Zoom In on Climate Action and Sustainabiity
The new Climate Action and Sustainability Plan for the Medical School is moving forward, and your voice is needed. Three virtual community review sessions are scheduled on Zoom to get your input on a range of initiatives that will help the institution move toward its long-term goals of net-zero climate impact.
The first Zoom session will be Nov. 18, from 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Registration Link
The second Zoom meeting will be Dec. 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Registration Link
A special student-only meeting is set for Dec. 10, beginning at 8:30 p.m.
Registration Link
“These will be interactive meetings and we hope to hear from a lot of the community,” said Suzanne Wood, associate director of sustainability and campus services at UMass Chan, who will host the Zoom meetings. “We’ll give people an update on the work that’s been done so far, go over the goals, and then open it up for discussion.”
In February, before on-campus activities were curtailed, the Climate Action Planning Committee held its launch meeting. The group includes staff from several facilities management departments, students and faculty, who together will play a leadership role in the 10-month planning process.
The Medical School’s plan will align with the -10 pillars of the university-wide sustainability policy. Those areas are:
- Sustainability planning
- Clean energy
- Climate resilience and preparedness
- Green building design and sustainable operations
- Sustainable transportation
- Waste reduction and recycling
- Environmentally preferable purchasing
- Sustainable food services
- Sustainable water systems
- Academic/research programing and community engagement
To guide the planning process, UMass Chan is working with GreenerU, a consulting group with a mission to help higher education and health care organizations mitigate the impacts of climate change. GreenerU supports institutions in the development and implementation of climate action plans that save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Medical School’s climate action planning process began in 2019 with a survey to establish a baseline of the community’s awareness and concerns about climate change. For more information on the survey results, see the story at https://www.umassmed.edu/growinggreen/newsletter/sustain-survey-results-2019/