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| Michigan School pledges to become first carbon neutral school  Okemos High School (Michigan) launched its Alternative Energy and Sustainability Program and pledged to become the first high school in the world to go carbon neutral. The program aspires to attain this through energy efficiency, green energy and carbon offsets through mass volunteerism and global outreach programs. Given the enormous challenge of global warming and climate change Dr. John Lanzetta, Ph.D, Principal; Okemos High School said "This program has been conceived by the students with a very ambitious and noble goal of making Okemos High School the first carbon neutral high school in the world."Hemi Gandhi, Founder and President of Carbon Neutral Volunteers, developed the idea of Volunteer Carbon Credits while working closely with Professor Brian S Thompson, Outreach & Engagement Senior Fellow of Michigan State University on his research in the field of sustainability and alternative energy. Professor Thompson explains: "Whereas the Kyoto Protocols and Voluntary Carbon Markets are primarily focused on large corporations and organizations, the concept of Volunteer Carbon Credits mobilizes ordinary citizens and leverages their passion and commitment to make behavioral and monetary pledges to offset the carbon footprint of an institution of their choice." "The Carbon Neutral Volunteers website allows volunteers to purchase solar ovens for deployment in Tanzania, Peru and India thereby reducing the destruction of trees, the burning of fossil fuels and the related soil degradation," Hemi Gandhi adds. The website also offers individuals the choice of making personal commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by conserving energy at home, carpooling and planting trees while providing a quantitative estimate of the impact of individual choices on reducing the global carbon footprint. The Volunteer Carbon Credits earned through these actions are then credited to Okemos High School." The Michigan based team is planning on expanding this concept to all schools within North America and launching a Global Challenge 2009 for Carbon Neutral Schools around the world. They plan to present their ideas at the International Conference on Energy and Sustainability in June 2009 in Bologna, Italy. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Construction News :: home page |