PHL 195 Bailey CBL Project: PCC Climate Action Plan
Starting your research
The first step in any research project is to do some background reading. This will help you understand the context of the issue, which will allow your research to be more targeted. Background research will also help you find a range of topic options, and determine if a particular topic will work well for your assignment.
PCC’s 2021 Climate Action Plan: Resiliency, Equity and Education for a Just Transition is the college’s five-year roadmap towards climate justice. The 2021 plan establishes a new carbon neutrality goal of 2040. The picture to the right shows PCC President Mark Mitsui at an international conference on higher education and climate action. His #Stillin sign shows that PCC continues to work towards the commitments of the Paris Climate Accords. Source: https://www.pcc.edu/news/2018/01/mark-mitsui-2018/
For this project, you will focus on the following aspects of learning gardens, one of the components of the PCC Climate Action Plan:
1. Gardens remove toxins from the soil
2. Gardens improve air quality
3. Gardens provide wildlife habitat
4. Gardens reduce water runoff
5. Gardens capture and store carbon (biological carbon sequestration)
6. Gardens reduce topsoil erosion
The links below provide some places to get started. A general web search is also a great place to start.
PCC 2021 Climate Action Plan
PCC’s 2021 Climate Action Plan: Resiliency, Equity and Education for a Just Transition is the college’s five-year roadmap towards climate justice. The 2021 plan establishes a new carbon neutrality goal of 2040. The college adopted its first climate action plan in 2009, which was updated and expanded in 2013. The 2021 plan includes the following goals:
- By 2026, PCC has reduced college energy consumption per square foot by 60% below 2006 levels.
- By 2026, PCC has reduced its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 75% below 2006 levels, through decarbonization of its energy sources.
- By 2026, PCC has reduced college fleet fuel emissions by 25% below 2006 levels.
- By 2026, PCC has reduced commuter and business travel greenhouse gas impacts per full time equivalent by 20% below the 2006 baseline.
- By 2026, PCC purchaser and vendor contracts align with PCC’s diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability and climate action goals and values to ensure long-term viability of PCC’s enterprise.
- By 2026, PCC has reduced the college’s water consumption per square foot by 10% below 2019 levels.
- By 2026, PCC has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste by 50% below 2006 levels.
Additional goals promote education and outreach, and resiliency. Read the full plan:
2021 Climate Action Plan
See also
Gardens and Climate Change
PCC’s community gardens are included as one of the components of the college's Climate Action Plans. From the 2013 report: “Learning gardens offer the college the opportunity to reduce carbon emissions, serve food grown on campus and support its service learning program” (27).
Below are a few general examples about how learning gardens can help support efforts to mitigate climate change.
- Learning GardensPCC web page on the college's Learning Gardens
- Five Steps to Making Your Garden a Carbon SinkNewsletter article from JSTOR
- How an Urban Gardening Experiment could help Curb Climate ChangeArticle from PBS initiative Peril and Promise - The Challenge of Climate Change
- Plant-based diet can fight climate change - UNFrom BBC News
- Urban Gardens as a Space to Engender Biophilia: Evidence and Ways ForwardResearch article published in the journal Frontiers in Built Environment
- How Growing Your Own Food Can Benefit the Planet and Why You Should Consider ItFrom the website One Green Planet