Upcoming Climate Summit stresses urgent need to act

By Lilly Kujawski
Editor

As climate concerns come to head, the annual WCC Climate Summit is set to return.

Hosted by the college’s Sustainability Literacy Task Force, the summit is an educational event intended to teach about climate change, and inspire action, according to Emily Thompson, an environmental science teacher and Sustainability Literacy Task Force leader.

“We can and must mitigate climate change as rapidly as possible,” Thompson said. “There are only 11 years left to mitigate this, so we have to make some drastic changes; not just personal, but there must be political solutions.”

Speakers at the event will include Smita Malpani, an environmental science teacher, Bradley Metz, a life sciences teacher, and Bill Ghrist, manager of energy and system integrations at WCC.

Ghrist’s talk will mostly focus on campus conservation efforts and the college’s energy consumption, including electricity, natural gas and water usage, he said.

WCC holds a bronze level certification for its climate action plan from the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System, Ghrist said. This ranking is reported by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Thompson hopes the event will serve as a way to educate students, staff and faculty about the realities of climate change, while also instilling a sense of hope and motivation.

The climate summit will take place on Oct. 31 at 10:30 a.m. in LA 275.

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