Graphic by Delaney Gardner ‘26
By Emily Berg ’28
Science & Environment Editor
As climate activism at Mount Holyoke heats up following the U.S. presidential election, a recent Community Commitment to Climate Justice meeting and a Mount Holyoke News interview with the director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment highlighted a College administration perspective on the role of higher education institutions in climate action, and the need for clear communication between community members for effective change in climate action.
While recent political activity is generating anxiety for climate activists, there is a rise in energy towards sustainability progress on the state level throughout Massachusetts, as well as at the college administration and student levels at the College. Initiatives like the Comprehensive Campus Plan, the organization of the Sunrise Hub, and anticipation around clean energy solutions in Massachusetts are all examples of potential steps towards climate action. However, there are issues with communication within Mount Holyoke College’s chain of command, and as new climate initiatives take foot, there needs to be transparency between different roles on campus.
The Miller Worley Center for the Environment hosted the virtual CC2CJ meeting on Feb. 14, open to all Mount Holyoke community members. Occurring twice a semester, this meeting “...seeks to enhance communication and coordination on sustainability efforts and identify commitments from the college’s primary stakeholders to address both carbon neutrality goals and sustainable actions” and that they “rely on a transparent and sustained dialogue to develop goals that are agreeable to each stakeholder group and that can be revisited regularly.”
Gathering several faculty and staff members, student leaders and Miller Worley Center fellows, the CC2CJ meeting reported on progress regarding previous CC2CJ initiatives, and developed small working groups to create action steps for a Conscious Commuting Day, a project organized by Billie Joan Hill-Baldauf ’27 and Mary Allison “MAK” Kane from the Miller Worley Center. This event will take place around Earth Day, and will encourage non-residential Mount Holyoke community members to think about the ways that they are getting to campus.
These working groups discussed potential attendee incentives, outreach, marketing and accessibility considerations, as well as transportation logistics and stakeholders for this event. A takeaway from the groups suggests having the College’s Student Government Association play a role in promoting the Conscious Commuting Day, as it would be a powerful and effective method for reaching faculty and staff. This dialogue not only developed steps for climate action items, but also provided a space for attendees of different roles on campus to exchange ideas freely and work together on a common goal, setting an example for larger conversations around climate action on campus.
Following the CC2CJ meeting, Mount Holyoke News sat down with Olivia Aguilar, director of the Miller Worley Center for the Environment, to discuss her experience at the Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit. Held in early February in Washington D.C., the Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit is an annual conference for higher education leaders to network with peers and learn from speakers about how endowments can advance investment strategies towards climate equity.
There are multiple steps for higher education institutions to make changes in their sustainability practices and become leaders of climate action. “Colleges really can become leaders when we are faced with a drastic lack of leadership at the government level … I don't think industry is going to step up and be the leaders. I think education and I think municipalities and local governments will be the leaders on climate and climate justice,” Aguilar said. Colleges like those within the State University of New York and the University of California system have large carbon footprints, so their process would involve analyzing their emission impacts, and adjusting accordingly.
However, for schools like Mount Holyoke with smaller footprints, the strategy for progress is through utilizing endowments. “Colleges with really big endowments can really push where people generally are investing their money and in what they're investing their money in … This summit is held in collaboration with the Intentional Endowment Network, because people have recognized that we can actually make a bigger impact when we use our endowment to do it,” Aguilar said. She stated that the first step for managing endowments for climate action is through divestment, which the College has already accomplished. The next step involves intentional investments, questioning whom the endowment is specifically supporting and how that is pushing research and development in certain areas.
Another actionable step for colleges of any size involves pushing for policies at the local level. “We might not be able to really push for policy at the federal level, but certainly at the state level, we can push, and luckily, we have senators that are empathetic and willing to listen to the issue of climate justice concerns, so really pushing on them to enforce or even to create standards is something that we could do,” Aguilar said.
As for the College’s next steps, Aguilar stated, “I'm very interested in figuring out how we can embark on a climate action plan for the college…which would be more encompassing [than a carbon neutrality goal], because it would be thinking about not only our carbon footprint, but also thinking about how do we want to be a partner in terms of climate change to our community, and also, how do we want to be resilient in the face of climate change?” She is confident that the campus would respond positively to this endeavor, and that the Campus Comprehensive Plan framework would provide good background information for a climate action plan.
Aguilar also noted that the summit carried a different tone than previous years, as conversations surrounding the new U.S. presidential administration sparked questions about how higher education institutions will move forward with investments. “[Mount Holyoke will] remain committed to these goals in the face of this new administration, [but] it will be more difficult for some [institutions] than it will be for others, particularly if they're relying on federal funding,” Aguilar said. She also commented that in terms of sustainability on campus, recent executive orders will likely not affect aspects of the daily structures on campus like dining operations, but could alter bigger financial decisions involving grants between the college and the city.
A common obstacle hindering higher education institutions’ climate action goals is campus-wide messaging and communication. This is a key factor in uniting campus communities and developing a common understanding of what a college is able to accomplish collectively. “As a center for the environment, or if you're a sustainability director … you can only do so much,” Aguilar said.
“But you need students to sort of be pushing for the things that you're trying to accomplish,” she continued. “And you need the students to be talking to the administration, the trustees, to say that ‘we want it done’ so, it starts from [the] ground up, sort of what the CC2CJ is meant to be,” Aguilar noted. CC2CJ meetings are a great place for students to understand what is happening on the administration level behind the scenes, and for administrators, faculty and staff to understand what students actually care about and intend to focus on.
Discussions within the CC2CJ meeting and at the Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit emphasized the need for transparency on climate action at all levels of higher education institutions. Mount Holyoke College faculty and staff are willing and ready to listen to what students have to say, and the Miller Worley Center wants to advocate for their concerns at the administrative level. The final in-person CC2CJ meeting of the semester will occur on May 9, and serves as an opportunity for any Mount Holyoke community member to not only learn more about what is happening with sustainability initiatives on all levels of the campus, but to freely share their ideas in front of an audience of community members with many different roles at the College.
“What we pay attention to grows. So if students want [climate action] to grow, they need to pay attention to it. And if the administrators want us to do and be leaders, they need to pay attention to it as well. Because we're here and we can do as much as we can, but if nobody else is really invested or interested, what are we doing this for?” Aguilar said.
Adeyla Hoenck '28 contributed fact-checking.