On the weekend of September 8th, New Haven was brimming with energy. There were events happening throughout the city to foster progress for people and the environment.
The first was a summit presented by the Yale Art Gallery and Artspace, a contemporary art non-profit. This summit, called “Homage: Soil and Site” was seven hours long and drew in some of the national leaders in the environmental movement today—household names like Eddie Bautista and Elizabeth Yeampierre. Oh, you haven’t heard of them? There’s a reason for that. They are self-proclaimed environmental justice advocates, a group that has had little space or power in the environmental movement until recently.
Environmental justice, put simply, is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to environmental conditions, regulation, and change. Those on the frontlines of climate change and other forms of environmental degradation are often the most economically and politically repressed. Impoverished island nations facing increased hurricane activity, poor urban communities facing the worst of air pollution, minority communities having little influence over the siting of a landfill in their backyard, and indigenous people facing potential contamination of their rivers by powerful oil companies should be given a seat at the table in discussions of policy and change. After all, they’re the ones who have experience dealing with the problems that we’re trying to solve. 
After decades of effort on the part of environmental justice advocates, we are finally reaching a point where all voices are being heard. This was evident at event number two of the September 8th weekend, a rally for “Climate, Jobs, and Justice.” This event was unique in the groups that came together in order to make it happen. There were the typical organizations that are an important presence at environmental rallies in the state, notably the Sierra Club and 350CT, in addition to other groups such as the CT Puerto Rican Alliance. This meant that there was a larger variety of speakers and performances than the typical rally. There was a presentation of an electric car, and there was also a performance by local rappers about police brutality. There was a call to action for protecting CT’s Green Bank, and there was a young Latinx girl who sung about coming together as one. One stop of the rally was to admire a fuel cell, while another was for a local group to speak on issues related to prison reform. Rallies like this give hope for continued collaboration as we strive to create a safe and healthy environment for all people.
The OEP is working on incorporating environmental justice as a focus as well. We recognize the importance of indigenous people to our country and to the environmental movement. Worldwide, they are protectors of 80% of the world’s biodiversity, despite only living on 20% of the world’s land. They hold Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) that is vital to the stewardship of land, and utilized by many, including the US National Park Service. To honor this, we have partnered with Global House to hold a film screening and discussion of Sacred Water: Standing Rock Part 2 on October 3rd about the Standing Rock protests. It’s the kickoff for Indigenous People’s Week, a series of events at UConn that aim to replace Columbus Day with a celebration of indigenous people in our country. Please join us in the Global House Lounge at 5:30pm to learn more about this incredible population of people!
2010, UConn created its Climate Action Plan (CAP) aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the University. The goal of this plan is to be carbon neutral by 2050, with an interim milestone of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% from the 2007 baseline by 2020. The OEP has worked with a number of UConn departments to achieve this goal through projects such as re-lamping with LEDs, other energy efficiency measures in existing facilities, and a strict LEED Gold-certified green building policy for new construction.
While UConn did emit more GHGs this year than last, the University is still on track to meet its 20% emissions reduction goal by 2020. When ongoing and proposed energy efficiency and clean energy projects are accounted for, UConn is on track to reduce emissions by 32,614 tons by 2020. This would be a 21.38% reduction, exceeding the 20% reduction goal. One possible development that could influence this projection is the number of curtailment days the university utilizes. During especially cold winter days on campus, when the demand for natural gas is high, UConn burns oil (a more carbon-intensive fossil fuel) instead of natural gas. For future projections, 20 curtailment days are accounted for, with each curtailment day adding 210 tons of emissions to the total. Under our three year gas procurement contract with CNG, however, it is possible for the University to have up to 30 curtailment days in a year. When the additional ten curtailment days are accounted for, the projected percent reduction drops from 21.38% to just 20%, right at the goal, leaving less room for unanticipated emissions increases.
To help offset the impact of curtailment days, UConn continues to focus on its ongoing emissions reduction initiatives, like re-lamping and steam line replacement projects. OEP and Energy Management staff estimate that campus-wide LED retrofitting of all interior and exterior lighting will contribute nearly 40% of emission reductions needed by 2020, with steam projects contributing another 30%. Given the momentum from these ambitious projects, we are optimistic that UConn will achieve its 2020 reduction goal!
