primary targets.
What is your campaign and why should someone support it? Why should people care about stopping global warming and supporting clean energy? What can they do to join you and help? Stay positive and use language that will appeal to a broad range of people. See “Talking About Global Warming & Building Coalitions”
Examples: Rallies, tabling, literature drops, scorecards, street theater, banner drops, letters to the editor, petition presentations, meetings and sit-ins. See the box “Ideas for Tactics” on the next page for more ideas.
Brainstorming: For each target, list the tactics that the group can best use to make its power felt.
What tactics will you use to build support for your campaign and put pressure on your primary target(s)? In what order will you use these tactics?
Create a shared timeline that lists when you will to approach your allies for support, hold events, what tasks need to be completed in each week leading up to the event, when your regular meetings will take place and when you will WIN!
Tips for how to structure the project on your campus: Have Two Sub-Groups, Education and Policy
We suggest that you divide your campaign into two sub-groups: education and policy. The policy group would be responsible for fulfilling the first goal outlined above while the education group would be charged with the second.
We suggest this setup primarily because education organizing and policy organizing each require a different set of activities – each with their own unique challenges - it is better to let two groups of students “specialize” in those kinds of activities rather than try and do both at the same time.
Obviously it is important to make sure both sub-groups coordinate with each other, and to that end, we suggest a project structure in which there is an overall Campus Climate Challenge Chairperson who will recruit and work closely with both an Education Coordinator and a Policy Coordinator, each of whom is responsible for overseeing their sub-group.
In addition, in the interest of pulling off a very large and extensive education event/week surrounding Earth Day in April, it is recommended that each Campus Climate Challenge chapter appoint an Earth Day coordinator who will spend most of the semester planning the Earth Day event.
What happens after we win campus victories for clean energy? Will this really lead to stopping global warming? It will if we build on these victories and leverage them into new energy policies for our cities, states, and eventually, our entire country.
Campuses are leading the way to a clean energy future, and we need to make sure that our political leaders, from the local to the national level, know about it We need to make sure they understand the potential that clean energy has and start making it a reality in all our communities.
How can we make this happen? By educating local leaders about what we’re doing them and involving them in our victories.
Invite your local leaders to join you to learn about climate change on campus -
Hold a forum on campus that includes education about global warming, clean energy, and solutions that can be implemented on the local level. Invite speakers from local environmental groups, knowledgeable professors, or nationally known activists, writers, and leaders.
Invite your mayor, city council members, state Representatives or state Senators, or members of Congress to take part in this event. Invite them to talk to the group about what they are doing regarding energy issues - the chance to speak to their constituents can hold strong appeal to them. Put them on a panel with the other speakers so that they are sure to hear about global warming and energy solutions. While they are there, ask them what their plan is to stop global warming, what they will do to promote clean energy, and invite them to join you in calling on your administration to take action!
You might be surprised at how little your elected officials know about global warming, clean energy, and the common-sense solutions that we can implement at every level! Simply educating them is the first step to creating solutions.
Meet with your local leaders to discuss your campaign -
Set up a meeting with your mayor, city council members, state Representatives and Senators, and members of Congress (when on Congressional recess) or their aides to talk with them about the campaign that you are engaged in.
Tell them why you personally are so concerned about global warming and why it is so important that America work towards a clean energy future. Share with them recent media coverage of how serious global warming could be, to make sure that they see it. Tell them about your campaign on campus, and ask them for their support in urging your administration to take action for clean energy. Ask them what they are doing at the local, state, or national level to stop global warming and promote clean energy (to create good jobs, secure our nation, clean our air, and more!).
Publicize your victories -
When you win your campus campaign and your school implements clean energy solutions, work to make this a the beginning of a cascade of action! Talk to your administration about how they can work with the local government to expand on what the college is doing. Meet with your local and state officials to tell them what your college is doing as an example of what can be done at the local and state level. Invite the media to cover your victory so that the general public learns about what your campus is doing and sees that stopping global warming is possible through common-sense solutions that are easily available.
Education Section: Ideas for Engaging Your School in Global Warming Solutions
Goal: Get everyone on campus to understand and support the solutions to global warming by showing people that we have everything we need to solve the problem right now. The key to doing this is by organizing a steady stream of fun, interactive, and informative events that showcase the actual solutions to global warming (100 MPG cars, the zero energy buildings, the hundreds of easy ways that we can cut our energy use, etc.) We recommend that you organize 5 educational events this year. It’d be a good idea to have the spread out to keep the momentum going throughout the year (for example, an event in October, November, February, March, and April.) We suggest that each build off the other and that they all culminate in one big Earth day event in April.
Event organizing tips
• Have fun! Make your events fun and exciting. Make people want to know what you have to say!
• When possible be interactive and hands-on. Organize competitions and contests and give prizes, have students build solar panels and wind turbines, make them food, throw them a party!
• Emphasize that the solutions you are working for are easy, available now, and don’t require major changes in lifestyle or big sacrifices.
• Avoid simply sitting at a table with some fliers. People won’t notice you and your goal is to be noticed!
• Avoid an event with only 20 people who already know all they need to know about the issue. Preaching to the choir gets you nowhere.
Note: There is a sample plan for each type of event in the appendix. The plans for all these events will be very similar and you should just adapt the sample plan to each separate event.
“The significant problems we face will not be solved with the same level of thinking that created them.” ~ Albert Einstein
Education Event Ideas
Note: Add your own ideas to this list.
Demonstration Projects
These events will, as the name implies, demonstrate the many global warming solutions that exist or will soon exist on the market for popular consumption and help students understand all of the vast solutions we have at our disposal. The demonstrations you organize will excite students because the technology is new, cool and an unknown. With that in mind your demonstration projects should strive to include the latest or next generation technology, technology that might still be in development, technology that will have a big impact. Aim to make your event flashy and exciting! Think “Pimp My Ride” instead of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood goes green.”
