Academy Reveals New Environmental Action Plan

By PHIN GIBBS, JOONYOUNG HEO and LILY RAMPE

At the start of the Climate Action Day assembly on April 30, Principal William Rawson presented a new sustainability plan that outlined the Academy’s commitment to combating climate change and supporting environmental conservation.

The plan itself was published on the Academy’s website in late April. Outlined into three different sections, it signifies a major first step toward a greener future for the campus. The first section ensures that every Exonian, by graduation, is aware of the importance of sustainability and the looming threat of climate change; the second identifies tangible goals of limiting carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2031 and going zero-carbon by 2051; and the third looks to integrating eco-friendly principles to life on campus.

The Academy’s administration had several goals in creating this plan. “The purpose was threefold: develop an updated environmental mission statement, define our overarching goals for sustainability and climate action, and provide a road map for a community-wide commitment to action,” Rawson said. “More fundamentally, I hope we will foster a strong culture of sustainability in our school community and live up to our environmental mission statement.”

“It compiles a list of what the school has done to date in terms of improving its efforts around sustainability,” Sustainability Coordinator and Instructor in Science Andrew McTammany said. “That allows us to go check, check, check, and okay, this is what we’ve done and this is what we need to do. It tells us where we need to be in the future if we’re going to be committed as a school to sustainability. It’s written down in the plan, so now we have to hold ourselves to it.”

Other members of the community certainly recognized the significance of the plan. “This is PEA’s first sustainability and climate action plan,” Manager of Sustainability and Natural Resources Warren Biggins said. “By adopting this plan and formalizing our commitment to sustainability, we’re doubling down on our progress to date with a map for a community-wide commitment to action.”

“It’s a major step forward for the Academy,” Instructor in Science Elizabeth Stevens said. “It means that when important decisions are being made that will impact the future of PEA, this document will be brought out and referred to. It means that with every new project on campus, we will need to revisit the climate action plan. It means that in new curricula we will need to consider whether the educational goals are being met.”

In terms of executing the plan itself, the administration has set goals in the short term. “Responsibility for implementing the plan will be widely distributed among faculty for educational initiatives and Facilities Management, and other non-academic departments for initiatives pertaining to operations and infrastructure,” Rawson said. “Leadership certainly will be provided by Mr. Biggins as our Manager of Sustainability and Natural Resources, and by Mr. Kelly as our new Sustainability Education Coordinator. Many others will contribute or play leadership roles in their respective areas of responsibility. I expect students to be engaged and play leadership roles as well.”

“Of immediate interest, we will integrate geothermal heating and cooling in our new dining hall construction and renovations of Davis Building and the Academy Building,” Rawson continued. “New global studies programs with a sustainability theme are already being developed.  Many other ideas, actions, and potential strategies are outlined in the ‘Way Forward’ portions of the plan.”

Some folks emphasized the importance of community engagement in implementing this plan. “I think our bigger task as a community is thinking about how to shift the focus from individual success to collective and community success,” Sustainability Education Coordinator and Instructor in English Jason BreMiller said. “We’re a school that thrives on the individual trajectory of each of our students. That’s a big part of the culture and value system here. And there’s a lot about the climate conversation that shifts that focus to the collective. I think that’s a challenge — how do we start to shift culture to get students to slow down enough to think about their individual actions?”

As with my ambitious projects, of course, the administration expects a few challenges ahead. “I think the most difficult goal to achieve will be reducing PEA’s emissions by 75% by 2031 and reaching zero emissions by 2050,” Biggins said. “In order to reach both goals, we’ll have to address our central heating plant, which currently burns natural gas and occasionally #2 fuel oil to generate steam for heat and hot water in our campus buildings.”

“To reach the 2031 goal, we’ll most likely have to identify an alternative, low-carbon fuel source, or pursue carbon capture technologies,” Biggins continued. “Both strategies may require large upfront costs, as well as retrofits to our plant. While we don’t know exactly how we’ll reach the 2050 goal yet, we do know that there will be significant costs involved and that decarbonizing the campus will be a lengthy process.”

Many components of the plan were also left largely open-ended, with the intention to allow future students and faculty to adapt the plan to fit their circumstances. “The plan doesn’t lay out an intricate map that tells you exactly how to get from point A to point B,” McTammany said. “We couldn’t do that because we don’t know how technology will evolve. So we deliberately left it up to future actors enacting the plan — future students, faculty, trustees. This process is going to take a lot of time, and we tried to account for that. It may seem a little vague, but we’re really leaving room for imagination and potential growth in the future.”

Albeit in a relatively limited capacity, student voices had a hand in making the plan. “I met with student leaders of the Environmental Action Committee several times, as did Mr. McTammany, and their perspective certainly influenced my thinking, especially regarding the educational components,” Rawson said.

“The administration consulted us,” senior and former co-head of the Environmental Action Committee Alysha Lai said. “We were invited to some of the board meetings with the teachers and trustees, and they asked us for suggestions on what to include in the plan. I do wish we could have played a bigger role in making it, but I understand that, as students, it’s a bit hard for us to have that kind of job. I’m glad we were able to contribute regardless.”

In conjunction with the administration and sustainability-driven committees on campus, such input has created a plan that affirms in writing the Academy’s commitment to taking real environmental action in the future, and one that the community can be proud of.

“If I were to say one thing, it would be that the plan was meant to inspire our faculty, our alumni, and our students to challenge us to be better,” McTammany said. “And I really hope, as people read the plan, that they know how they want to contribute and how to make Exeter stay committed to the goals outlined here. The plan inspires the entire campus to think about environmental action on a day-to-day basis.”