CIRP 5333, Project Planning: Carbon Footprint Analysis, May 2008
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Howard, School of Urban & Public Affairs
Numerous universities across the country have conducted “carbon footprint analyses” to document their emissions of greenhouse gases and to facilitate plans to reduce their institutional contribution to global climate change. This intensive, graduate-level Maymester course is designed to produce an analysis that Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck asked the university to conduct, that President Spaniolo’s office has agreed to undertake, and that both the university and Arlington have agreed to support. The analysis will closely parallel one that the City is already undertaking (focusing on municipal government and community-wide emissions) and that is expected to be completed in early 2008.
Students will collectively carry out the analysis and prepare a professional-quality report for the President’s Sustainability Committee. The course will be open to grad students from across the campus (and potentially to senior undergrads) and is expected to be of particular interest to students in the School of Urban & Public Affairs, Environmental & Earth Science, Environmental Engineering, and Architecture. It will involve extensive collaboration between the students, the instructor, the staff of Facilities Management, and the staff of the City of Arlington’s Environmental Services Department.
Students interested in taking the course should contact Jeff Howard (howardj@uta.edu). Registration begins April 7 for current students and April 21 for new students.
All sessions will be 6:00 – 9:45 p.m., location TBA
Monday, May 12 — Class begins
Tuesday, May 13
Wednesday, May 14
Thursday, May 15
Friday, May 16
Saturday, May 17
Monday, May 19
Tuesday, May 20
Wednesday, May 21
Thursday, May 22
Friday, May 23 — Last class
Friday, May 30 — Report to be completed
What a great idea and one that needs to be done in Fort Worth and county-wide. The wild card is, of course, campus gas drilling, the new elephant in town. As much as I admire UTA and Arlington for undertaking these studies, I find it incredibly incongruent that they would allow urban/campus gas drilling in the first place. If there is legitimate concern about the carbon footprint, drilling should have been rejected on campus and resisted/regulated more forcefully city-wide. Still, I have to give you credit, especially Dr. Jeff Howard, for doing the studies. That kind of leadership is non existent on the west end of I-30.
DY
For more of Don’s musings on this, see this entry in his blog:
http://www.fwcando.org/node/132
The Star-Telegram’s blog also has a note on the matter:
http://startelegram.typepad.com/barnett_shale/
Shorthorn article on the course:
http://mavspace.uta.edu/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-553814_4
Reports on other universities’ greenhouse gas emission inventories:
http://www.aashe.org/resources/ghg_inventories.php
Hi
I am a resident of forest glen. Whenever I go to dispose trash, I see the recycling and other bin filled with material is that is supposed to be in the other bin. This is a clear waste of resources and shows carelessness of people for the environment. How do we solve this issue ?
My friend, who stays with me, and works night shifts in a campus computing lab tells me that he saw the garbage truck collect stuff from both bins into the same pan – leaving no separation. I have not seen this. However, if this is true, is the company separating the stuff later ? If not, what is the use of having two bins ?
Duncan Disposal trucks pick up the waste while Abitibi trucks pick up the recycling container. We are in the process of printing a flyer that identifies the green and yellow container as a recycling container, what goes into the container and offer a recycling bag for their apartment. We do this each September to bring awareness to new students that move into the apartments.