“Clean Car Show on the Quad” or “Pimp My Clean Ride Car Show”
Last year, the University of California-San Diego organized a Clean Car Show that displayed nine different cars: electric vehicles, hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell, and a car that was converted to an EV that runs on solar power. Similar events ran across California. Aim to make this event as big as possible. Get local dealers to loan you the cars. Get a local auto parts store to donate bling to pimp the cars out. You should have a DJ, guys and gals walking around in swimsuits posing with the cars, an exhibition or show by the campus’ dance clubs, a BBQ, games and competitions, and an emcee constantly making announcements over a megaphone. Check out the news article written about the USC show: http://www.dailytrojan.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=51c5a975-83b7-4beab2f4- 0219d212cc51.
Solar Powered Events: Smoothie and Latte giveaways, “Green Cribs”, Concerts…
Last year, students at Berkeley organized “Smoothies for Solar” events, where they built a real solar panel (with the help of a professor), got supplies donated, did a bunch of publicity and wound up handing out hundreds of ‘solar smoothies’ to students, all the while getting petition signatures in support of California’s Solar Homes Bill (which they won!). They also scored an article in the campus paper and educated tons of students about solar energy. You can do this too and not just to power blenders, but to put on a concert, a movie, power a latte machine, a toaster, a microwave, a guitar, or anything electric! Even better, simulate a solar powered dorm room outside. You could have separate guys and gals rooms equipped with a couch, XBOX, Outkast blaring, and re-runs of Sex and the City. Show the students what solar power is capable of and have them check out the latest in solar technology that they can some day install on their future homes or in their backyards to power their own fun entertainment. Take solar from a pipedream to the mainstream!
Check out this news article written about the Berkeley event: http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=19942.
Phantom Biker
The phantom biker surprises people with unique gifts praising them for riding their bike and educates them how biking reduces global warming pollution. The whole idea behind the phantom biker is to get a buzz going on campus—what better than a buzz with a great take home message! Indiana University had great success with this idea last year. The phantom biker should pick random times to make their mark (at night, during classes, during a big event on campus, etc). On some bikes the phantom should leave information on how biking will lower global warming pollution. On others, they should leave a “You’ve won” tag and directions on how to pick up their prize. It’s important that students Campus Climate Challenge Toolkit – Fall 2006 – Page 11 of 32 recognize when they have been tagged. Have the phantom dress up in a mask, or submit an anonymous letter to the school paper about the “mystery” phantom. A key is to come up with great prizes donated from local stores that everyone will enjoy: a free massage, a free meal, discount coupons to popular stores, a school t-shirt, or movie tickets. The possibilities are endless! Make sure to spread out the time and location of the phantom’s drops, so that you reach out to all the bikers on campus!
Global Warming Superhero
Think Superman! No…ClimateMan! ClimateWoman! Feel free to come up with your own name. There has been a longtime fight in the DC metro area to create a transit line that encircles the city. The DC MetroWoman has been a constant fixture in the campaign and often stands outside metro stops handing out literature. It has worked wonderfully to keep the public engaged in the debate. The idea is to have a student in costume become an infamous figure on campus that everyone recognizes at first sight. Come up with a costume with a visible message that you are trying to convey about global warming solutions. Make sure that their identity remains anonymous (if you use a good mask, you can have people alternate the duty). Submit anonymous letters to the editor with the campaign message to the school paper from the ClimateMan/Woman. Have them appear at strategic and random times handing out flyers about upcoming events and updates on any successes with the campaign. Check out the MetroWoman’s costume. Now tweak it a bit, add a windmill, a solar panel, a cape, and you’re all set! Most importantly, have fun! This is a great way to be creative and gain publicity for the campaign.
A Simple Light Bulb Switch
A lot of students wonder how they can lower their global warming impact. You will provide them with a solution. The University of New Hampshire Sustainability Department handed out free light bulbs to any student who wanted one and they had students all over campus switching out their bulbs! Set up a table in a high traffic area near electrical outlets. Have a lamp with a conventional bulb sitting next to a lamp with a Compact Fluorescent bulb (take off the lampshades for dramatic effect). Have a poster and flyers that talk about how much more efficient CFL bulbs are and how much energy and money you can save over time. Make sure you emphasize that the CFL bulbs even last longer! Talk with a sustainability department or your campus about purchasing bulbs for students (it will save them money and work time to have all their students replace their bulbs). If that doesn’t work, talk to a local hardware store about getting a bunch of free bulbs, or coupons for students (you will provide them with a lot of business). The University of Southern Maine student’s did this last year and sales at the local hardware store increased!
Competitions and Contests
Dorm and Fraternity/Sorority Energy Saving Competitions
UMASS students organized a huge dorm competition last year to see which dorm could cut its energy use the most over a three month period. Residents of the winning dorm got premium points on their meal card that allowed them to eat in the deluxe dining hall on campus. Students at Oregon State University organized a version of this called “The Greek Green Challenge” in which 19 fraternities competed to see which house could lower their energy use the most, with the winning house receiving $1000 from the Corvallis area utility that they can donate to the charity of their choice. This project will require some collaboration with the campus’s residential life office, Greek system or, Campus Climate Challenge Toolkit – Fall 2006 – Page 12 of 32 in the case of an academic department based contests, with department heads and eventually all professors in each department. The key is to have a prize for the winner that everyone will be excited about winning. Otherwise people will be hesitant to participate and hard to motivate. You must also come up with a way, most likely in collaboration with the facilities manager, to monitor the energy consumption of each contestant. This is a great competition to get lots of students engaged both individually and as a group in coming up with simple, new ways to address global warming!
Coal and Wind Celebrity Death Match
Everybody gets a kick out of pro-wrestling and this is a great event to get students excited about the fun, cool, creative ways you are talking about global warming solutions. Obviously, wind will come out on top, but you should come up with a creative storyline that incorporates how much better wind is as an energy source than coal. There should be a referee and an emcee that narrate the match with a positive political message. The core of the message should be wind is a great global warming SOLUTION. Work with the athletic department to see if you could do it at half time at a big sporting event. If not, hold the event on campus during a busy time or in coordination with another big event. Work with students in the theater club/department to help you create the plot. Spend a lot of time promoting the match, and make sure that you coordinate with everyone involved the messaging so it is more than just a pro-wrestling match. Students should walk away from the event knowing a lot more about the evils of coal and the positive benefits of wind.
