Sierra Club petitions for ‘green’ campus

The West Virginia University Sierra Student Coalition is petitioning for University support of the new President's Climate Commitment Campaign this week.

Universities will pledge to be leaders for emission reduction, clean energy, efficiency and sustainability as part of the campaign. The SSC, an environmental group on campus, hopes WVU will join.

Miranda Miller, a freshman social work major and member of the SSC, said it's part of a nationally run campaign that more than 600 universities have already signed on to.

"It's basically stipulating that the president of the University will sign the commitment to create a plan and oversee a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on campus and make sustainability a priority on their campus," Miller said.

The Coalition currently has about 200 signatures and hopes to get 500 signatures by the end of the semester.

"Right now we our collecting petitions to show President (James P.) Clements that there is a lot of support for such an initiative here at WVU," Miller said.

The overall goal of the organization is to get Clements' signature to show WVU's commitment and participation in the campaign, said Maria Panaccione, a freshman international studies and geography major and SSC member.

The SSC began working on the campaign this past Monday by collecting signatures inside and around the Mountainlair, Panaccione said.

"We've also been doing a photo petition. We have a speech bubble, which people hold up that says, ‘Hey, President Clements, sign the PCC and make WVU carbon neutral.'"

SSC members are planning to walk around the Mountainlair with the photo petitions again, Panaccione said.

"It's a cool campaign because it's very adaptable to your campus," Miller said. "Our hope for it is to involve the new Office of Sustainability here at WVU and involve student organizations that are invested in
environmental justice and those ideals."

Though the Coalition has yet to meet with Clements, they hope to do so by the end of the semester.With or without a meeting by the end of the semester, Miller said the Coalition still plans to show Clements the amount of support the campaign has received so far at WVU. "We'll be sending all of the petitions and photos to President Clements at the end of the semester to show him where we are and what we hope to work toward in the fall," Miller said.