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The United Nations recently issued a “red alert,” warning that climate change spurred by industrialization, fossil fuels and human behavior will lead to more weather-related disasters in our warming planet.

Raul Galvan, from �ʼһ���’s class of 2021, wrestles with what he can do. Tackling climate change on a large scale is overwhelming. You can’t fix the whole world at once, he said, but you can change your community.

At �ʼһ���, he collaborated with other students, and college and town leaders on a new 2021 climate action plan to reduce the college’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent over the next five years. Strategies include contracting with renewable energy sources, pursuing more environmentally friendly travel options, and continuing the push for campus-wide sustainability.

Tackling Climate Change Through Policy

Pete Hansel always knew he wanted to combat climate change and started down that path as a �ʼһ��� chemistry major focused on atmospheric chemistry. After his 2009 graduation, he earned a master’s degree in environmental management from The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.

He has spent his career working for change from a federal policy angle. He served in the Council on Environmental Quality during President Barack Obama’s administration. The Obama team’s goal for the Paris Agreement of 2015 was to reduce emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, with a long-term aspiration for an 80 percent reduction by 2050. President Joe Biden strives to reach net zero emissions by 2050. In the shorter term, Biden’s plan calls for a 50 to 52 percent reduction by 2030.

(Former President Donald J. Trump, who cut environmental regulations, withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement his first year in office, but that didn’t go into effect until late 2020. Biden signed an executive order to rejoin the international pact on his inauguration day.)

Hansel said the changed goals reflect that the world has made less progress than hoped for, and factors in the higher ambition called for in the Paris Agreement: “Meaning we need to do more,” he said, “and we have a greater understanding of what we actually need to achieve by 2050 to curb climate change.

The evidence is mounting.

“For me personally, this year more than ever has demonstrated how we’re experiencing climate catastrophe,” Hansel said. “There’s a level of intensity—it seems like every day—that I don’t remember experiencing before, and it’s disheartening. But there’s also a reason for optimism because we do have in our grasp the ability to prevent even worse outcomes.”

Hansel, now consulting for non-profits on federal climate policy, studied �ʼһ���’s current plan and found a lot to like.

“It hits all the right notes,” he said.

For starters, it works in five-year increments, which ensures accountability to achieve its goals.

“It’s harder to think about 10 years down the road or to mid-century,” he said. “You do have to have that long-term vision, but near-term targets are more actionable. As new technology and information emerges, you might realize that you can go at a faster pace.

“I applaud �ʼһ��� for revisiting this and leaning in to become a leader on these issues that are affecting our generation and generations to come.”

That �ʼһ��� now offers an established Environmental Studies major is also progress since his time there. He said it helps to have more people go into the field to find ways to reduce global warming in their homes, businesses and communities.

“When colleges like �ʼһ��� commit to these targets, it all adds up. There’s so much that needs to be done in figuring out how to solve this in the United States and the world,” he said. “You can think of it on a broader scale, but it comes down to very detailed decisions among many smaller entities. That’s the value of �ʼһ��� doing this. That knowledge bubbles up, and the lessons learned at �ʼһ��� can spread.”