Our atmosphere is warming at an unprecedented rate, and to combat a catastrophic future, drastic international action must take place. While 195 countries across the world have dedicated themselves to the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to reduce global warming to less than 2° C in this century, the United States is withdrawing from this accord. Because of this disappointing lack of federal action regarding climate change, action now must be taken by state/local governments and businesses/institutions to uphold these goals. Hundreds of colleges have already pledged their support of the Paris Climate agreement through the “We are Still In” campaign, including Chesapeake College, Towson University, Salisbury University, Goucher College, and the University of Maryland. Washington College is lagging behind these schools in this initiative. To read the full list of schools already showing their support for the Paris Climate Agreement, click here.

Washington College has already taken various measures to increase sustainability on campus including recycling, composting, renewable energy infrastructure, waste reduction initiatives, and more. In addition, Washington College has pledged for full carbon neutrality by 2070, a pledge mediated by secondnature.org. To continue this momentum and further strengthen our support to combat climate change, Washington College next must join our institutional peers and symbolically sign onto the Paris Climate Change Agreement. In doing so Washington College would join hundreds of other schools in doing its part to limit average global warming to 2° C. Doing so will also provide further motivation for Washington College to meet and exceed our carbon neutrality goals, possibly prior to the current deadline of 2070. Click here below for more information about the “We are Still In” movement to symbolically sign onto the Paris Climate Agreement.

The Student Environmental Alliance at Washington College has been working hard to increase campus sustainability, and we are overjoyed to have the support of many allies in the Washington College community. As students we are disheartened at the lack of federal action to combat climate change, but we find hope in the “We are Still In” movement. Situated on the Chester River near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, students of Washington College have an inherent connection with their environment, and climate change exposes our waterways to extreme risk.  With increasing support from campus allies, we hope we will be the next college to sign onto the Paris Agreement and that college president Kurt Landgraf will sign Washington College onto the “We are Still In Campaign.”