Global Warming Jeopardy
This is a great event to get a lot of publicity as well as to gets a lot of folks on campus involved with the campaign. You can set up the event exactly like the TV show, or add your own twist. Make sure that your Alex Trebek is well-prepped an on message. Don’t get too rapped up in researching the questions, rather have questions that your contestants will be able to answer. Get a band and get some of the biggest names on campus to be the contestants (the dean, student body president, a popular professor, and athletic coach, etc.). Ask a popular restaurant on campus to host this event or host it yourself in a busy area. Get prizes donated from nearby food places or popular shops. Again, have fun with the even but make sure people walk away from the game knowing a lot more about global warming and the solutions we have at our finger tips right now.
Global Warming Movie Fest
Colleges across the country have been embracing the Apple’s i Movie technology and holding mini film festivals. It’s a really simple program that allows you to use the footage from your video camera to make short films with the click of a button. Most recent apple computers have the program, and the technology department will probably be happy to lend you equipment to pull it off. This will be a great event to put student’s creativity to the test and to get students engaged in talking about global warming solutions. You should do a lot of leg work advertising and recruiting for the festival and talking up how fun it is and the great prizes you will provide. Ask the Art and Environmental Studies Departments to sponsor the event and provide students with extra credit for participating. Or better yet, get a professor to take it on as a class project! Give the students a week to create their films. You should be very clear about the criteria you will judge the films by and ground rules for creating the films. It’s probably a good idea to set the time limit at 5 minutes. Come up with a global warming solution theme by which you judge everyone’s film. Once completed, set up a committee of judges to view them over weekend and hold a big awards event the following week featuring the top three films. You could pack a lot into the awards event, such as guest speakers and campaign actions. Work closely with your technology department and have fun! Check out a film that the environmental group at Emory University made: http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgibin/ WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/wa/showAMovie?movieID=15. If you need help securing technology, email mary@studentpirgs.org.
The Campus Makeover Competition
This is an active event to get students to have a good time and learn about global warming solutions. Set up a table in a high traffic area for a week. Make a HUGE copy of the campus map, number each building, and give people scorecards. For each building, their goal is to come with as many creative Campus Climate Challenge Toolkit – Fall 2006 – Page 13 of 32 ways that the global warming impact of each building could be lowered. Create different prize levels using a point bracketing system so that the person that opts in stays for just five minutes is rewarded and the person who stays around for twenty minutes and figures out how to clean up the whole campus has incentive as well. Make sure to get the contact info of all of the contestants, and at the end of the week, contact the winners to give them their prize. Of course, you will want to get some great prizes donated from local stores. This is a great competition to recruit more people to join the campaign!
Organize a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car, and other great films
There were a lot of great films released this summer that addressed global warming. The films will be available for release this fall. You can engage the entire student body in the global warming debate by throwing a huge film screening on different nights throughout the semester. Talk to your programming board about securing a big screen for the showing. Put some quality time in advertising the screening and on the night of the show, set up an action table in the rear of the theater for students to get involved with the campaign. If you need help securing copies of any of the films, email mary@studentpirgs.org. We might be able to help you out.
Education Event Ideas: Speaking Events and Teach-Ins
Outside Speakers/Faculty Roundtables
Speaking events and faculty roundtables can be a valuable tool because they give particularly interested students a chance to learn more in-depth facts about global warming and renewable energy from an expert or authority in the field. This would be a good place to identify potential volunteers or project leaders, for instance. This is also your chance to network with the speaker in a way that might make him open to helping you out again in the future, perhaps in a more substantive way next time. For example if a solar energy researcher comes to your campus to speak, maybe she will want to help with an event in the future by providing solar equipment for a demonstration. There are two things that you absolutely MUST have for a successful event of this type: First, you need to have a big name, not necessarily Will Ferrell (get him if you can) but somebody who has a significant amount of draw for the students at your campus. Second, you need academic departments and individual faculty members to agree to help you with turnout by getting departments to cosponsor the event, put it on their listservs, and announce it in class and ideally professors should offer extra credit for those students who attend. If you do not have either of these things going for you, you should reconsider whether or not it is worthwhile to do the event.
Teach-In Day/Week
Organizing a teach in day or week should be a major focus of the education track of the Challenge campaign and you should target Earth Day or the week surrounding Earth Day as the time for it to occur. The idea here is that on one day over one week’s time, as many professors from as many disciplines as possible should devote at least 30 minutes of class time to global warming and energy issues. In the classroom students are a captive audience, so it is a very convenient arena in which to reach out to them. Additionally, professors carry unique weight with students, commanding their attention and respect; this will reinforce our message that global warming is not just an environmental fringe issue as it will force professors to think outside the box when adapting it to their subject matter. There is also an educational justification for this that you should stress to professors when talking to them: at this point there is virtually no debate on the fact that global warming is a real problem and is happening right now because of our continued dependence on fossil fuels. The biggest problem is that youth do not yet see it as a real threat and when they do, they do not realize that solutions already exist. We need to educate them about this and make them realize that global warming will affect every part of their lives and that there are lots of solutions to the problem. Campus Climate Challenge Toolkit – Fall 2006 – Page 14 of 32 Some basic guidelines are as follows: Professors will have lots of leeway on what to do but should at least make the case that global warming is relevant to their discipline while outlining solutions that are available right now and emphasizing that young people have the power to solve this. Ideally there would be speaking events or demonstration events going on in conjunction with the teach-in in order to create a huge buzz.
The policy track of the campus climate challenge campaign will focus on developing and winning approval for specific policies aimed at reducing your campus’ global warming pollution.
The key thing that can help you be successful here is your “ask”. The “ask” is the actual policy proposal you want your administration to adopt. An “ask” can range from requiring all university computers to be shut down at night or getting 100% of the school’s energy from clean power.
Although the ultimate goal is to reduce your school’s global warming pollution down to zero, we recommend that you choose an ask that your administration will be willing and able to implement by next year. We also suggest that you avoid complicated asks that will take longer than a year to implement. This way, your group can end the year with a solid victory under your belt that will build momentum for next year. Taking this approach will also make it more likely that your school will take more ambitious steps down the road - our experience at schools like Penn State, Middlebury College and other schools that have done a lot is that the smaller victories helped build administrator’s enthusiasm for ratcheting up their ambition level.
