On Oct. 31, Creighton University kicked off its implementation of the Climate Action Plan. Creighton’s campus will use fuels that do not reduce or contribute to the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere. Former Creighton president the Rev. John Schlegel S.J. supported the pledge and Creighton’s current president, the Rev. Timothy Lannon S.J., supports the plan as well. During the kickoff, the importance of sustainability was discussed. Sustainability is important to Creighton’s campus because it supports long-term economical benefits, such as conserving natural resources. According to Mary J. Duda, the chemical and sustainability coordinator of Creighton’s Environment Health and Safety Program, a baseline greenhouse gas inventory was made in 2010 to determine how much Creighton’s campus needed to reduce. Creighton has chosen to promote carbon neutral gas on campus by initiating the development of a plan to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible. The Sustainability Council, which was established in 2008, plans to create institutional structures to guide the development of the plan. Hopefully within one year of signing this document, Creighton will have “completed a list of all greenhouse gas emissions and will have updated the inventory every other year thereafter.” Creighton hopes that within two years of signing this document, it will have a plan for becoming climate neutral.  This will include a target date for achieving climate neutrality, targets for goals and actions that will lead to climate neutrality and ways to educate Creighton students about climate neutrality. Jay Leighter developed the Climate Action Plan goals and recommendations and the final plan is due January of 2013.

This Climate Action Plan and Creighton’ new policy of climate neutrality will be beneficial to the Creighton community in many ways. This plan will provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at Creighton. Creighton will become a participant in the national RecycleMania competitions, and will adopt measures to reduce waste. This will make Creighton a healthier campus and will provide faculty and staff with many energy friendly resources.