Climate Action Plan - ACUPCC Reports - Climate Commitment

attending to what, when, and how successes get communicated, using pervasive—andpaperless—forms of new media as much as possible.Behind all of the recommendations in this report lies a shift away from thinking ofsustainability as an unavoidable cost to seeing it as an unsurpassable investment in thefuture of the University. Every dollar spent on improving our collective environmentalfootprint leverages far more in return by strengthening the resiliency and resolveof this community to do what no other university our size has done. And every steptaken to enhance the campus ecosystem moves us several steps further toward a morerobust academic ecology. In that sense, this report of the University SustainabilityGoals and Outcomes Committee represents not only the conclusions of a sizablegroup of committed colleagues, but also the commencement of our truly becoming atop three public research university.Thomas FisherDean, College of DesignGoing to the MallPresident Robert Bruininks joins students from a wide variety of majorsat the University of Minnesota who have collaborated to build a house poweredentirely by the sun. The effort of some 150 University students is partof the 2009 international Solar Decathlon competition in Washington, D.C.U of M Systemwide Sustainability • 11