This doesn’t mean that your shouldn’t enthusiastically get behind and participate in efforts by the school to undertake more comprehensive and complicated efforts, including inventories of the school’s global warming pollution, task forces, etc. We simply recommend that you prioritize shorter term asks to keep the momentum rolling over time.
This section of the toolkit is designed to help you figure out what your ask should be and how to takeit from just an idea into a concrete victory!
We suggest you break your campaign down into four steps:
1. Decide Your Ask.
2. Submit Your Ask.
3. Build Support for Your Ask.
4. Win and Implement!
“Saying that a country that can double the speed of microchips every 18 months is somehow incapable of innovating its way to energy independence - that is for sissies, defeatists and people who are ready to see American values eroded at home and abroad.” – Thomas Friedman, author and economist
We recommend three steps to deciding your ask.
Step 1: Review Your Options:
We have already drafted sample policy proposals for you. Download them from www.climatechallenge.org and familiarize yourself with them and to decide which one you think makes the most sense for your campus. A brief summary of the options are listed below.
* Renewable Energy: To get as much of the university’s electricity from renewable energy, either from purchasing renewable energy from the local utility or by generating more energy on-campus from on-site solar panels and wind turbines.
* Conservation/Efficiency: One of the most cost-effective ways to reduce your campus’ usage of dirty energies. This can be as simple as policies to turn off all university computers at night, replacing all university lighting with compact fluorescent bulbs, purchasing more efficient appliances, or more comprehensive building construction codes.
* Transportation: Decreasing usage of fossil-fuel-powered transportation, using alternative fuels and/or upgrading to more efficient vehicles. Commuter travel to and from campus, is usually the largest source of emissions, so encouraging and supporting a shift to alternative forms of transportation, such as buses and carpools, to campus can have a large impact on total transportation emissions.
Step 2: Meet with the “Top Six” people on campus
After you have eyeballed a couple of options that your group is excited to push for, you should reality check your goal by meeting with the “Top 6” people on campus who’s support you will ultimately need and see how they react to your idea.
A sample meeting agenda and more on who you should meet with is located in the appendix.
Your goals should be to see if your policy idea passes their laugh test (if not, do they have a better idea?), and to figure out who the decision maker is and what will persuade them to accept your ask. Don’t make this too complicated. Here are the types of people you should probably meet with: the campus facilities director, the chair of the sustainability committee (if one exists), and environmental studies or engineering professor who is concerned with the issue, the Vice President for Business Affairs, the Student Government President, and other environmental or political groups.
Step 3: Decide on a policy
After you’ve done your meetings, it’s time to decide what policy you will advocate for. This decision should be based on your conversations with key players (what is most feasible politically?), and the types of projects that your campus would be realistically able to implement when limiting factors such as resources, available space, and weather patterns are taken into consideration.
Step 4: Develop your strategy:
Your next step is to figure out what exactly will it take to convince the decision maker to adopt the policy. Some tips on how to develop your strategy are in the appendix.
“We are living on this earth as if we had another one to go to.” ~ Terri Swearingen, Author, “The Long War With WTI (Waste Technologies Industries)”
At this point, you have done all the leg work to get the campaign off the ground. You met with your Top six and figured out which proposal is best.
Now is the time to submit your ask to the decision maker. You can do this in three easy steps.
Step 1: Take Sample Proposal and Localize:
In the sample proposals, we’ve indicated the places that you will need to localize, but of course, use your own judgment about what is most appropriate. The key thing we recommend is not to feel like your proposal needs to include everything. Remember, the school should already have the expertise to make your proposal happen, so put the ball in their court to figure out the details. It would be a good idea to show the finalized proposal to one of your best allies from the meetings for suggestions.
Step 2: Submit with Cover Letter To Decision Makerand schedule a meeting with them:
Most importantly, you want to submit the proposal to the right people. Now is the time to refer back to that strategy chart you made (see appendix for details). Ideally, you can just submit your proposal directly to the person or people who are bottom line responsible for making the decision. Chances are, however, that you will not have direct access to the people, but instead, will have access to the people directly below the decision maker. Your objective is to submit your proposal to the person closest to the ultimate decision maker who you think will also the most supportive. That is up to you to figure out, but let us know if you need help!
We suggest submitting the proposal in person and via email. As soon as you submit the proposal, schedule a meeting with them to discuss the proposal in person.
Step 3: Meet with the decision-maker:
You’ve done a lot of great work so far and now is the time to figure out if your proposal is likely to get passed by the end of the year. Use this meeting as a time to pitch decision-makers on the Campus Climate Challenge and what you are looking to do. Ask lots of questions about what has been done in the past and anything that is being planned now. Your main objective is to get their advice on the best policy that you should advocate for. Check out the appendix for a sample meeting agenda.
“Human beings and the natural world are in a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and the animal kingdom, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know…a great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if cast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on the planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.” ~ World Scientists’ Call for Action, 1997
After you submit your proposal, you will most likely need to build broad campus support for your proposal in order to win its approval. This effort will be greatly aided by the education side of the Challenge campaign but the policy people should devote themselves to this after submitting the proposal.
Step 1: Figure Out Who’s Support You Need
Go back to that strategy chart you made. Who are the particular people and organizations you will need to convince the administration to adopt your proposal? Will it be the student body? The student government president? The Facilities Manager who the Chancellor plays golf with every Saturday? All three? How do you need them to show their support? Should supporters show up at a Board of Trustees meeting? A petition? Letters to the campus paper? An endorsement letter from professors? A student government resolution? Finally, How much is enough? Do you need to get the entire campus to vote in a referendum to endorse the proposal or is a vote of the student government enough? 5000 signatures on a petition or 500?
Step 2: Build Support With Various Constituencies On Campus
Most likely, there will be a couple of key constituencies that you will need to get on board, including: student government, faculty endorsements, students and student groups, the campus paper, and the student body. See Appendix for a better description of how to get these constituencies on board.
Step 3: Communicate This Support to the Administration
There is more than one way to communicate this support to the administration. You can quietly deliver the endorsements and petitions to them or you can make a big public delivery with the campus paper in tow. How you do this is up to you.
