I approve signing this on behalf of the system - thanks, Evan, for your leadership

    Tim

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 11, 2019, at 2:32 PM, Delucia, Evan H <delucia@illinois.edu> wrote:

Dear Tim,

All three U of I campuses have signed the Second Nature climate commitment for American higher education institutions.  The Climate Emergency Letter is associated with international efforts, and it is already signed by Second Nature, automatically bringing in our three campuses.  It is an opportunity to reinforce the commitments of the Urbana, Springfield, and Chicago campuses, while also sending a clear signal to the System Office departments and employees. 

The letter is simply this:

“As institutions and networks of higher and further education from across the world, we collectively declare a Climate Emergency in recognition of the need for a drastic societal shift to combat the growing threat of climate change. 

The young minds that are shaped by our institutions must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and capability to respond to the ever-growing challenges of climate change. We all need to work together to nurture a habitable planet for future generations and to play our part in building a greener and cleaner future for all.

We are today committing to collectively step up to the challenge by supporting a three-point plan which includes:

1.       Mobilizing more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation;

2.       Committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest;

3.       Increasing the delivery of environmental and sustainability education across curriculum, campus and community outreach programmes.

We call on governments and other education institutions to join us in declaring a Climate Emergency and back this up with actions that will help create a better future for both people and our planet.”  

The Urbana commitment is to be carbon neutral as soon as possible, and no later than 2050, I am writing to ask that you sign the Climate Emergency Letter to formally have our System join the commitment and the international movement. 

This has a deadline of November 1, 2019, so that the signatories can be shared at the COP 25 in Chile this December. Click here to sign.

Thanks,

Evan

-- 

Evan H. De Lucia, Ph.D.
G. William Arends Professor of Integrative Biology
Baum Family Director, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment
Director, Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation
University of Illinois

phone: 217 333 6177
fax: 217 244 7246

http://sustainability.illinois.edu
https://cabbi.bio/