Chill Out Campus Solutions to Global Warming

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Chill Out 2008

Eight colleges and universities from across America won national recognition in the National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming 2008 nationwide competition. This award program honors the U.S. schools that are ahead of their time in addressing global warming and being highly creative in doing so.

The eight winning schools were chosen from a nationwide pool of entries. The winners included: a new model carbon trading system, extreme energy efficiency measures, an energy efficiency and renewable energy plan that leads to carbon neutrality, the use of forest land for carbon storage, and ways to reduce the global warming impact of commuting students.

"Every one of our Chill Out winners deserves an Oscar for the example they have set," says Julian Keniry, Director of Campus and Community Leadership for the National Wildlife Federation. "Campuses nationwide are demonstrating that we can combat global warming, protect habitat and save money at the same time. These campuses are actually doing what the science says should be done to reduce the threat of global warming."

The National Wildlife Federation's Chill Out Competition takes the global warming discussion to the next level by showcasing campuses that have stepped up and implemented real solutions for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the root cause of global warming.

Butte College in Oroville, California was named the Grand Prize Winner. Butte College, a two-year community college, is on the track to be carbon neutral by 2015, without carbon offsets. It is employing energy efficiency measures in all campus facilities. The College boasts a broad array of comprehensive global warming pollution reduction initiatives, including a Sustainability Studies certificate program and degree program that will be in place by the fall of 2008. The College also runs the largest community college transportation system in California, recycles more than 75 percent of its operations waste stream, and has a solar panel that accounts for 28% of the campus electricity use.

The winning videos and projects were featured in the Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming webcast on April 16, 2008, which was broadcast live from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The webcast also featured a special message from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), as well as a panel discussion of university students and staff.

The winners will also receive a grant from the National Wildlife Federation to continue exploring innovating global warming solutions.

The 2008 Chill Out webcast was a part of global warming events scheduled on more than 175 college campuses, which represented 44 states, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Iran, Syria, India and Canada.

The National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Program has been an integral part of the campus greening movement since 1989. The nation's 4,100 colleges and universities educate more than 15 million students in any given year making these schools important laboratories for creativity and innovation--keys to tackling a monumental crisis like global warming.