Step 4: Be willing to compromise and negotiate
As you get into this stage of the process, you will need to stay in close contact with the administration and be willing to negotiate. The proposal will probably not be adopted in its original form, so be clear what the most important aspects of the proposal are and go from there.
“If we don't quickly move to renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, we will warm up, smoke up and choke up this planet far faster than at any time in the history of the world. Katrina will look like a day at the beach.” – Thomas Friedman, author and economist
Once the proposal has been adopted, congratulations!!!
The next step is to work to ensure that the proposal is correctly implemented.
There are two guiding principles for implementing a plan:
1. There should be broad student and faculty involvement. We suggest that the university create a committee of students, administrators, staff, and/or faculty to take on the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the proposal. There are many models for how this works; you can see some of them at: www.ClimateChallenge.org.
2. There should be a mechanism to track progress each year and over time. Each year, there should be a mechanism to track how much the school has reduced greenhouse gas emissions, evaluate the school’s progress, and revise the overall plan so the school stays on track. The Challenge website is set up for you to report progress every six months, or after each victory, and will compile the amazing success stories from across North America!
Goals
On March 4, from 11am to 3pm, we will showcase five of the cleanest, most technologically advanced cars out there on the campus Quad. We will include a hybrid car currently on the market, examples of cars that will hit the market in 2-3 years, and at least one car that features technologies that can hit the market in 5-7 years. To make the event educational and fun, we will have experts available to show students the ins and outs of the car and sign students up for test drives, the campus radio station broadcasting live from the event, we will have a calendar photo shoot featuring different students from the modeling club, and people from the dance club doing their moves. We will also be asking students take endorse the campus climate challenge and take the pledge to incorporate global warming solutions into their every day lives. Our specific goals are:
• Education: 5,000 students hear about the event, 1,000 come through the event
• Action: 500 take the Challenge pledge
• Visibility: Story in campus and off campus paper, 1 TV spot, 1000 posters, 1000 flyers
Event Setup
• Get 5 Cars
-Make a list of dealers, manufacturers, professors, facilities manager, area research labs that might be able to ID top clean cars
-Send them an email and follow up RIGHT AWAY with a phone call.
-Keep digging until you’ve located the proper number of cars
• Set up car display
- Make big, mounted signs next to each car with information about fuel efficiency and technical details
- Line up experts available to answer questions
- Get car “bling” donated to trick out the cars
• Set Date and Time of event
• Reserve location
• Check with student activities director on all needed permits
• Food donations
• Site plan (how are the cars laid out, where is the DJ placed, who will trick out the cars, etc)
Visibility/Media
• Pre-event
- Design and post 500 posters to advertise event
- Send press advisory to campus and area media outlets and follow up with phone call (see
PIRG Activist Toolkit for more tips on getting media)
- Chalk all the blackboards
- Flyer the parking lots
- Get the word out any way you can!
• For the event
- For each “entrance” to the event, make a 5’x5’ sign that says “NAME OF EVENT ENTRANCE HERE”
- Do another round of calls to make sure the press attend and have a press release ready to hand out.
- Do another round of 500 posters in the AM
- Have people stationed at high traffic areas handing out flyers about the event (make 1000 flyers)
Coalition: See PIRG Activist Toolkit for more specific tips
• Music: Campus radio station: ask them to broadcast from the event (alternatively, ask the DJ club to do this)
• Swimsuit models: Modeling club: ask them to participate in a photo shoot or just “look good” at the event (alternatively, you could Challenge student government, or a fraternity/sorority to do a clean car fashion show at the event)
• Turnout and visibility: Get 5-10 faculty or organizations to announce the event in their class/meeting and/or post to their listserv.
• Reach out to: Faculty, Student government/student activities, Car enthusiasts club, Engineering club, any other large student group on campus.
Volunteers/Action
• Schedule 24 volunteers for the event in order to collect 500 pledges, or 6 volunteers each hour
(500 pledges at 20 pledges/hour = 25 hours. Each volunteer helps for 2 hours, so 12 volunteers needed to show up, so schedule 24)
• Recruit 4 hourly coordinators and train them to coordinate. Each hourly coordinator will
need to call for 3 hours (6 volunteers show = 12 “yeses” = 24 “contacts” @ 8 contacts/hr = 3 hours of calling)
• Prepare materials: Pledges on clipboards, CCC brochure, Pens
Goals
• Get at least 5 dorms involved in the competition (500 students per dorm = 2500 students
educated)
• Media: Get 2 campus paper articles, 1 city paper article, 2 TV stories.
• Residence Hall Association wants to do it bigger next year.
Logistics
Meet with the person who manages energy use for the dorms. Usually calling campus facilities will direct you to the correct person. You’ll want to introduce them to the event idea and find out the following things:
• Can they help us track and publicize dorm energy use on a monthly basis and compare it with the same month last year?
• Can they do this by floor as well as by dorm? (This is ideal because you’ll have the flexibility to organize the event in the event that the Residence Hall Association makes the event optional for individual RAs to opt into)
• If the dorm leadership is interested in doing this event, will they give us this information?
• Do they have other ideas for us?
• Can they supply us (or help us get from the utility) with CFL light bulbs to distribute to all dorm residents for free (if this isn’t already in place)?
• Do they have a sense of the things that students can do that would make the biggest difference in dorm energy use? Based on this, what would be the most helpful things to base the competition on? Just electricity? Or heating/cooling as well?
Prize
You don’t necessarily need to have the prize lined up before you approach the dorms, but you do need to have a good idea for what it is and make sure it’s attractive. Here’s some ideas for prizes:
• Free pizza party for the dorm/floor that wins, paid for by the amount of money saved by the entire competition
• Dinner at nice restaurant in town
• Day cruise/Harbor Boat Trip/Whale Watch
• Theme Park Trip
• Ski Trip/Bike Trip
• Whitewater Rafting Trip
• Any other prize you can think of! Maybe use some of the money that the university saves on energy to buy it.
