Colleges promise green living
Rev. Robert Lawton, Loyola Marymount University's president, signed the Climate Commitment today, pledging the school will help reduce global emissions by 80 percent by 2050. More than 200 schools added their names to a list that includes UCLA, Mount St. Mary's University, Whittier College and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
In the agreement, the presidents said they are "deeply concerned about the unprecedented scale and speed of global warming and its potential for large-scale, adverse health, social, economic and ecological effects. We recognize the scientific consensus that global warming is real and is largely being caused by humans."
On its Web site, LMU pitches itself as a green-conscious campus because it uses recycled water for its landscape, low-water consuming toilets and has implemented a university-wide recycling program. LMU has the largest solar electric rooftop system of any university in the world, according to the Web site.
The solar rooftop system -- installed on the roofs of University Hall and Von der Ahe Library -- generates 868,000 kilowatt hours annually and provides 26 percent of the total energy used at the university.
Addendum: For the past 6 years, residents living on McConnell Avenue in Kentwood have been at odds with LMU over the recycling center, which they say has brought noise, odors and gnats. Kristin Agostoni's Aug. 20 story was reprinted over at WestchesterParents.org at the time.