Residence Hall Association Organizing
• Getting the RAs on board. After you’ve nailed down the technical details, you’ll need to get the Residence Hall leadership bought into organizing the event. Ideally, the entire Residence Hall Association will agree to run the event in all the dorms. However, it’s possible that they
will make it optional for dorms or individual floors to do as well, which is fine, so long as facilities people can give you monthly energy use by floor or by dorm. There is more than one way to do this:
- If you happen to know someone who is an RA, it might be better to pitch him or her to first agree to do it, then have them contact the RHA president and then contact all the other RAs and Challenge them to the contest.
- If you don’t know anyone who is already an RA or who is dialed into that community, then we suggest that you just directly contact the Residence Hall Association president and pitch the idea to her.
- From there, you’ll probably need to submit a short write-up about the event, how it would work, and make a presentation at their meeting. From there, either the RHA will collectively decide that all the dorms will participate, or make it optional for dorms to opt in. If it is the latter, then you’ll need to decide if it’s possible to measure energy use by floor or by dorm
• Competition Rollout. Once you’ve gotten a critical mass of dorms/floors committed to organizing the event, it’s time to rollout the event. Here are some key things to think about:
- The RAs will need to rollout the event at each floor. This will involve an
announcement at the next floor meeting, an email to all dorm residents, a flyer under each door, and a big poster on the bulletin boards. You’ll probably need to do a training/briefing for the RAs to distribute materials, answer questions.
- Giant Energy Meters. Each participating Dorm should have Giant Energy Meter of how the competition is going prominently located in a common area that everyone passes through. This could be a 5’ x 5’ mock “energy meter” for each of the participating dorms that is adjusted every month so everyone can see how each dorm is doing, who’s winning, etc.
- Press Conference. You should announce the competition to the press, ideally at a press conference in front of the one of the dorms with RAs, Facilities manager speaking and a giant mock energy meter in the background. See PIRG Activist Toolkit for more on getting media.
• Monthly Energy Use Announcement: There should be a pre-agreed upon day at the end of each month where each dorm’s energy use (and reduction) is announced. It is important to get from the Facilities people each Dorm or Floor’s energy use that month compared to the same time last year. Then you should publicize it.
Here are some key ways to do that:
- Through the RAs. Make an announcement at the weekly Residence Hall Association Meeting and send an email to all the RAs with the monthly results, including an email and a flyer to distribute to their floors. It’s probably a good idea to follow up individually with RAs by phone.
- Update the Giant Energy Meter in each of the dorms.
- Media. Send a Press Release to the campus newspaper.
• Announcing the Winner. We suggest making this a big deal, just like in the TV show “The Biggest Loser.” Organize a press conference to announce the winner of the competition and make it look as much as possible as the final weigh-in for the TV show. Try to get as many of the RAs as possible to attend, along with Facilities and other members of the campus
administration. Also be sure to distribute the announcement to the RAs in the same way as listed above to make sure everyone hears about the announcement. Also be sure to announce the date that the actual prize will be distributed.
• After the Event. You should do a debrief with the RAs to see how they thought the event went and what could make it go better, and then immediately schedule the next time the event will happen, and choose someone who will run it the next time.
• Also consider making the next one bigger, incorporating other groups, like the Greek houses and departments.
Goals
2 academic departments co-sponsor, 500 people hear about the event, 150 people attend the event, 75 take the pledge, story in campus and off campus newspaper, 500 posters, 500 fliers.
Speakers
• Lining up speakers
- Make a list of targets. If they are outside speakers aim high and try to get the biggest name you can that will be able to come and speak on the topic you have chosen. If you are targeting faculty, try to get the most popular and well-known ‘celebrity’ professors on campus. You might also consider asking the facilities manager or the chair of the sustainability committee, if one exists.
- Send them an email and follow up RIGHT AWAY with a phone call.
- Keep calling and emailing until you have found a good speaker or the target number of professors for a roundtable (shoot for at least 3).
• Prepping for and moderating the event
- Prepare and introduction for the speaker or for each of the professors and a short speech to introduce the event and the issue being discussed. Be sure to acknowledge any co-sponsors of the event.
- Make sure speakers know and adhere to a time limit
- Allow time at the end for a Q&A session.
Co-Sponsors
• Sign on at least two departments to co-sponsor your event and work with them to publicize it.
- Make a list of departments that would likely say yes
- Send an email to department head
- Follow up with a phone call or face to face meeting to pitch idea
• You should ask co-sponsors to:
- to help pay speaker fees
- to send emails out on their listserv for publicity.
- Professors in the department should announce event in classes and offer extra credit for attending.
• Other Coalition Partners: This should be done only after the academic department cosponsorships have been taken care of fully and should be seen as a bonus on top of the above.
- Reach out to other major student groups that might be working on the issue and see if they want to participate in event planning in any way.
- Ask coalition student groups to publicize your event for you through announcements at meetings and via email.
- Publicize event to all student groups. Put up posters in student activities office.
Logistics
• Reserve a location. The room you reserve should be purposely just a little bit too small for the number of people you expect to show up, this way when everyone does show it seems like a packed house, which generates a bigger buzz. • Some refreshments after the event for the speakers, event organizers, and some stand out students would be good. Get these donated.
• Make sure room is set up well in advance and that signs are posted showing people to the room.
• Make sure there are enough people to greet and sign in attendees, show people where the food is, make sure every attendee is asked to sign a Campus Climate Challenge pledge.
Media
• One Week Before Event:
- Write and send press advisory to campus and area media outlets (see PIRG activist toolkit for more tips on getting media.)
- Follow up immediately with a round of calls to the press you are targeting.
- Make another round of calls to the press the day of the event to make sure they will show up
- Call the press again the day of the event.
- Prepare a press release to distribute to the press at the event as part of a press packet that could also include fact sheets, etc.
Visibility
• Design and post 500 posters to advertise the event in multiple waves to account for some being taken down.
• Chalk all blackboards and on sidewalks (if permitted to do so)
• Use other visibility outlets such as facebook, myspace, and any other ways that students get news and information about campus events that are specific to your campus. Send messages to all your facebook friends asking them to attend the event, take advantage of the free of charge space on facebook for campus announcements, or create a global warming or renewable energy facebook group
• Hand out fliers during the day of the event letting everyone know it’s happening.
Goals
At least one professor from each major department participating in all of their classes for a week, 3 stories in campus and off-campus newspapers
Faculty Outreach
• Outreach Strategy: You should plan on reaching out to every academic department and department head on campus and, via email, every professor. There are multiple ways to do this; here are two ideas:
- Get one or two particular department chairs to email and call the rest of the
department chairs to get departments to sign on/co-sponsor the teach-in, which would mean that they like the idea and will encourage professors in their department to participate.
- Identify a professor within each department who likes the idea and is willing to try to get the rest of the department to commit and co-sponsor at department meetings and through emails and phone calls.
• Initial Outreach
- Compile a list of all department heads, or of sympathetic professors that would be good representatives to their respective departments.
- Email them.
- Follow up later by phone or in person. It would be helpful too to have for them a sample email for them to send to their colleagues.
• Critical Mass. Once you have a large group of professors solidly committed to doing this it would be good to make a round of emails and calls highlighting who is participating and to build up excitement and momentum.
- Send email to all of the professors who are participating, thank them, and share information on who else is participating so they can trade ideas.
- Make a follow up phone call to them to see if they have any questions and to get them excited about doing this. Be sure to highlight to them at least these three things: The number of professors and classes participating, some of the topics to be covered, the number of students you expect to reach.
- Optional: Email professors you originally invited but who have not yet responded to encourage them to do so based on the widespread support and participation that you already have. If they feel like they’ll be part of something big they’ll be more likely to sign on.
• T minus 1 Week: Do another round of emails and calls saying “Are we ready? What is your topic so we can get the word out? Do you have any questions?” to build as much momentum as possible leading up to the event.
• Post Event: After the teach-in is complete it would be great to do a wrap-up email and round of calls saying thank you and sharing stories and getting feedback.
Media
There will be three times throughout the semester when you should be trying to get media around the teach-in:
• About 1 month in advance of the event to introduce it and its purpose and who is participating (your ‘critical mass’).
• A week before to remind people and to introduce some of the topics that each professor will be covering and their importance to the larger issue
• Immediately after to wrap up and publicize some of the highlights and reactions. These media blitzes should mirror the rounds of calls and emails you do with professors above.
• For each one of these media benchmarks you should:
- Write and send out a press release to campus and local community newspapers and media outlets.
- Follow up immediately with reporters to make sure they can write a story.
- Get lead students to write LTEs to papers where a story was published.
• You should also encourage reporters to attend classes where the teach-in is occurring.
• Consider a big kick-off press conference for the first media blitz followed up by LTEs and Op/Ed signed by the most involved professors. When organizing a press conference start with a press advisory and then issue a release at the actual conference.
“Anything else you are interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t just sit this one out. Do something.” ~ Carl Sagan, Author, “Contact”
Meetings You Should Have
You should meet with people who fall into these categories (if there are other important players on your campus not in this list, make sure to add them to your list!):
• The campus facilities director: This person is the campus’ resident expert on the schools’ energy infrastructure and energy consumption, as well as any current energy conservation or global-warming reduction measures already in place. He/She will also be very helpful in determining what is immediately feasible and winnable.
• The chair of the sustainability committee (if one exists): This person is usually a faculty member and will be very interested in the work you are doing since the goal of her committee is to reduce energy consumption and make the campus energy plan more sustainable while minimizing environmental impact. They will be able to help you influence decision-makers. This person should also be well aware of the campus attitude toward this type of project and will know what is already being done.
• An environmental studies or engineering professor who is concerned with the issue: Having and expert on your side to support you and endorse your project and work with the campus administration will be a big help. They will also be able to help you come up with good ideas.
• Vice President for Business Affairs: This person has a key roll in making university policies and would be a good asset to figure out how you can get your policy passed and who the heavy hitters are. They will also be a great source for ideas and a great political ally.
• Student Government President: It’s a good idea to let the President what you’re pushing for. They deal with administrators regularly, so they can give you the insider view on how to get your policy passed. Overall, they will be a great resource and political ally for your efforts.
• Other Student Environmental/Political Groups: These groups could serve as good allies and provide support from their members. They will also have good ideas on how to get the student body involved with your work.
Sample Meeting Agenda
For your Meeting to test your policy ask, your agenda should roughly follow this format:
• Introduce the campus climate challenge.
• Pitch them on what you’re interested in pushing for.
• Find out what the general lay of the land is. Look for answers to the following questions:
• From there, get their advice about what you should be advocating. It may turn out that the facilities manager is ALREADY really into a university-wide green building policy and thinks your involvement will really help get it passed. OR, the facilities manager may not have many ideas of his own but is willing to support yours if
Who to bring to the Meeting
It is perfectly fine for there just to be one or two representatives from your group, but you may also want to invite some of the people who reviewed and endorsed your proposal to add some credibility and “grey hair” the meeting.
Agenda for the meeting
The goal of your meeting should be to get as direct of an answer as possible about if your proposal will get adopted and the timeline for that to happen. The reality is that it will be unlikely that you will get that clear an answer. The next best thing you can get is a good, explicit sense of what exactly do
you need to do, and by when, in order to get this proposal approved. That said, here’s a suggested agenda for this meeting:
• Introductions, chit chat
• Explain what you are hoping to get from this meeting
• Briefly summarize your proposal
• Ask lots of questions, take good notes and listen carefully to the answers.
Questions should include:
- What they think of the proposal?
- Will they adopt the proposal? If they are not the decision maker, ask if they will support the proposal to the decision maker? What would be the timeline for a decision?
- What they will need from you in order to get the proposal approved? When would they need these things by?
- Is anything else you should discuss or feedback they have for you?
• Summarize all the things that each party has agreed to do.
• Set the next major benchmark or meeting.
After the meeting
Do two things right after the meeting:
• Send the person you met with a thank you card with a nice note.
• Get your team together to revisit the strategy chart and plan your next step…building campus support for your proposal!
Chances are that there are a couple of key constituencies who you will need to get on board, no matter what, including:
• Student Government: Enlisting the support of the Student Government at your campus is an important step. As representatives of the student body, their voice matters to the administration. Your proposal will seem pretty empty if the SGA is not on board and an administration that wants to resist the changes you are proposing will easily be able to exploit the fact that the SGA is not supportive. In order to get the SGA to pass a resolution you will need:
- A resolution in support of the policy you have proposed.
- An SGA member to sponsor and introduce the resolution to the whole assembly.
You should meet with SGA leaders (president, VP, student trustee, Heads of
Pertinent Committees), before you actually introduce the resolution to pitch them on why they should pass it. If nothing else you should definitely have the support of one of these leaders, ideally the president.
- Go to the SGA meeting when the resolution is proposed and speak on its behalf in conjunction with the sponsoring SGA member. Be prepared to answer any questions they may have.
• Faculty Endorsements: It is also beneficial to get as many individual faculty members as possible to sign a statement of support. Develop a target number for the number of faculty endorsements. You should get faculty endorsements by first sending an email and then following up by phone or in person with any of the faculty you are targeting that need more convincing. Be prepared to show the endorsements you have from the faculty who helped you draft the proposal in the first place in order to show that your idea already
has some credibility and has been reviewed. Compile all the endorsers into one list and once you have a critical mass (25-50 or more, depending on the size of your campus) present them to the administration. You can sign on campus administrators and deans in this same way.
• Students and Student Groups: Building a coalition of student groups will also serve you well in helping to convince the administration to approve your proposal. Write a pledge that student groups can sign. Email student group presidents and follow up in person. Do not limit yourself only to groups concerned with the environment; reach out to all groups and even athletic teams and fraternities/sororities to try to build as broad a base of support as
possible.
• The Campus Paper: The campus paper is the campus’ major media and what most students and faculty and administration will read for campus news. Getting articles, LTEs, and Op/Eds in the paper is a good way to pressure the administration to make a decision since the paper represents the students’ voice. You should work the campus paper in the following way:
- Set up a meeting with the paper’s editorial staff early on in the semester to alert them to your campaign and get them committed to running a series of stories about global warming and the solutions you are proposing on campus.
- When you submit your proposal write a press advisory and a press release to give to the paper along with important students/faculty/administrators to contact for quotes and other information. Include a fact sheet and the proposal you have submitted. Send all of this information to the paper and follow up immediately with a phone call or in-person visit to make sure they publish and article.
- Once an article has been printed have lead students submit letters to the editor in response to the article and in support of the proposal. Keep the topic in the paper for as long after the article is published as possible.
- Throughout the semester write and submit a series of Op/Eds to the paper, or ideally you could set up with the editorial staff to have a regular global warming/renewable energy column in which you talk about the issue and highlight your policy proposal as a solution for your campus.
•The Student Body: It can be very persuasive to the administration if a critical mass of the student body has demonstrated that they support the proposal. A few things to think about here. First, we recommend that you first line up student government, faculty and school newspaper support before you go out to the student body, because it takes less work by less people to line up these constituencies AND these are likely to be more persuasive to the administration because they are leaders in the community. Second, we recommend that you set a clear benchmark for student support that will appear meaningful, such as getting 15-25% of the student body on a petition of support.
Thanks to the mainstream media attention – Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth - the majority of Americans now recognize that global warming is real and its effects are catastrophic. The good thing is that due to all the coverage public opinion has been solidified so there is very little skepticism about global warming.
The bad news is that all the coverage has been about the problem. As a result, the public doesn’t understand the solutions and tends to think that there is no turning back. However, we have everything we need to solve global warming right now. Consider:
• TODAY-We can get a quarter of our energy from wind and solar. In fact, to provide 20% of the nation's electricity, only about 0.6% of the land of the lower 48 states would have to be developed with wind turbines. (http://www.nrel.gov/wind/wind_potential.html) Think of the potential in the windy plains of Midwest, Cape Cod, Rocky Mountains and the sun in the Southwest!
• TODAY - We can make cars that get over 100 miles per gallon, yet the U.S. average is 20 mpg. Breakthroughs are occurring each day in materials and fuel technology.
• TODAY- We can make skyscrapers, office buildings and homes so efficient that they use almost no energy.
• TODAY – Cities like Portland have already reduced their global warming pollution down to safe levels and twelve major universities now get 100% of their energy from wind and solar power.
Imagine what will be possible in 10 years! It took less than 10 years to figure out how to land a man on the moon. In 1990, cell phones were the size of a shoebox and cost a fortune. A CD player cost $900 in 1984. The price of flat screen TVs is dropping before our very eyes. Technology moves very fast when we put our minds to it.
This is all good news because, according to NASA’s chief scientist, we have just 10 years to put the basic solutions in motion. If we slow down the planet’s global warming pollution during this time and get ourselves on track to eventually reduce it down to zero, we might be able to escape the worst effects.
A lot of the pieces are falling into place. We have a bill in Congress that if enacted tomorrow, would do everything scientists say we need to do to turn the ship around. The PIRGs have done more than any other network to push the envelope on renewable energy and global warming pollution standards in the states.
But we need to move faster and the key is getting the public to be inspired by the solutions.
This is where students come in. At other times in history, students have been the catalyst for social change and this is our moment to play that role again. Consider:
• Almost every college campus in America today has a group of students working to make university more environmentally sustainable.
• Campuses are implementing global warming solutions more aggressively than anyone else. While in Oregon and other places, we’re fighting to get just 20% of our energy from wind and solar by 2010, Central Oregon CC and a dozen other schools are going almost 100% renewable this year.
• Young people are voting. Youth voter turnout increased faster than the general population in 2004 and again in 2005.
The Campus Climate Challenge is designed to set us up to lead the way, in two ways:
• Use our schools to show the public the outer limits of what is possible. Every time we get our schools to go 100% clean energy, that pushes the envelope of what’s possible. We want this to happen in more places than ever and aggressively promote what we’ve done to the media, the public and our elected officials to challenge them to follow our leadership.
• Educate our fellow students about global warming solutions. In just a few years, we are going to be teaching kids, running businesses, and electing leaders. If we engage our peers in global warming solutions now, we will be able to implement those solutions much faster in just a few years.
Are you up for the Challenge? Over 300 high schools and colleges have joined the Campus Climate Challenge. By 2008, over 1000 schools will be participating!
This toolkit is designed to give you the tools you need to get the Challenge started and keep it going! We update this toolkit frequently as we get more ideas and resources, so check back at www.ClimateChallenge.org or email jessy@energyaction.net updates.